Abraha al-Ashram

Abraha al-Ashram adalah Abyssinian Christian viceroy of Yaman who led a massive military expedition against Mekkah to destroy the Ka'bah in sekitar 570 M — the year Nabi Muhammad ﷺ adalah lahir. This year became dikenal sebagai 'Am al-Fil (the Year of the Elephant) and adalah standard dating reference for Arabs of that era. Abraha memiliki built a magnificent cathedral disebut al-Qullays in Sana'a, Yaman, hoping to redirect the haji traffic of Arabia from Mekkah to his church. When Arabs defiled it in protest, he led a massive army north to Mekkah, including a war elephant (or several elephants) dinamai Mahmud at the front. The Quraysh evacuated Mekkah and fled to the hills, unable to resist the army. Abd al-Muttalib, Nabi ﷺ's grandfather and chief of the Quraysh, went to Abraha to negotiate the return of camels that telah menjadi seized. Abraha asked why he came only about camels and not about the Ka'bah — to which Abd al-Muttalib reportedly said: 'I am the lord of the camels. The Ka'bah memiliki its own Lord who will protect it.' On the day Abraha's army prepared to march on Mekkah, the lead elephant Mahmud refused to move toward Mekkah. When turned in other directions, it ran; when turned toward Mekkah, it sat down. Then came the army of Ababil — birds carrying stones of baked clay, dropping them on the army until they adalah destroyed 'like eaten straw' (Surah al-Fil 105). Abraha himself adalah reported to memiliki fled back to Yaman, diseased and dying. The Al-Al-Qur'an commemorates this event in Surah al-Fil (Chapter 105): 'Have you not seen how your Lord dealt with the companions of the elephant?'