His saying: "For the accustomed security of the Quraysh" (Li-īlāfi Qurayshin), meaning their being accustomed to it. "The winter and summer caravan" (Riḥlati ash-shitā'i wa-aṣ-ṣayf). The interpretation of some is that they had a journey in the winter to Yemen because it is hot, and another in the summer to the Levant (al-Shām) because it is cold.

Muhammad said: It is said that "Li-īlāfin" is the verbal noun of "alaftu" (I accustomed). You say: "Alaftu fulānan kadhā īlāfan" (I accustomed so-and-so to such-and-such), just as you say: "Alzamtuhu iyyāhu ilzāman" (I compelled him to it). The meaning is: He did this to the Companions of the Elephant so that He might accustom the Quraysh to these two journeys, so that they would remain in Mecca.