Earning God’s Protection
Al-Risala (English), June 1986, p. 10
By Maulana Wahiduddin Khan
Maulana Wahiduddin Khan is named as the default author of the periodical; a piece that carries another writer’s byline is credited to that writer.
Earning God’s Protection
1986 6 June 10-11 Earning God’s Protection (894) In 571AD, Abraha, the Abyssinian ruler of the Yemen, set out to destroy the Kabah in Mecca. A Christian by faith, he had built a structure named AI-Qulees in the town of Sana’a, which he had hoped would replace the Kabah as a centre of pilgrimage for the whole of Arabia. When he saw that the Arabs showed no sign of forsaking their ancient place of pilgrimage, however, he determined to destroy it.
When his force, fully armed and equipped with twelve elephants, reached Maghmas in the vicinity of Mecca, they plundered some property of the people of Mecca, including 200 camels belonging to Abdul Muttalib, the grandfather of the Prophet Mohammad. When Abraha asked to meet the most noble and esteemed citizen of Mecca, it was Abdul Muttalib who was brought before him. Abraha assured Abdul Muttalib that he had no aggressive designs against the people of Mecca. He was, however, intent on destroying the Kabah and would fight them if they sought to defend it. Abdul Muttalib replied that they had no intention of fighting Abraha’s army, and did not possess the strength to do so. When Abraha asked if he had any request to make, Abdul Muttalib asked him to return the 200 camels which had been taken away from him. Abraha was astonished that Abdul Muttalib should think only of his camels, when the Holy Kabah – the ancient centre of Arab religion – was in deadly peril. “I am master of my camels,” Abdul Muttalib explained. “As for the Kabah, it has a Master of its own: He will protect it.” (Tahzeeb Seerat Ibn Hisham, p.28)
Abdul Muttalib then returned to his people, and advised them to take refuge from Abraha’s army among the peaks and passes in the heights of the mountains. There they waited to see what would happen when Abraha entered Mecca. They witnessed an extraordinary sight. The forces of nature came together to obstruct Abraha’s designs. First of all his elephants either refused to stand up, or else insisted on proceeding in a direction opposite to the Kabah. Then a swarm of birds appeared in the sky, flying in from the sea. Each one of them was carrying pebbles in its beak, and in the claws of each foot. They dropped the pebbles on the army, slaying everyone they hit, including Abraha himself.
One question that arises from this episode is why was it that Abdul Muttalib made no effort to defend the Kabah when Abraha had clearly expressed his hostile intentions against that most holy of Arab sanctuaries, while he told his people, who had received assurances from Abraha that he had no intention of harming them, to seek refuge in the mountains. This can be understood when one remembers that the people of Mecca had, by worshipping idols in the House of God, destroyed the sanctity of that holy place. They had thus forfeited all right to God’s protection. The Kabah itself, however, was still dear to God, and He protected it for the time when a Prophet would come to destroy the idols that had been lodged there, and re-establish the worship of One God within its walls.
The attack of Abraha on the Kabah occurred in the year of the Prophet Mohammad’s birth. It was a clear sign from God of the coming of a Prophet whose followers would be assured of divine succour and protection in exactly the same way as the Holy Kabah had been protected, in the not-so-distant past, from the vicious attack of a powerful enemy. All they would have to do, as the Quran makes clear, was “worship the Lord of this House who fed them in the days of famine and shielded them from all perils” (106:4).
The lesson to be learnt from the “episode of the elephants”, as it is called, is that when Muslims are faced with political peril and military threat, they should concentrate on consolidating their position as God’s servants. Disclaiming all pretences of personal power, they should trust in God and leave it to Him to ward off all enemies, they should become as firm in their worship of God as the Kabah itself, their centre of worship, which has stood firm over the centuries as a monument to true religion.
Above all, to ensure that God will defend their cause, the Muslims must make it their prime purpose in life to communicate the message of Islam to other nations of the world. The Quran says that just as the Kabah is a medium between man and God, a symbol of worship which enables man to establish his true relationship with the Lord, so the Muslims are a medium between God and man, charged with the responsibility of communicating the message of Islam to other nations of the world. Just as the Prophet of Islam conveyed the word of God to his followers, so his followers are charged to pass it on to other nations. If they faithfully discharge this responsibility, then they are assured of God’s protection, as He protected His Kabah from the army of Abraha, and protected His Prophet from enemies:
“And (just as We have made the Kabah an intermediary), so we have made you (the Muslims) an intermediary nation, so that you may testify to mankind and that your own Apostle may testify to you.” (Quran, 2:143)
