Year of the Elephant: A Moroccan Woman's Journey Toward Independence (Modern Middle East Literature in Translation Series) (Modern Middle Eastern Literatures in Translation Series)

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According to early Islamic historians such as Ibn Ishaq, in honor of his ally the Negus (the Christian Abyssinian Emperor of the Kingdom of Axum), Abraha built a great church at Sanaa, known as Al-Qulais (a transliteration into Arabic of the Greek word ekklesia (εκκλησία), meaning church). See also: Elephants in Kerala culture, List of elephants in mythology and religion, and List of fictional pachyderms Al-Qullays gained widespread fame, even gaining the notice of the Byzantine Empire. [1] The Arab people of the time had their own center of religious worship and pilgrimage in Mecca, the Kaaba. [1] Abraha attempted to divert their pilgrimage to al-Qullays and appointed a man named Muhammad ibn Khuza'i [6] to Mecca and Tihamah as a king with a message that al-Qullays was both much better than other houses of worship and purer, having not been defiled by the housing of idols. [1] In the titular novella the protagonist, Zahra, has just returned to her hometown after being divorced by her husband for being too traditional and unable to keep up with his modern way of life. Herbest, C. T.; Švec, J. G.; Lohscheller, J.; Frey, R.; Gumpenberger, M.; Stoeger, A.; Fitch, W. T. (2013). "Complex Vibratory Patterns in an Elephant Larynx". Journal of Experimental Biology. 216 (21): 4054–4064. doi: 10.1242/jeb.091009. PMID 24133151.

Sterm, A. (28 February 2005). "Elephant deaths at zoos reignite animal debate: Zoo supporters cite conservation, activists cite confined spaces". MSNBC/Reuters. Archived from the original on 23 September 2015 . Retrieved 24 October 2012. Moss, C. "Elephant Calves: The Story of Two Sexes". Elephants: Majestic Creatures of the Wild. pp.106–113. Abraha ( Ge’ez: አብርሃ) (also spelled Abreha, died after 570 CE [1] [2]), also known as Abrahah al-Ashram ( Arabic: أَبْرَهَة ٱلْأَشْرَم), was an Abyssinian viceroy of South Arabia for the Kingdom of Aksum. [3] Abraha ruled parts of southern Arabia including much of what is now Yemen from around 531–547 CE to around 555–570 CE. The royal title adopted by Abraha is similar to that of his immediate predecessors and to that of Kaleb of Axum, "King of Saba' and dhü-Raydän and Hadhramaut and Yamanat and of their Arabs on the plateau and the lowland". [4] Surah Al-Fil (The Elephant) - Sayyid Abul Ala Maududi - Tafhim al-Qur'an - The Meaning of the Qur'an". Schulz, A. K.; Boyle, M; Boyle, C; Sordilla, S; Rincon, C; Hooper, K; Aubuchon, C; Reidenberg, J. S.; Higgins, C; Hu, D. L. (2022). "Skin wrinkles and folds enable asymmetric stretch in the elephant trunk". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 119 (31): e2122563119. Bibcode: 2022PNAS..11922563S. doi: 10.1073/pnas.2122563119. PMC 9351381. PMID 35858384.There are almost 7 divisions in the entire Qur'an according to Themes. [27] [28] The final of these 7 sections starts from surah Al-Mulk [surah number 67] to surah Al-Nas [surah number 114]. [29] This final part [last 7th of the Quran] focuses on; sources of Reflection, People, their final scenes they will face on Judgment Day and Hellfire and Paradise in general [30] and Admonition to the Quraysh about their fate in the Herein and the Hereafter if they deny Muhammad, specifically. [31] See also: Elephant ivory and Elephant meat Men with elephant tusks at Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, c. 1900

Scott Fitzgerald Johnson (ed.) (2015) The Oxford Handbook of Late Antiquity. Oxford University Press. p. 285. ISBN 019027753X According to early Islamic historians such as Ibn Ishaq, in honor of his ally, Abraha built a great church at Sana'a known as al-Qullays, a loanword borrowed from εκκλησία "church". Male: 261–289cm (8ft 7in– 9ft 6in) (shoulder height), 3.5–4.6t (3.9–5.1 short tons) (weight); Female: 228–252cm (7ft 6in– 8ft 3in) (shoulder height), 2.3–3.1t (2.5–3.4 short tons) (weight). [32] In contrast to the novella's immediate and relaxed style, the short stories also included in the volume are brief but powerful sketches, displaying a range of subtle humor, cold and detached observation, and ominous plots, all conveyed with an admirable economy of language that is one of the charms of Moroccan writing. The events of these stories are simple but profound, and Abouzeid often leaves the reader the task of explaining the character's motivations. While entertaining, these stories are not intended solely for entertainment's sake.Bosworth, C. E., ed. (1999). The History of al-Ṭabarī, Volume V: The Sāsānids, the Byzantines, the Lakhmids, and Yemen. SUNY Series in Near Eastern Studies. Albany, New York: State University of New York Press. p.235. ISBN 978-0-7914-4355-2. Drunken elephants trample village". BBC News. 21 October 1999. Archived from the original on 26 December 2007 . Retrieved 16 June 2007. In this Surah, God's punishment which was inflicted on the people of the elephant is referred to and described very briefly because it was an event of recent occurrence, and everyone in Makkah and Arabia was fully aware of it. That is why the Arabs believed that the Ka'bah was protected in this invasion, not by any god or goddess, but by God Almighty Himself. Then God alone was invoked by the Quraysh chiefs for help, and for quite a few years the people of Quraysh, having been impressed by this event, had worshiped none but God. Therefore, there was no need to mention the details in Surah Al-Feel, but only a reference to it was enough. [32] Javed Ahmad Ghamidi (b. 1951), a well-known Pakistani Muslim theologian, Quran scholar and exegete, and educationist, explains the theme of Surah Al-Fil is to inform the Quraysh that the God – Who routed His enemies in this manner before them – will also not spare them now that they too have shown enmity to Him. They will also be devastated in a similar manner. [33] Coherence with adjacent surahs [ edit ] Payne, K. B.; Langauer, W. B. "Elephant Communication". Elephants: Majestic Creatures of the Wild. pp.116–123. Shoshani, J.; Walter, R. C.; Abraha, M.; Berhe, S.; Tassy, P.; Sanders, W. J.; Marchant, G. H.; Libsekal, Y.; Ghirmai, T.; Zinner, D. (2006). "A proboscidean from the late Oligocene of Eritrea, a "missing link" between early Elephantiformes and Elephantimorpha, and biogeographic implications". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 103 (46): 17296–17301. Bibcode: 2006PNAS..10317296S. doi: 10.1073/pnas.0603689103. PMC 1859925. PMID 17085582.

Ibid. As regards the noun ta'ir (of which tayr is the plural), we ought to remember that it denotes any "flying creature", whether bird or insect (Taj al-'Arus). Neither the Qur'an nor any authentic Tradition offers us any evidence as to the nature of the "flying creatures" mentioned in the above verse; and since, on the other hand, all the "descriptions" indulged in by the commentators are purely imaginary, they need not be seriously considered. If the hypothesis of an epidemic is correct, the "flying creatures" - whether birds or insects - may well have been the carriers of the infection. One thing, however, is clear: whatever the nature of the doom that overtook the invading force, it was certainly miraculous in the true sense of this word - namely, in the sudden, totally unexpected rescue which it brought to the distressed people of Mecca. Roca, Alfred L.; Ishida, Yasuko; Brandt, Adam L.; Benjamin, Neal R.; Zhao, Kai; Georgiadis, Nicholas J. (2015). "Elephant Natural History: A Genomic Perspective". Annual Review of Animal Biosciences. 3 (1): 139–167. doi: 10.1146/annurev-animal-022114-110838. PMID 25493538. Liu, Alexander G. S. C.; Seiffert, Erik R.; Simons, Elwyn L. (15 April 2008). "Stable isotope evidence for an amphibious phase in early proboscidean evolution". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 105 (15): 5786–5791. Bibcode: 2008PNAS..105.5786L. doi: 10.1073/pnas.0800884105. ISSN 0027-8424. PMC 2311368. PMID 18413605. Sahih Muslim 1355 a In-book reference: Book 15, Hadith 509 USC-MSA web (English) reference: Book 7, Hadith 3142 (deprecated numbering scheme) Report Error | ShareMore people are reading the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs than ever but advertising revenues across the media are falling fast. Our independent, investigative journalism takes a lot of time, money and hard work to produce. But we do it because we believe our perspective matters – because it might well be your perspective, too. The memory of the Mecca campaign is encapsulated in "The Year of the Elephant," typically dated to 570 CE, which serves as the starting point for Mecca's pre-Islamic history chronology. Some traditions link Muhammad's birth (usually stated as 570 CE) with this year, while others place his birth either 23 or 40 years after the Year of the Elephant, suggesting a date range between about 530 and 547 CE.