Abu Talib b. Abdul Muttalib

The Year of the Elephant

In 570 AD, the Abyssinian armies under the leadership of Abraha attacked Makkah to demolish the Ka'aba.

Abdul Muttalib, our Master Muhammad's [s] grandfather, the Master of Makkah, went round the Ka'aba praying to Allah, the Almighty, to prevent the invaders from demolishing the House which Ibrahim, al-Khalil, and his son Ismael built for people to worship Allah only.

Allah, the Almighty, accepted Abdul Muttalib's prayer. So, when the elephants and the soldiers advanced to demolish the Ka'aba, Ababil birds carrying stones in their beaks appeared in the horizon. They began dropping the stones. So, the invaders around the Ka'aba were defeated.

Consequently, Allah's power and Abdul Muttalib's importance appeared! That year was named the Year of the Elephant.

Our Master Muhammad [s] was born in that year. Abu-Talib was thirty years of age.

Allah, the Almighty, has mentioned this event in the Holy Qur'an:

In The Name of Allah, The Beneficent, The Merciful.

Have you not considered how your Lord dealt with the possessors of the elephant?

Did He not cause their war to end in confusion.

And send down (to prey) upon them birds in flocks, casting them against stones of baked clay.

So, he rendered them like straw eaten up?