The Encyclopedia Britannica states that Abraha’s reign ended in 575 AD, when the Persian Sassanids attacked Yemen. This means Abraha was present at the time of the Prophet’s birth — he did not die years before it.

The desert elephant (found in Africa and desert regions) can:

• Travel between 62 and 93 miles (99.8–149.7 km) per day in search of food and water
• Navigate sand, rocks, and desert mountains
• Travel up to 200 km in a single day according to some scientific sources
• Endure thirst for up to four days, obtaining moisture from the plants it eats
• Endure hunger for several weeks, depending on stored body fat
• Smell water from 5 km away
• Dig wells with its trunk and tusks

At desert elephant speeds, the journey would take only 5–10 days — not months, as the enemies of Islam claim.

Even an Indian elephant, which covers 30 miles on an average day, could make the trip in about 20 days at leisure — or faster if hurried.

Johannis Malalae, Chronographia, xviii. Bonn. ed. pp. 457, 458

Encyclopaedia Ethiopica (2: 256)

The green arrow indicates vegetation areas. The black arrow indicates the location of Mecca next to Taif.

The red dots indicate the locations of wells along the road.

Areas in dark and light blue are areas with good rainfall.

Source: Lecture on groundwater management in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia — Dr. Ali Saad Al-Takhis — UN International Water Conference, Zaragoza, 2012/2013.

The Qur’an does not mention that Abraha’s army contained several thousand elephants. It is therefore pointless for the enemies of Islam to attack the Qur’an based on something the Qur’an never stated.

The word (Hajj) in the Arabic language means “visiting a place.” Therefore, the word is used for visiting any place that is important to its followers.

You will find news and Christian websites mentioning the phrase: “Pilgrimage to the Church of the Resurrection” — as hundreds of Christians go every year to visit it.

Abraha wanted people to visit his church just as Arabs visited the Kaaba — the same thing Christian priests have always done: establishing a specific location, placing relics or icons there, and attracting visitors and donations.

The Qarmatians, however, never destroyed the Kaaba at all. They even returned the Black Stone they had stolen — after Allah afflicted their leader with smallpox leading to his death, and the camels they used to carry the Black Stone kept dying one after another.

The situations are fundamentally different. God protected the Kaaba in both cases.

Any geologist knows that stones — especially clay — undergo:

• Mechanical weathering: disintegrating into smaller and smaller pieces over months and years, then blown away by wind
• Chemical weathering: minerals changing into new, different minerals
• Flooding: sweeping away soil in the Arabian Peninsula
• Sand coverage: burying the stones under drifting sand

Therefore, it is extremely difficult to find these stones approximately 1,500 years after the event. If anything remains, it will most likely be dirt or a pebble the size of a fingernail or smaller.

• The altar that Abraham built with stones, as the Bible claims?
• The stone that Jacob set up, anointed with oil, and named “Bethel”?
• The two stone tablets that God gave to Moses?
• The stones Moses commanded his people to bring after crossing the Jordan (Deuteronomy 27)?
• The twelve stones the Prophet Joshua spoke of (Joshua 4), claiming they would remain a memorial forever?
• The altars the prophets built with stones?
• The alleged cross of Jesus?

Where, where, and a thousand wheres?!

Therefore, some Islamic books report that Abraha fled with part of his army after the incident.

Using the same logic: where are the skeletons of the soldiers who died in the wars mentioned in the Holy Bible? Throughout history, millions of soldiers have died — where are the millions of corpses?

Meanwhile, the same Bible neglects important details such as the explicit formulation of the Trinity — which cannot be found in a single clear text anywhere in the Bible.

As for the elephant campaign: its date and location are well known in Islamic history books. It occurred in a year the Arabs called “the Year of the Elephant”, and the location was in the Wadi Al-Maghmas region, miles from Mecca.

• The borders of Yemen
• The western Najran region
• The Asir region
• The Al-Baha region
• Mecca

These areas have abundant natural vegetation and wells along the route.

• Abdul Muttalib
• Talib bin Abi Talib
• Umayya bin Abi Al-Salt
• Abu Qais bin Al-Aslat
• Nafil bin Habib — and others.

See: The Book of Poetry of the Six Pre-Islamic Poets — p. 218 — by Al-Alam Al-Shantamari. The Book of Poetry of Abdullah bin Al-Zubayri — p. 49 — by Dr. Yahya Al-Jubouri.

“Where is the escape when the seeking God… and the defeated Ashram is not the victorious one?”

• Placed icons and statues of Christ and his mother
• Prostrated before them
• Burned incense to them
• Sought blessings from them
• Asked Christ and his mother for help, support, provision, and healing

These Christians are pagans who believe in several gods and worship a human being — just as the ancient Greeks and Egyptians did. So what is the difference between them and the polytheists of Quraysh on this point?

Note that the Quraysh themselves fled to the mountains. Some Arab tribes even fought with Abraha, others fled, and some became his agents. The protection was of the Sacred House, which would later become the center of Islam — and the miracle was a sign for the Arabs to return to the worship of God alone and abandon idolatry.

Encyclopaedia Ethiopica (2: 256)

The highlands of Yemen (Sana’a, Taiz, Hodeidah) have a moderate climate: relatively moderate summer temperatures, seasonal monsoon rains, and around 15°C in winter.

Yemen’s coastal areas (Aden, Mukalla) have a tropical, hot, and humid climate with temperatures of 30–35°C year-round, high humidity, and heavy seasonal rains in summer. These regions are not dry, as the enemies of Islam claim.

Furthermore, elephants can live in mountainous regions — some Indian elephants live in the temperate Sahyadri Mountains or the Eastern Himalayas.

Areas such as Taiz, Aden, and Hodeidah overlook the coast facing Ethiopia — a suitable area for receiving elephants. Even today, Yemen has a zoo with elephants in it.

• Tetanus — caused by Clostridium tetani bacteria, which lives in hot climates and survives heat
• Sepsis — caused by infected wounds, often fatal without modern healthcare
• Gangrene — famous in ancient times, causing gradual tissue death and death
• Cellulitis — commonly caused by contaminated wounds

Taher Ibn Ashur — Al-Tahrir wa Al-Tanzir (30/549): “The correct version is what was narrated on the authority of Aishah: that it is most similar to hooks.”

Furthermore, the Quraysh also had their own calendar based on lunar months (Muharram, Safar, Rabi’ al-Awwal, etc.), and they dated years according to the most important incidents they faced — such as the Year of the Elephant, the Year of the Fijar, the Year of Treachery, etc.

In Taif there was the idol Al-Lat. When Abraha passed by Taif, Masoud bin Mu’tab went out with the men of Thaqif, humbled themselves before Abraha, and offered to guide him to Mecca — in exchange for him sparing Al-Lat. Abraha pardoned them, and they sent Abu Righal as a guide. The Arabs later stoned Abu Righal’s grave after his death as a traitor.

Al-Tabari’s History (2/131 and following); Al-Tabari’s Interpretation (30/167, 30/194); Al-Qurtubi’s Interpretation (20/188)

Abdullah Abdul Jabbar — The Story of Literature in the Hijaz (1/210): “Al-Zubaidi and Ibn Manzur reported on the authority of Al-Jawhari that it was called ‘Kaaba Al-Yamamah.’ This is a mistake by Al-Jawhari or a distortion by the copyist, as the difference is clear between Al-Yamamah and Al-Yamaniyyah, and the place is different.”

Furthermore, Al-Yamamah was located northeast of Mecca — meaning anyone coming from Yemen would have to pass through Mecca first before reaching Al-Yamamah. The direct route from Yemen to Al-Yamamah also lacked food and water resources.

1. The Qalis built by Abraha al-Ashram al-Habashi himself in Yemen. It is inconceivable that Abraha would demolish something he himself built.

2. A completely different building built by Abraha ibn Sabah al-Himyari — a descendant of Abraha al-Habashi — built years after the Elephant Incident, and therefore did not exist during Abraha al-Habashi’s campaign.

Yaqut Al-Hamawi — Dictionary of Countries (2/383) Ibn Abd Rabbih al-Andalusi — Al-Iqd al-Farid (3/320) Muhammad Sulayman al-Tayyib — Encyclopedia of Arab Tribes (7/667)

Jawad Ali — Al-Mufassal fi Tarikh Al-Arab (11/412): “It is difficult for us to determine the form of the idol houses in other temples, as there is no text specifying the nature of those houses. We do not know whether they were cubes or other shapes.”

Al-Mawardi — Al-Nukat wa Al-Uyun (6/339); Al-Rawdh Al-Anf (1/40); Al-Qurtubi (20/188); Al-Azraqi’s History (1/9); Ibn Khayyat’s History

Al-Qurtubi (20/188); Al-Tabari (30/193)

Al-Kashaf (4/233); Ruh al-Ma’ani (28/233); Tafsir al-Fakhr al-Razi (31/96); Ibn Kathir (4/549); Al-Naysaburi (30/163)

The Encyclopedia of Islam (1/61) states: “Abraha is Abraham in the Ethiopian language” — a name given to Christians. Those who compiled the Encyclopedia of Islam were European Christians and Jews hostile to Islam, yet none of them challenged the name Abraha — they acknowledged it and cited the historian Procopius and the book (Leges Homeritarum).

Even today, modern Ethiopian (Amharic) contains the name Abraha. The word “bright/radiant” in Amharic is (ብሩህ) — pronounced (Bruhi).

Al-Tabari narrated that Abraha sent a messenger to Mecca saying: “I have not come to fight you. I have come to demolish the Kaaba. If you do not offer war over it, I have no need of your blood.”

Just as the Christian Roman emperors issued orders to demolish pagan temples and convert them into churches — Abraha sought to control the most important regions of the Arabian Peninsula, including Mecca, and to spread Christianity throughout its tribes.

• Pyrrhus of Epirus (Greek commander) — trained elephants to attack, trample, and ram the enemy, with a dedicated legion of soldiers assigned to ride and direct them
• The Nanda and Gangaridian empires — deployed 3,000–6,000 war elephants, halting Alexander’s advance into India
• Alexander the Great — established elephant units to guard his palace in Babylon
• The Sassanids — used elephants in many campaigns, including the Battle of Avarayr (451 AD) against the Armenians
• Shapur, King of Persia — used elephants in the siege of Nisibis (338 AD)
• The Romans — captured elephants after the Punic Wars and used them in the conquest of Greece, Macedonia, and Britain
• The Carthaginians — used elephants in their wars

The Christian who mocks the use of elephants in war needs to reckon with his own scripture first.

The argument proves nothing. Every military asset carries risk. The elephant’s thick skin provides significant protection compared to human soldiers, and its height provides tactical advantage — as the Illustrated London News already noted.

This is not a new claim invented by enemies of Islam — it was already known and discussed within Islamic scholarship.

Ibn Taymiyyah — Minhaj al-Sunnah (4/583): “None of them intended to insult the Kaaba. Whoever says that any of God’s creation intended to throw a catapult or excrement at the Kaaba has lied.”

Furthermore, historical books mention that God sent a thunderbolt that burned the catapult and its people:

Ibn Asakir — History (12/120): “Then a thunderbolt came and burned them all, so the people refrained from shooting.”

As for Al-Hajjaj’s later demolition of the Kaaba — this was to rebuild and restore it to its original dimensions on the orders of Caliph Abd al-Malik. He demolished it to rebuild, not to destroy.

Mustafa al-Siba’i — The Sunnah and its Status (p. 243): “Trustworthy historians did not differ that the one who built the dome was Al-Walid bin Abdul-Malik. This is what Ibn Asakir, Al-Tabari, Ibn Al-Athir, Ibn Khaldun, Ibn Kathir, and others mentioned.”

Ahmed Moharam Al-Sheikh Naji — The Shining Light (p. 266): “Reliable historical sources do not mention that it was Abd al-Malik who built the Dome of the Rock.”

Furthermore, the claim that Abd al-Malik diverted the Hajj from Mecca to the Dome of the Rock originates from Al-Ya’qubi alone — who was known for his hatred of the Umayyads — and contradicts himself two pages later, mentioning the Umayyad banner on Mount Arafat in the year 68 AH, and that Abd al-Malik himself performed Hajj to the Kaaba in 75 AH.

Does defiling a place require knowing the language of that place?

Moreover, no one denies that some Arabs knew the Yemeni language. Arabs traveled to Yemen regularly on trade trips. The Prophet ﷺ himself sent companions to Yemen to teach its people Islam.

• Sidney Smith, “Events in Arabia in the 6th century AD,” Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, Vol. XVI (1954)
• A. F. L. Beeston, ABRAHA in Encyclopaedia of Islam (1960)
• Beeston, “Problems of Sabaen Chronology,” BSOAS, Vol. XXVI (1954)
• M. J. Kister, “The Campaign of Huluban. A New Light on the Expedition of ‘Abraha,” Le Muséon, Vol. LXXVIII (1965)
• Sergew Hable-Selassie, Ancient and Medieval Ethiopian History to 1270 (Addis Ababa, 1972)
• T. Noldeke, Geschichte der Perser und Araber Zeit der Sassaniden (Leyden, 1879)
• F. Praetorius, “Bemerkungen zu den beiden grossen Inschriften von Dammbruch zu Marib,” ZDMG, Vol. LIII (1899)
• E. Glaser, “Zwei Inschriften über den Dammbruch von Mareb,” Mitteillungen der Vorderasiatischen Gesellschaft, VI (1897)
• A. Wiedemann in Orientalische Litteratur-Zeitung, I (1898)
• Procopius (H. B. Dewing, ed.), De Bello Persico (London, 1957), I, xx