In the Name of Allah the Most Merciful, the Especially Merciful,

We are sometimes faced with the seemingly impossible.

A huge army of elephants, probably big in stature approaching the city of Makkah. Everything probably seemed bleak and scary for the Quraysh. A mighty army that they could not match.

But a sincere Dua by Prophet Ibrahim Alahis salaam and a sincere supplication by Abdul Muttalib the grandfather of the blessed Prophet Muhammad peace and blessings be upon him were answered. 

Exercising trust and full conviction that God is listening to their supplication and that He will answer them, their prayers were answered and the story of the elephant describes us the amazing way Allah caused defeat to Abraha and His army. 

So do not fear the obstacle which are in front of you, but ask Allah with conviction and trust that He will help us overcome what causes us some anxiety and fear. 

Small pebbles in the beaks of flying birds caused annihilation of animals and an army huge in stature. But, there is nothing and no one more powerful than Allah. 

Ask Him for help and rely upon Him with everything that you have and with Allah we can overcome every obstacle.

May Allah destroy the enemy of Palestine! 🇵🇸 make dua for Palestine and Sudan and other Muslims 

In the Name of Allaah the Most Merciful, the Most compassionate,

No one has the right to be arrogant and proud both are destructive.

Allah does not like the arrogant person:

Abu Huraira reported: The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said, 'Allah Almighty said: Grandeur is My cloak and pride is My garment. Whoever competes with Me in one of these two, I will cast him into the Hellfire.'

Source: Sunan Abī Dāwūd 4090.

I used to understand why Allaah protected His house, but I did not understand why Allaah protected the Quraysh who were idolators and He punished Abraha who was a Christian (and his army). Abraha became arrogant, so much so that he challenged to make his Church more grand than Allah’s house. After his Church was defiled he was so enraged that he went to attack the house of Allaah so that he could sit with pride and think of himself better than others. The Quraysh, at the time we’re not arrogant. 

The story in Surah Al Fil has various lessons and themes, one of which is arrogance leads to oppression and oppression leads to destruction. No matter what our position, the amount of knowledge or wealth we possess we should never have arrogance and always respect those who tell us the truth and advise us to what is correct. We should not think ourselves ‘better than others’ to accept advice from others nor we should ever mock others. 

This reflection was inspired by listening to Sh Abu Bakr Az Zoud’s tafsir of Surah Al Fil. May Allaah bless our teachers and preserve them to spread Islam ameen. 

A note further - the more blessings we have the more humility we should have, whether that is knowledge, children, fame or wealth and so on. Allaah the Almighty, is the bestower of every blessing. Humility opens a path that causes sincerity in faith. May all of us strive towards a sincere and humble faith. Ameen ya rabb.

#donotbearrogant

@QR quality reflect Also, I have listened to the tafsir by Abu Bakr Az Zoud. I will also re-check if I have listened carefully, but I am pretty sure this is the note I took on the Surah. Please do message me if you find something that is incorrect and I am happy to correct my mistakes as they will allow me to learn from them 😊

Most birds are lightweight little creatures. They are generally not very brave and often fly away if they hear the slightest sound of someone approaching.

Elephants are the world's largest land animal. They weigh thousands of pounds and I've never seen an elephant run away from me at the zoo. Imagine trying to tip one over! :) Now imagine an approaching army of elephants. Yikes! 

The events in this surah remind me that Allah can use the weakest of creatures to defeat the most intimidating of opponents/obstscles. The Allah that commanded these events to occur back then is the exact same Allah who we make dua to today. I think of the hadith where Allah (SWT) says 'I am as my servant thinks I am'. We worship a Lord who has chosen to show us that He can do that which our minds conceive as being impossible.
May Allah strengthen our eman and place a firm belief in our hearts that Allah is The Almighty and that He can do absolutely anything. ('Kun faya kun'). Ameen.

#FromDespairToHope

We often complain about things. When I introspect about the real status of my 'shukr' and 'sabr', I found myself being grateful for those things only that are pleasurable or comfortable or good in my view point. And don’t ask about 'sabr'….. so I listened lots of lectures, read books on sabr and try to have sabr. But nothing worked.  So I did a 'Root Cause Analysis' and thought to use 'reverse engineering' over those root cause that I found.  'Habitual Complaining' is one of the root causes of being impatient. So I list down my
Complaints and realised that I am an expert at complaining, no matter what the issue is , my mind find something to complain about!!!! So I made a target of 'No complain day'…. 
I have listened to a lecture of Dr Jordan Peterson about 'suffering and responsibility'. He stated that, sufferings are reality of life but we make them miserable by not taking our part of responsibility. He urged to take responsibility, no matter how small it is.  You complain about the messy traffic system which you have no control over except being civilised and law abiding person, but what you have done today which can contribute to the mess, such as, putting your closet in order so that you could find things easily or you could have shared ride with someone else that would at least contribute road space equivalent to one car.

I often think how I connect with this surah??? Today someone said, people now a days are not ready to take responsibility worth the responsibility taken by the tiny bird at the time of ashabe fil, they would rather ask how much my effort can make a difference?? But Ababil throw tiny pebbles at a giant army and make them chewed up straw!!! It’s not the ababil that made the difference, it’s Allah’s mercy and might that can turn a tiny bit of effort so powerful.
Don’t turn your reality of life to misery of life by just complaining but not taking responsibility. 

Whenever you caught yourself complaining, throw a pebble at the complain and think what is your (only your) responsibility towards the issue that you are complaining about and don’t make target to fix it!!!! Rather make a target to put the best level of effort towards fixing this and make Dua….

Ya Allah, I am such a weak person and trying this according to my ability and I put the rest up to you, please accept my effort and forgive my mistakes.

this reflection blew my mind!! jazakallah

In this surah, Allah is reminding the people of Mecca generally, but Quraysh specifically, of His blessing when he diverted the Army of the Elephant away from them. This army was led by Abraha and his people, and they were intent on destroying the Kaaba and obliterating its remains from existence. They set out for Mecca with a huge powerful elephant, the likes of which were never before seen, that was sent to him by the Negus of Abyssinia. He also had other elephants with him.

When Abraha reached al-Mughammis, which is located near Mecca, he set up camp there. His army attacked the camels and other livestock of the people of Mecca as they were grazing, seizing them. In that herd were two hundred camels belonging to ‘Abdul-Muttalib, and the general who carried out that attack on Abraha’s orders was al-Aswad b. Mafsood. Some of the Arabs produced humiliating poetry about him (according to Ibn Ishâq), so Abrahan sent Hanâtah al-Humayri to Mecca, commanding him to bring the noblemen of Quraysh to him, and to inform them that the king did not wish to fight them unless they obstructed him from the Kaaba. 
When Hanâtah came, he was directed to ‘Abdul-Muttalib b. Hâshim. He relayed to him the message from Abraha, and ‘Abdul-Muttalib told him: 'By Allah, we do not wish to fight against him - and we do not even have the ability to do so. This is Allah’s sacred house, and that of His dear friend Abraham. If He obstructs him from it, then it is certainly His house and sanctuary, but if he leaves him to it - then by Allah! - we would not be able to hold him back.' 

Hanâtah said to him: 'Come with me to him.' He went with him, and when Abraha saw him, he held him in high esteem. ‘Abdul-Muttalib was a large man who was pleasant to look at. Abraha descended from his throne and sat with him on the spread. He told his translator to ask him: 'What is your concern?' He said to the translator: 'My concern is that the king return to me my two hundred camels that he took from me.' Abraha told the translator to tell him: 'You had certainly impressed me when I first saw you, but now I despise you that you’ve spoken! Are you really talking to me about two hundred camels that I took from you, while neglecting to discuss with me the temple of your and your forefathers’ religion that I came to destroy?!' ‘Abdul-Muttalib said: 'I am responsible for the camels. The temple also has a Lord, and He will protect it.' He said: 'He could never protect it from me!', so he responded: 'As you insist.' 

When Abraha and his army went to invade Mecca, Allah sent upon them birds like swallows and larks from the sea, each bird carrying three stones: one in its beak, and one in each of its feet. The stones were the size of chickpeas and lentil seeds, and anyone who was hit by one died. Most of the army was killed, and the rest retreated; Abraha himself was among those who died. They brought him out until they reached Sana’a, and he did not die until his heart fell out of his chest. Quraysh gained many spoils from what that army left behind. 

This is how Allah took care of the enemies of the people of Mecca for them. This occurred in the month of Muharram, corresponding to February of year 570 CE. The Master of Mankind, Muhammad b. Abdullah (may the peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) was born five days after this incident, according to the most accurate reports of the scholars.
(Source: al-Jâmi' al-Kâmil by Sh. Dia ur-Rahmaan al-Azami)

This reflection on Surah Al-Fil encourages us to approach life's trials with faith and trust in Allah's plan. It underscores the significance of turning to Him in times of difficulty and seeking refuge in His divine protection. As we navigate the complexities of our own lives, may we draw inspiration from the events recounted in Surah Al-Fil and strive to strengthen our connection with the Almighty, acknowledging His ultimate authority and mercy.

Ameen. Jazakallahu khair for this beneficial reminder.

اگر اللہ تعالی کی سنتوں پہ غور کریں تو یہ پہلو سامنے آتا ہے کہ وہ چاہے تو ذرے کو پہاڑ سے زیادہ مؤثر بنا دے یا کمزور کے ہاتھوں مضبوط اور طاقتور کو مات دے دے وہ ہر چیز پر قادر ہے۔ وہ فتح اور شکست دینے پر قادر ہے ۔
اب جو حالات چل رہے ہیں خاص طور پہ جو غزہ میں مسلمانوں پر ظلم ہو رہا ہے تو یہ خیال آتا ہے کہ یہ ظلم کب تک چلے گا؟ کب تک ان معصوم لوگوں کا خون بہایا جاتا رہے گا۔؟؟قران ہمیں یہ امید تھماتا ہے کہ اللہ کا ایک حکم ،کوئی معمولی سی مخلوق ہوگی یا قدرت کا ایک اشارہ ہوگا اور یہ بڑی سے بڑی طاقتیں نیست و نابود ہو جائیں گی۔۔
اللہ تعالی نے ابراہا کے لشکر کے لیے کوئی بہت بڑی فوج نہیں بھیجی تھی اللہ نے ابابیل بھیجے اور ان کے منہ میں چھوٹی چھوٹی کنکریاں تھیں جس نے ابراہا کے لشکر کو نیست و نابود کر دیا  دیکھا جائے تو اس دنیا کی بڑی سے بڑی طاقتیں اللہ کی قدرت کے اگے رائی کے دانے کے برابر بھی نہیں۔۔

Have you not considered how your Lord dealt with the people of the elephants? 
Did he not make their plots to end in vain?
And he sent down on them birds in flock.
striking them with stones of baked clays. 
Then he made them like straw eaten up by cattle. (The Elephant) 

** Tairan ababeel-With pinpoint precision, tiny bird flock approaching from the greater distance with baked clays! covering the entire sky! In the modern world, what does this analogy tell you?
I see Military Drones in modern times! 
Ababeel- The drones of Allah ! subhanallah.  
Just a silly thought running through my mind....

Subhanallah! I didn’t think that! That is one great thinking running through your mind! 