Surah Al-Fīl (The Elephant) - سورة الفيل

I have chosen Surah Al – Fil from the Quran and I will be writing about this surah. Below is the surah in Arabic with the translation.

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

Sahih International

Have you not considered, [O Muhammad], how your Lord dealt with the companions of the elephant?

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Did He not make their plan into misguidance?

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And He sent against them birds in flocks,

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Striking them with stones of hard clay,

                    Sahih International

                    And He made them like eaten straw.

Al Fil means the elephant .The surah is about how powerful Allah (swt) is even though he used just a FEW BIRDS. This surah tells us how king abraha wanted to destroy Ka’aba The house of Allah. King Abraha prepares a very big army of strong war elephants. He begins to march towards the Ka’ba with his LARGE army completely unaware of the power and plan of Allah (swt).

Abraha’s elephant Mahmod, was the BIGGEST elephant and it was the one which they were going to use to demolish the Ka’ba but the elephant Mahmod  refused to go towards the ka’ba. As the elephant was obedient to Allah swt, it knelt down and did not go into the city of Mecca. Abraha’s  soldiers hit the elephant, and tried to force him to move. The soldiers tried again hitting him harder but the elephant knelt down and did not move at all.

At that time Allah (swt) commanded many birds from the sea to bring pebbles, each bird carried three pebbles and they were the size of chickpeas and they started to attack Abraha’s army.

Soon the entire army and Abraha were destroyed by the birds by the will of Allah. SubahanAllah it was unbelievable for such small pebbles to destroy that LARGE army of elephants. The people of mecca were amazed at the power of Allah (swt).

Lessons that I learnt from this surah

•  The power of Allah swt . Allah can do anything, and anybody cannot be powerful than Allah swt. He is the greatest
•  Although Abraha thought he had the strongest army with strong elephants, Allah (swt) defeated his army only using birds that carried small pebbles. So I understood that if Allah wants to do something he can do it, with even the smallest thing because He is the Most powerful
• The last lesson what I learnt is about Allah swt’s plan. He is the best planner. Allah waited until Abraha came with his army close to the the city of mecca to destroy him, Allah could have defeated Abraha whenever He willed but Allah swt knows when it’s best to do something.

   

This Surah is a reminder for all of us which shows us the power of Allah, and to never lose hope in Allah because He can do anything He wants to do. If we are obedient to Allah, then we should never lose hope in Him. Because when we know Allah is pleased with us there is nothing that can harm us, as Allah is always there to protect us. We should always TRUST Allah and His plans as it is the best plan.

Jazakallahukhayr.

Aqeel Zuhail.