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Prıncıples of Hamîduddîn al-Farâhî’s Exegesıs of the Qur’an and Interpretatıon of Surah al-Fil
  
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the details, the people of Mecca have fought the army of companions of the elephant 
and have thrown stones onto them.
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2. Stoning of the Companions of the Elephant  
Hamîd al-Dîn al-Farâhî thinks that Quraysh fought Abraha and has thrown stones 
on them applying guerrilla warfare.
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 Farâhî, brings in a different interpretation to the 
birds’ inflicting a rain of pebbles. To him, miracles happen depending on the divine 
laws. A similar incident to the elephants’ case was seen at Badr. At Badr, Allah (c.c.) 
told to his prophet, “you didn’t kill them during the war, it was Allah; You did not threw 
when you threw(the arrow); rather, ıt was God who threw...”
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 and as Quraysh threw 
stones to keep them Abraha’s army away from Kaaba; Allah (c.c.) has thrown the stones 
onto them.
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 In support of his views; Farâhî presents examples from Arabic poetry.  
1. The first poem is from Abû Qays İbn. Al-Aslat al-Hazraji
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 He says: 
“Every time the Ethiopians wanted to draw forward the elephant,  
The elephant seemed stuck and didn’t move. 
Allah sent them such a powerful wind that 
The wind swallowed them quickly as a piece of food”. 
 
2. Sayfî İbn. ‘Âmir says: 
“When soldiers of Allah pass Batn-i Nu’mân
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They were made to return between Saf and Haasib. 
In regret they ran to come back 
Soldier did not bring back anything to their homes but their bandage”.
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3. Umayye Ibn. Abi’s-Salt es-Sakhafi:  
“He stopped that elephant, at Mugammas 
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To the extent that, it started to crawl like a “ma’qur 
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”
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 al-Farâhî, Macmû’âyi Tafâsîr-i Farâhî, pp. 386-387.  
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 al-Farâhî, Macmû’âyi Tafâsîr-i Farâhî, p. 388. 
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 Enfâl, 8/17. 
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 al-Farâhî, Tafsîr-i Nizâmi’l-Qur’ân, p. 446; al-Farâhî, Macmû’âyi Tafâsîr-i Farâhî, p. 388. 
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 al-Câhız, Ebû Osman Amr b. Bahr, al-Hayvân, Dâru’l-Ceyl, 1416/1996, VII, 196; İbn Hishâm, es-
Sîretü’n-Nabaviyye, I, p.92. 
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 Batn-ı Nu’mân is the name of a place between, Arafat and Qarra mountain. It is also called “Nu’mân 
al-Arâk”. It comes right after well of Zubeyda. Bkz. al-Azrakî, Kâ’be ve Mekke Tarihi, p. 153. (63. p.s.) 
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 al-Câhız, al-Hayvân, VII, p.197; İbn Hishâm, es-Sîretü’n-Nabaviyye, I, p.93. 
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 The letter can be read “Mugammis” with Mim letter’s “kesre” sign, or with “fetha” as “Mugammes”. 
See. İbn Hishâm, es-Sîretü’n-Nabaviyye, I, p.81 (1.p.s.) 
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 Ma’kur: Is someone who cannot walk for the fear of the war around him. Bkz. al-Azrakî, Kâ’be ve 
Mekke Tarihi, p. 154 (65. p.s.) 
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 al-Azdî, Ebu’l-Hasan Mukâtil b. Süleyman b. Bashîr al-Azdî bi’l-Valâi’l-Belhî, Tafsîr-i Mukâtil bin 
Süleyman, Dâru’l-Kütübi’l-Ilmiyye, 1. edition, Beyrut, 1424/2003, III, 524; İbn Hishâm, es-Sîretü’n-
Nabaviyye, I, pp.84-85. 

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Ass. Prof. Hayrettin Öztürk
  
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4-Nufayl Ibn. Habib al-Khath’ami: 
“I thanked Allah when I saw the birds 
And I was afraid of the stones thrown onto me”.
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Farâhî holds that, when one reads these poems carefully; it is obvious that the 
witnesses speak of the stones and the birds separately, but the birds are not mentioned 
to be throwing the stones hence it is obvious to the witnesses that the phenomenon 
occurred due to haasib and sâf.
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3. Hunter Birds:  
Farâhî thinks that the birds which attacked Abraha’s army; were not there to 
throw stones but were there to eat the corpses. Among Arabs, it is a well-known 
phenomenon that the birds gather to eat the corpses, around the battle field. They could 
understand that there was a war whenever they see the birds.
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 For instance; ‘Amr Ibn 
al-Hârith Gassaani in one of his poems says that:
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“When they attack with an army; above them fly flocks of birds.” 
D) Criticism of Farâhî’s Opinions and Evaluation of The Rumours 
Hamîd al-Dîn al-Farâhî had claimed that the rumours relating elephant case were 
unreal, exaggerated and false. We can evaluate such claims as follows: 
1. Addressee of the Surah: As Farâhî claims; in Surah of Fil (elephant), alamtara 
does not indicate plural meaning. Farâhî’s claim that sometimes addressing can be 
made by singular conjugation while the meaning is addressing the society, is true. 
However, in such cases there is a definite indicator for this to be interpreted as so. 
Glorious Quran has no such indicator hence there is not a single verse where a singular 
conjugation has plural meaning. In reality, the expression “alamtara” is a special 
pattern used in the Quran. The Quran utilizes this structure whenever it addresses the 
adjectives of Allah,
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 creatures in the universe
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 famous and notable events
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“Fa’ala” verb at the begining verse of the Surah of al-Fil (elephant) refers to 
Allah (c.c.). In Quran, whenever a verb refers to Allah; punishment and torment is 
mentioned, and the mentioned punishment or torment does not happen by the help or 
agency of humans. On the contrary; Allah (c.c.) himself sends a harsh flood and 
                                                 
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 el-Câhız, al-Hayvân, VII, p.199; İbn İshak, Sîretü İbn İshak, s. 41; İbn Hishâm, es-Sîretü’n-Nabaviyye, 
I, p. 87. 
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 al-Farâhî, Macmû’âyi Tafâsîr-i Farâhî, p. 394; al-Farâhî, Tafsîr-i Nizâmi’l-Qur’ân, pp. 452-455; al-
Farâhî, Tafsir-i Sûre-i Fîl, p.66. In Arabic; “hâsıb” is the wind which hurls sand and pebbles, and “sâf” 
means the wind which carries away the bushes, dust and soil. 
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 al-Farâhî, Macmû’âyi Tafâsîr-i Farâhî, p. 395. 
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 Nadvî, Muhammad Rıza al-İslam, Nakdi Farâhî, Baharat Ofset, Delhi, 2010, p. 29. 
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 İbrahim, 19-24; Mücadele, 7. 
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 Hac, 18, 63, 65; Nur, 41-43; Furkan, 45; Lokman 29-31; Fâtır, 27; Zümer, 21 
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 Âd and Semûd (Surah of Fecr , 6), Nemrut (Bakara, 258), İsrâîloğulları (Bakara 243-246), Fil Ashâbı 
(Surah of Fil, 1) Yâ ehle'l-kitabi (Âl-i İmrân, 23), Münâfıkîn (Nisa, 60,77, Mücâdele, 8-14), Müşrikîn 
(İbrahim, 28; Meryem, 83; Mümin, 69), Şu'arâ (Şu'arâ, 225) 

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