Other Books by Martin Lings

Ancient Beliefs and Modern Superstitions

Collected Poems: Revised and Augmented

The Eleventh Hour:

Mecca: From before Genesis until Now

A Return to the Spirit: Questions and Answers

Shakespeare's Window into the Soul

Splendours of Qur'an Calligraphy and Illumination

Sufi Poems: A Medieval Anthology

A Sufi Saint of the Twentieth Century: Shaikh Ahmad al-A lawi

Symbol and Archetype:

What is Sufism?
0)lt_~\

1fr
Inner Traditions
Rochester, Vermont
18 The Need for a Prophet

perhaps deliberately in order to see what could be seen, for everyone in Mecca
knew of the great wedding that was about to take place. 'Abd al-Muttalib was 7
now over seventy years old, but he was still remarkably young for his age in
every respect; and the slow approach of the two bridegrooms, their natural
grace enhanced by the solemnity of the occasion, was indeed an impressive
sight. But as they drew near, Qutaylah had eyes only for the younger man.
The Year of the Elephant
'Abd Allah was, for beauty, the Joseph of his times. Even the oldest men and
women of Quraysh could not remember having seen his equal. He was now in
his twenty-fifth year, in the full flower of his youth. But Qutaylah was struck
above all-as she had been on other occasions, but never so much as now-by A t that time the Yemen was under the rule of Abyssinia, and an Abyssinian
the radiance that lit his face and that seemed to her to shine from beyond this named Abrahah was vice-regent. He built a magnificent cathedral in San'a',
world. Could it be that 'Abd Allah was the expected Prophet? Or was he to be hoping thereby to make it supersede Mecca as the great place of pilgrimage
the father of the Prophet? for all Arabia. He had marble brought to it from one of the derelict palaces
They had now just passed her, and overcome by a sudden impulse she of the Queen of Sheba, and he set up crosses in it of gold and of silver, and
said "O 'Abd Allah." His father let go his hand as if to tell him to speak to his pulpits of ivory and ebony, and he wrote to his master, the Negus: "I have built
cousin. 'Abd Allah turned back to face her, and she asked him where he was thee a church, 0 King, the like of which was never built for any king before
going. "With my father," he said simply, not out of reticence but because he thee; and I shall not rest until I have diverted unto it the pilgrimage of the
felt sure that she must know that he was on his way to his wedding. "Take me Arabs." Nor did he make any secret of his intention, and great was the anger
here and now as thy wife," she said, "and thou shalt have as many camels as of the tribes throughout l;lijaz and Najd. Finally a man of Kinanah, a tribe akin
those that were sacrificed in thy stead." "I am with my father," he replied. "I to Quraysh, went to San'a' for the deliberate purpose of defiling the church,
cannot act against his wishes, and I cannot leave him." 5 which he did one night and then returned safely to his people.
The marriages took place according to plan, and the two couples stayed When Abrahah heard of this he vowed that in revenge he would raze the
for some days in the house of Wuhayb. During that time 'Abd Allah went to Ka'bah to the ground; and having made his preparations he set off for Mecca
fetch something from his own house, and again he met Qutaylah, the sister with a large army, in the van of which he placed an elephant. Some of the Arab
of Waraqah. Her eyes searched his face with such earnestness that he stopped tribes north of San'a' attempted to bar his way, but the Abyssinians put them
beside her, expecting her to speak. When she remained silent, he asked her to flight and captured their leader, Nufayl of the tribe of Khath'am. By way of
why she did not say to him what she had said the day before. She answered ransom for his life, he offered to act as guide.
him, saying: "The light hath left thee that was with thee yesterday. Today thou When the army reached Tii.'if, the men of Thaqif came out to meet them,
canst not fulfill the need I had of thee."6 afraid that Abrahah might destroy their temple of al-Lat in mistake for the
The year of the marriages was AD 569. The year following this has been Ka'bah. They hastened to point out to him that he had not yet reached his
known ever since as the Year of the Elephant, and it was momentous for more goal, and they offered him a guide for the remainder of his march. Although
than one reason. he already had Nufayl, he accepted their offer, but the man died on the way,
about two miles from Mecca, at a place called Mughammis, and they buried
him. Afterwards the Arabs took to stoning his grave, and the people who live
there still stone it to this day.
Abrahah halted at Mughammis, and sent on a detachment of horse to the
outskirts of Mecca. They took what they could on the way, and sent back their
plunder to Abrahah, including two hundred camels that were the property of
'Abd al-Muttalib. Quraysh and other neighboring tribes held a council of war,
and decided that it was useless to try to resist the enemy. Meanwhile Abrahah
sent a messenger to Mecca, bidding him to ask for the chief man there. He was
to tell him they had not come to fight but only to destroy the temple, and if he
5I.I. 100. 6I.I. 101.
wished to avoid all bloodshed he must come to the Abyssinian camp.

19
20 The Year of the Elephant
The Year of the Elephant 21

There had been no official chief of Quraysh since the time when their followed them. Hopefully they turned round about again, and he also turned,
privileges and responsibilities had been divided between the houses of 'Abd but no sooner was he facing Mecca than again he knelt.
ad-Dar and 'Abdu Maniif. But most people had their opinion as to which of This was the clearest of portents not to move one step further forward,
the chiefs of the clans was in fact if not by right the leading man of Mecca, but Abrahah was blinded by his personal ambition for the sanctuary he had
and on this occasion the messenger was directed to the house of 'Abd al- built and by his determination to destroy its great rival. If they had turned
Mugalib who, together with one of his sons, went back with the messenger back then, perhaps they would all have escaped disaster. But suddenly it
to the camp. When Abrahah saw him he was so impressed by his appearance was too late: the western sky grew black, and a strange sound was heard;
that he rose from his royal seat to greet him and then sat beside him on the its volume increased as a great wave of darkness swept upon them from
carpet, telling his interpreter to inquire if he had a favor to ask. 'Abd al- the direction of the sea, and the air above their heads, as high as they could
Muttalib replied that the army had taken two hundred of his camels and he '· see, was full of birds. Survivors said that they flew with a flight like that of
asked that they should be returned to him. Abrahah was somewhat surprised swifts, and each bird had three pebbles the size of dried peas, one in its beak
at the request, and said that he was disappointed in him, that he should be and one between the claws of each foot. They swooped to and fro over the
thinking of his camels rather than his religion which they had now come to ranks, pelting as they swooped, and the pebbles were so hard and launched
destroy. 'Abd al-Muttalib replied: "I am the lord of the camels, and the temple with such velocity that they pierced even coats of mail. Every stone found its
likewise hath a lord who will defend it." "He cannot defend it against me," mark and killed its man, for as soon as a body was struck its flesh began to
said Abrahah. "We shall see," said 'Abd al-Mugalib. "But give me my cam- rot, quickly in some cases, more gradually in others. Not everyone was hit,
els." And Abrahah gave orders for the camels to be returned. and amongst those spared were Unays and the elephant, but all were terror-
'Abd al-Muttalib returned to Quraysh and advised them to withdraw to stricken. A few remained in the I;Iijaz and earned a livelihood by shepherding
the hills above the town. Then he went with some of his family and others to and other work. But the main part of the army returned in disorder to San'a':
the Sanctuary. They stood beside him, praying to God for His help against Many died by the wayside, and many others, Abrahah included, died soon
Abrahah and his army, and he himself took hold of the metal ring in the after their return. As to Nufayl, he had slipped away from the 'army while all
middle of the Ka'bah door and said: "O God, thy slave protecteth his house. attention was concentrated on the elephant, and he made his way unscathed
Protect Thou Thy House!" Having thus prayed, he went with the others to to the hills above Mecca.
join the rest of Quraysh in the hills at points where they could see what took After that day Quraysh were called by the Arabs "the people of God," and
· place in the valley below. they were held in even greater respect than before, because God had answered
The next morning Abrahah made ready to march into the town, intending their prayers and saved the Ka'bah from destruction. They are still honored,
to destroy the Ka'bah and then return to San'a' by the way they had come. The ·. but rather on account of a second event-no doubt not unconnected with the
elephant, richly caparisoned, was led into the front of the army, which was first-which took place in that same Year of the Elephant.
already drawn up; and when the mighty animal reached his position his keeper
Unays turned him the same way as the troops were turned, that is towards 'Abd Allah, the son of 'Abd al-Muttalib, was not in Mecca at the time of the
Mecca. But Nufayl, the reluctant guide, had marched most of the way in the miracle of the birds. He had gone for trade to Palestine and Syria with one
van of the army with Unays, and had learned from him some of the words of of the caravans; and on his way home he had lodged with his grandmother's
command which the elephant understood; and while the head of Unays was , family in Yathrib, and there he had fallen ill. The caravan went on without him
turned to watch for the signal to advance, Nufayl took hold of the great ear i.f to Mecca and when it brought the news of his illness 'Abd al-Mugalib sent
and conveyed into it a subdued but intense imperative to kneel. Thereupon, to J ij:arith to accompany his brother home as soon as he should be well enough
the surprise and dismay of Abrahah and the troops, the elephant slowly and n to travel. But when Hiirith arrived at the house of his Yathrib cousins they
deliberately knelt himself down to the ground. Unays ordered him to rise, but 1~, answered his greetings with commiserations, and he knew at once that his
Nufayl's word had coincided with a command more powerful than that of ]~'·.brother was dead.
any man, and the elephant would not move. They did everything they could l There was great grief in Mecca when I;Iarith returned. Aminah's one con-
to bring him to his feet; they even beat him about the head with iron bars and t solation was the unborn child of her dead husband, and her solace increased
stuck iron hooks into his belly, but he remained like a rock. Then they tried 1;· as the time of her delivery drew near. She was conscious of a light within
the strategem of making the whole army turn about and march a few paces l her, and one day it shone forth from her so intensely that she could see the
in the direction of the Yemen. He at once rose to his feet, turned around and ,.,;. castles of Bostra in Syria. And she heard a voice say to her: "Thou carriest
J,,.
22 The Year of the Elephant

in thy womb the lord of this people; and when he is born say: 'I place him
beneath the protection of the One, from the evil of every envier'; then name 8
him Mul}.ammad. " 1
Some weeks later the child was born. Aminah was in the home of her
uncle, and she sent word to 'Abd al-Muttalib, asking him to come to see his
grandson. He took the boy in his arms and carried him to the Sanctuary and
The Desert
into the Holy House, where he prayed a prayer of thanksgiving to God for this
gift. Then he brought him once more to his mother, but on the way he showed
him to his own household. He himself was shortly to have another son, by
Aminah's cousin Halah. At the moment his youngest son was the three-year- I t was the custom of all the great families of Arab towns to send their sons,
old 'Abbas who now met him at the door of his house. "This is thy brother; soon after their birth, into the desert, to be suckled and weaned and spend
kiss him," he said, holding out to him the newborn babe, and 'Abbas kissed .part of their childhood amongst one of the Bedouin tribes. Nor had Mecca
him. any reason for being an exception, since epidemics were not infrequent and
the rate of infant mortality was high. But it was not only the desert's fresh air
that they wished their sons to imbibe. That was for their bodies, but the desert
bad also its bounty for souls. Quraysh had only recently taken to the sedentary
life. Until Qu~ayy had told them to build themselves houses around the Sanc-
tuary they had been more or less nomadic. Fixed settlements were perhaps
inevitable, but they were dangerous. Their ancestors' way of life had been the
nobler one, the life of tent-dwellers, often on the move. Nobility and freedom
were inseparable, and the nomad was free. In the desert a man was conscious
of being the lord of space, and in virtue of that lordship he escaped in a sense
from the domination of time. By striking camp he sloughed off his yesterdays;
and tomorrow seemed less of a fatality if its where as well as its when had
yet to come. But the townsman was a prisoner; and to be fixed in one place
-yesterday, today, tomorrow-was to be a target for time, the ruiner of all
things. Towns were places of corruption. Sloth and slovenliness lurked in the
shadow of their walls, ready to take the edge off a man's alertness and vigi-
lance. Everything decayed there, even language, one of man's most precious
possessions. Few of the Arabs could read, but beauty of speech was a virtue
which all Arab parents desired for their children. A man's worth was largely
assessed by his eloquence, and the crown of eloquence was poetry. To have
a great poet in the family was indeed something to be proud of; and the best
poets were nearly always from one or another of the desert tribes, for it was in
the desert that the spoken language was nearest to poetry.
So the bond with the desert had to be renewed in every generation-fresh
air for the breast, pure Arabic for the tongue, freedom for the soul; and many
of the sons of Quraysh were kept as long as eight years in the desert, so that it
might make a lasting impression upon them, though a lesser number of years
was enough for that.
Some of the tribes had a high reputation for nursing and rearing chil-
dren, and amongst these were the Bani Sa'd ibn Bakr, an outlying branch
1
1.1. 102. of Hawazin, whose territory lay to the southeast of Mecca. Aminah was in

23