Al-Qur'an Surah Al-Fil Verse 5

Mufti Taqi Usmani

and thus He turned them into an eaten-up chaff.

Dr. Mustafa Khattab, the Clear Quran

leaving them like chewed up straw.[[ Or worm-eaten leaves. ]] 

Ruwwad Translation Center

leaving them like chewed up and trampled chaff.

A. J. Arberry

and He made them like green blades devoured.

Abdul Haleem

He made them [like] cropped stubble.

Abdul Majid Daryabadi

Then He rendered them as stubble devoured.

Abdullah Yusuf Ali

Then did He make them like an empty field of stalks and straw, (of which the corn) has been eaten up.

Abul Ala Maududi

and made them like straw eaten up (by cattle).

Ahmed Ali

And turned them into pastured fields of corn?

Ahmed Raza Khan

So He made them like the leftover devoured leaves of farms?

Ali Quli Qarai

thus making them like chewed-up straw?

Ali Ünal

And so He rendered them like a field of grain devoured and trampled.

Amatul Rahman Omar

And thus He reduced them to rotten chaff (and in a similar way will they be ruined who would ever make an attack to destroy Ka`bah).

English Literal

So He made them like eaten husk/chaff/leaves .

Faridul Haque

So He made them like the leftover devoured leaves of farms?

Hamid S. Aziz

And make them like stalks left by herbage eaten down?

Hilali & Khan

And made them like an empty field of stalks (of which the corn has been eaten up by cattle).

Maulana Mohammad Ali

So He rendered them like straw eaten up?

Mohammad Habib Shakir

So He rendered them like straw eaten up?

Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall

And made them like green crops devoured (by cattle)?

Muhammad Sarwar

to turn them into (something) like the left-over grass grazed by cattle.

Qaribullah & Darwish

so that He made them like straw eaten (by cattle).

Safi-ur-Rahman al-Mubarakpuri

And He made them like `Asf, Ma'kul.

Wahiduddin Khan

Thus He made them like stubble cropped by cattle?

Talal Itani

Leaving them like chewed-up leaves.

Tafsir jalalayn

thus making them like devoured blades?, like the leaves of crops which have been consumed, trampled and destroyed by animals. God destroyed each one of them with his own stone, inscribed with his name, larger than a lentil [in size] but smaller than a chick-pea, able to pierce through an egg, a man, or an elephant and go through the ground. This took place in the year of the Prophet's birth (s). Meccan or Medinese, consisting of 4 verses.

Tafseer Ibn Kathir

And He made them like `Asf, Ma'kul.

Sa`id bin Jubayr said,

"This means straw, which the common people call Habbur."

In a report from Sa`id he said, "The leaves of wheat."

He also said,

"Al-`Asf is straw, and Al-Ma'kul refers to the fodder that is cut for animals."

Al-Hasan Al-Basri said the same thing.

Ibn `Abbas said,

"Al-`Asf is the shell of the grain, just like the covering of wheat."

Ibn Zayd said,
"Al-`Asf are the leaves of vegetation and produce. When the cattle eat it they defecate it out and it becomes dung."

The meaning of this is that Allah destroyed them, annihilated them and repelled them in their plan and their anger. They did not achieve any good. He made a mass destruction of them, and not one of them returned (to their land) to relate what happened except that he was wounded. This is just like what happened to their king, Abrahah. For indeed he was split open, exposing his heart when he reached his land of San`a'. He informed the people of what happened to them and then he died.

His son Yaksum became the king after him, and then Yaksum's brother, Masruq bin Abrahah succeeded him. Then Sayf bin Dhi Yazan Al-Himyari went to Kisra (the king of Persia) and sought his help against the Abyssinians. Therefore, Kisra dispatched some of his army with Sayf Al-Himyari to fight with him against the Abyssinians. Thus, Allah returned their kingdom to them (i.e., the Arabs of Yemen) along with all the sovereignty their fathers possessed. Then large delegations of Arabs came to him (Sayf Al-Himyari) to congratulate him for their victory.

We have mentioned previously in the Tafsir of Surah Al-Fath that when the Messenger of Allah approached the mountain pass that would lead him to the Quraysh on the Day of Al-Hudaybiyyah, his she-camel knelt down. Then the people attempted to make her get up but she refused. So, the people said,

"Al-Qaswa' has become stubborn."

The Prophet replied,

مَا خَلَاَتِ الْقَصْوَاءُ وَمَا ذَاكَ لَهَا بِخُلُقٍ وَلَكِنْ حَبَسَهَا حَابِسُ الْفِيل

Al-Qaswa' has not become stubborn, for that is not part of her character. Rather, she has been stopped by He Who restrained the Elephant (of Abrahah).

Then he said,

وَالَّذِي نَفْسِي بِيَدِهِ لَاا يَسْأَلُونِّي الْيَوْمَ خُطَّةً يُعَظِّمُونَ فِيهَا حُرُمَاتِ اللهِ إِلاَّ أَجَبْتُهُمْ إِلَيْهَا

I swear by He in Whose Hand is my soul, they (the Quraysh) will not ask me for any matter (of the treaty) in which the sacred things of Allah are honored except that I will agree with them on it.

Then he beckoned the she-camel to rise and she stood up.

This Hadith is of those that Al-Bukhari was alone in recording.

It has been recorded in the Two Sahihs that on the Day of the conquest of Makkah, the Messenger of Allah said,

إِنَّ اللهَ حَبَسَ عَنْ مَكَّةَ الْفِيلَ وَسَلَّطَ عَلَيْهَا رَسُولَهُ وَالْمُوْمِنِينَ وَإِنَّهُ قَدْ عَادَتْ حُرْمَتُهَا الْيَوْمَ كَحُرْمَتِهَا بِالاَْمْسِ أَلَا فَلْيُبَلِّغِ الشَّاهِدُ الْغَايِب

Verily, Allah restrained the Elephant from Makkah, and He has given His Messenger and the believers authority over it. And indeed its sacredness has returned just as it was sacred yesterday. So, let those who are present inform those who are absent.

This is the end of the Tafsir of Surah Al-Fil, and all praise and thanks are due to Allah