You prevented the army and the elephants, while they had pastured the elephants in Mecca. We feared battle from them, and every difficult matter from them. Gratitude and praise to You, Possessor of Majesty.

Shahr turned away fleeing alone, and at the first station he arrived at, his right hand fell off. Then he reached another station and his right leg fell off, and he arrived at his home as a torso without limbs. He told them the news, and then his soul departed while they were looking on. (1)

His saying: "[Ababil] (flocks of) birds."

19482- Narrated to us from Ibn Masʿūd regarding his saying: "[Ababil] birds," he said: They are groups. (2)

19483- Abū Zurʿah narrated to us, ʿAbd Allāh b. Muḥammad b. Abī Shaybah narrated to us, Abū Muʿāwiyah narrated to us, from al-Aʿmash, from Abū Sufyān, from ʿUbayd b. ʿUmayr al-Laythī, who said: When Allāh intended to destroy the People of the Elephant, Allāh sent upon them birds that originated from the sea, looking as though they were birds of prey. In the claw of each bird among them were three marked stones: one stone in its beak and two stones in its feet. Then they came until they were lined up over their heads, then they cried out and dropped what was in their feet and beaks. No stone fell from them upon a man except that it came out from the other side. If it fell on his head, it came out from his rear, and if it fell on any part of his body, it came out from the other side. And Allāh sent a strong wind that struck their feet, increasing its intensity, and they were all destroyed. (3)

19484- From ʿIkrimah regarding His saying: "[Ababil] birds," he said: They are white birds, and in another wording, green birds that came from the direction of the sea. Their faces were the faces of beasts of prey, not seen before that nor after. They affected their skins like smallpox, and it was the first time smallpox was seen. (4)

His saying: "[Like eaten straw (ʿaṣf maʾkūl)]."

19485- From Ibn ʿAbbās regarding "like eaten straw," he said: It is the birds, the husk of the crops. (5)