The Year of the Elephant

It was in the year 570 CE, a year that would forever mark the history of the Arabian Peninsula. , the Christian governor of Yemen for the Kingdom of Aksum, had erected a massive and magnificent cathedral in Sana'a, named al-Qullays. His goal was to redirect Arabian pilgrims away from the Kaaba, the ancestral sanctuary in Mecca.

Outraged by the refusal of Arab tribes and following the desecration of the cathedral by a member of the Kinana tribe, entered a furious rage. He vowed to destroy the Kaaba with his own hands and raised a powerful army of sixty thousand men, led by a legendary war elephant named Mahmoud.

As the army approached Mecca, the Quraysh, under the leadership of , the Prophet's grandfather, withdrew into the surrounding mountains, knowing they were militarily incapable of standing against them. made his famous statement to : "I am the owner of the camels, and this House has its own Owner who will protect it."

Then the miracle occurred, immortalized in Surah al-Fil: