His saying, the Exalted: "Which rises over the hearts."

19476 - From Muḥammad ibn Kaʿb regarding His saying: "Which rises over the hearts," he said: "It consumes everything of him until it reaches his heart. Once it reaches his heart, his creation begins anew."

His saying, the Exalted: "In extended columns."

19477 - From Ibn Masʿūd that he recited: "In extended columns (fī ʿumudin)," and he said: "They are the iron bars."

19478 - From Ibn ʿAbbās regarding His saying: "In columns (ʿumudin)," he said: "The doors."

19479 - From Abū Ṣāliḥ regarding His saying: "In extended columns (ʿumudin mumaddadah)," he said: "Long shackles."

19480 - From al-Suddī, he said: "Whoever recites it as 'fī ʿumudin' (in columns), it means columns of fire; and whoever recites it as 'fī ʿamadin' (in columns), it means an extended rope."

Sūrat al-Fīl

105

His saying, the Exalted: "With the People of the Elephant."

19481 - From ʿUthmān ibn al-Mughīrah ibn al-Akhnas, he said: "The story of the People of the Elephant was that Abrahah al-Ashram al-Ḥabashī was the King of Yemen. His grandson, Uksūm ibn al-Ṣabbāḥ al-Ḥumayrī, went out on pilgrimage. When he returned from Mecca, he stayed in a church in Najrān. Some people from Mecca went out to it and took the jewelry that was in it, and they took the possessions of Uksūm. He returned to his grandfather in a state of anger. So he sent a man from his companions called Shahr ibn Maʿqūd, at the head of twenty thousand from Khawlān and the Ashʿarīs. They marched until they camped in the land of Khathʿam. The Khathʿam withdrew from their path. When he neared al-Ṭāʾif, some people from the tribes of Khathʿam, Naṣr, and Thaqīf went out to him and said: 'What is your need for our town? It is only a small village, but we will guide you to a House in Mecca that is worshipped, and it is a sanctuary for whoever seeks refuge in it from Mecca; then he will have the sovereignty of the Arabs. So go for it and leave us alone.' So he came to it until he reached al-Mighmas, where he found one hundred camels belonging to ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib that were marked for sacrifice, so he plundered them among his companions. When that reached ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib, he came to him, and he was a man of beauty, and he had a friend among the people of Yemen called Dhū ʿAmr. He asked him to return his camels to him, so he said: 'I cannot do that, but if you wish, I will take you in to the King.' ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib said: 'Do so.' He took him in to him, and he said to him: 'I have a need for you.' He said: 'I have granted every need you ask for.' He said: 'I am in a sacred land, and in a path between the land of the Arabs and the land of the non-Arabs, and there were one hundred of my camels marked for sacrifice grazing in this valley between Mecca and Tihāmah, bearing the provisions of their people and going out for their trade and carrying [the burden of] our enemy. Your army attacked them and took them, and someone like you should not be unjust to those who are neighbors to him.' He turned to Dhū ʿAmr, then clapped one of his hands against the other in astonishment, and said: 'If he had asked me for everything I have, I would have given it to him. As for his camels, we have returned them to you, and the like of them with them. But what prevents you from speaking to me about this building of yours and this land of yours?' ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib said to him: 'As for this building of ours and this land of ours, they have a Lord who, if He wishes, will defend them. However, I am only speaking to you about my wealth.' He ordered the departure at that, and said: 'The Kaʿbah shall be demolished and Mecca shall be finished.' So ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib returned saying: 'O Lord, a man defends his home, so defend Your sanctuary. Do not let their cross and their schemes overcome Your schemes, for if You do that, then perhaps You will protect, so command what appears to You. For if You do it, it is a matter by which You complete Your actions. They set out in the morning to gather them and the elephant to capture Your children. If You leave them and the Kaʿbah, then what a war there will be there!' When Shahr and the People of the Elephant turned [to proceed], and they had gathered what they had gathered, every time they pointed them [the elephants] towards it, they would kneel and sit down. And if they turned them away from it towards where they had come from, they would speed up. They remained like that until night covered them and birds from the sea came out upon them; they had beaks like the sycamore fruit, similar to bats, red and black. When they saw them, they were terrified of them, and their situation collapsed. They pelted them with rounded stones like bullets that would land on their bodies, and they did not see... he covered them. He sent his son on a fast horse to see what had happened to them, and they were all smashed. He returned lifting his head, exposing his thigh. When his father saw that, he said: 'My son is the best horseman of the Arabs, and he only exposed his thigh as a bringer of good news or a warner.' When he neared their gathering, they said: 'What is behind you?' He said: 'They have all perished.' ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib and his companions then went and took their wealth.

And ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib recited poetry regarding the meaning:"