Destruction of the Army of the Elephant

E358815

The Destruction of the Army of the Elephant refers to the miraculous annihilation of Abraha’s elephant-led force that marched on Mecca, an event commemorated in the Qur’anic chapter Surah Al-Fil.

All labels observed (1)

Label Occurrences
Destruction of the Army of the Elephant canonical 1

How this entity was disambiguated

Statements (48)

Predicate Object
instanceOf Islamic religious event
Qur’anic narrative
historical event
approximateDate c. 570 CE
approximateDateDescription The Elephant
surface form: Year of the Elephant
associatedWithKingdom Aksumite Empire
surface form: Aksumite Kingdom
associatedWithPerson Abraha
associatedWithPlace Mecca
associatedWithQuranicTerm asf ma’kul
tayran ababil
associatedWithRegion Yemen
associatedWithReligiousFigure Muhammad
surface form: Prophet Muhammad
associatedWithSanctuary Kaaba
associatedWithTribe Quraysh
causeOfConflict Abraha’s attempt to destroy the Kaaba
centralThemeIn Surah Al-Fil
chronologicalMarkerFor Arab dating system before Hijra
chronologicalRelationTo birth of Prophet Muhammad
commemoratedBy recitation of Surah Al-Fil
describedIn Quran
surface form: Qur’an

Surah Al-Fil
hasOtherName The Elephant
surface form: Event of the Elephant

Year of the Elephant incident
hasSourceType Islamic oral tradition
religious text
interpretedAs sign of God’s protection of Mecca
involvedAnimal war elephants
involvedCommander Abraha
surface form: Abraha al-Ashram
involvedForceType elephant-led army
languageOfPrimarySource Arabic
locatedInPresentDay Saudi Arabia
mentionedInGenre sira literature
tafsir literature
politicalContext Aksumite presence in Yemen
precededBy construction of Abraha’s cathedral in Sana’a
preIslamicContext Pre-Islamic Arabia
surface form: pre-Islamic Arabia
primaryElephantName Mahmud
QuranChapterNumber 105
QuranicDescriptionOfAttackers flocks of birds
QuranicDescriptionOfPunishment stones of baked clay
religiousSignificance miraculous divine intervention
protection of the Kaaba
religiousTradition Islam
result annihilation of Abraha’s army
failure of the attack on Mecca
usedAs moral lesson about arrogance and power
sign of divine sovereignty
viewedByMuslimTraditionAs historical fact

How these facts were elicited

Referenced by (1)

Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.

Surah Al-Fil subject Destruction of the Army of the Elephant