Alam Tara Kaifa Surah Translation in English, Arabic, and Transliteration (Sural Al Fil)

The 105th chapter of the Holy Quran is Surah Al Fil which is also called Alam Tara Kaifa Surah.

Here is the, translation, tafsir and transliteration of Surah Feel in English.

Which Surah Is Alam Tara Kaifa?

Surah Al Fil or Surah Al feel which means the chapter of elephant is surah Alam Tara Kaifa. It is one of the shortest Surah in the Qur’an which has five verses.

Alam Tara Kaifa Surah Translation In English

1. Have you not heard how your Lord dealt with the army of the elephant?
2. Did He not cause their evil plans to go awry.
3. And send against them birds in flocks.
4. Pelting them with stones of baked clay.
5. And making them like a crop devoured and trampled?

Transliteration Of Surah Fil

• Alam tara kaifa fa’ala Rabbuka bi as habil fil
• Alam yaj’al kaiydahum fii tadleel
• Wa arsala alaiyhim daiyran abaa bil
• Tar meehim bihijaaratin min sijjeel
• Fa ja’alahum ka’asfin ma’akuul

Surah Al-Fil (Arabic Text)

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

• أَلَمْ تَرَ كَيْفَ فَعَلَ رَبُّكَ بِأَصْحَابِ الْفِيلِ (١)
• أَلَمْ يَجْعَلْ كَيْدَهُمْ فِي تَضْلِيلٍ (٢)
• وَأَرْسَلَ عَلَيْهِمْ طَيْرًا أَبَابِيلَ (٣)
• تَرْمِيهِم بِحِجَارَةٍ مِّن سِجِّيلٍ (٤)
• فَجَعَلَهُمْ كَعَصْفٍ مَّأْكُولٍ (٥)

What does Surah Al Feel teach us?

That is, have you not seen the might and power of Allah, His mercy towards His slaves, and the evidence for His oneness.

And the truthfulness of His Messenger Muhammad (SAW), namely the way in which He dealt with the army of the elephant, who plotted against His Sacred House and wanted to destroy it?

They equipped themselves for that purpose, and brought with them an elephant to destroy it.

They came with a huge army from Ethiopia and Yemen that the Arabs could not withstand.

When they reached the vicinity of Makkah, having encountered no resistance from the Arabs and the people of Makkah fled the city, fearing for their lives, Allah sent against them birds in flocks.

That is, in scattered groups, carrying heated stones of baked clay.

They pelted the army with those stones and struck them all, from the first to the last of them.

They were turned into lifeless bodies and became like a crop devoured and trampled.

Allah dealt with their evil and caused their plot to backfire, and their story is very well known.

That was the year in which the Messenger of Allah (SAW) was born, and it became one of the portents and precursors of his mission.

All Praises Are Due To Allah.

Why Was Surah Al-fil Revealed?

Allah comforted His Messenger, Muhammad during a difficult era early in his prophethood through this surah.

It was also a warning to Quraysh’s disbelievers and a reminder of how Allah had preserved His House from harm while the polytheists and their idols were powerless to do so.

Likewise, Allah’s Messenger SAW would be protected by Him until the completion of his mission.

At that time, Yemen was ruled by Abrahah al-Ashram, a Christian Abyssinian monarch.

He had constructed a splendid cathedral in Sana’a and decided to force Arab pilgrims to visit it rather than the Kabah in Makkah.

The Arabs in Yemen were extremely angered, and some committed acts of violence on the cathedral as a result.

As a result, Abrahah set out to demolish the Kabah.

He was in charge of a 60,000-man army led by a massive elephant.

His army marched uncontested until it reached Makkah’s boundaries.

The Quraysh, unable to resist, were forced to seek refuge in the adjacent mountains.

The invading army could now penetrate the city and attack the Ka’bah with ease.

However, Allah, the Almighty, had willed otherwise.

They pushed the elephant toward Makkah, but it refused to advance by command of its creator.

Allah then sent flocks of birds carrying stones, which they hurled at the aggressors, ripping their skin and infecting them with sickness.

Many died on the spot, while others fled in panic and died on the way back.

Abrahah was brought back to San’a in agony, where he died a horrible death in front of his people.

Later that year, in what the tribes called “the Year of the Elephant,” Prophet Muhammad SAW was born.

Alam Tara Kaifa Meaning

While the polytheists believed Allah had saved His House for them, it was later revealed that He had saved it for His ultimate Messenger, who would restore Allah’s worship alone, without partners or intercessors.

The Arabs throughout the peninsula were fully aware of the occurrence, so much so that it was the topic of poetry, and the polytheists themselves saw it as a sign of Allah’s miraculous power.

It was a recent occurrence, and many of the people had witnessed it.

There was no need to expound on the story because the Prophet SAW was also familiar with it.

Allah tells him of it in simple words, emphasising its importance.

And it was through these words that the Quraysh disbelievers were warned.

Allah will make His adversaries perish.

They should think about kayfa (how) – that it could happen in unforeseen ways.

And by referring to Himself as Rabbuka, He is reaffirming His support for His Messenger (your Lord).

As a result, people should avoid opposing Allah’s Messenger.

Only Allah has the power to protect His House, to do as He wills, and to eliminate or destroy whom He pleases.

Kayd is a plot or a strategy.

Abrahah’s plot to demolish the Kabah had taken a lot of thought, time, and work.

He devised a strategy and then directed and trained his army and elephants, certain of a quick victory.

And Allah allowed them to continue to believe in their supremacy until He decreed that their sophisticated plot would be defeated and squandered.

Abrahah prepared to enter Makkah, according to Ibn Ishaq’s Seerah.

His army was organised, and the elephant was guided against the Kabah.

The elephant, however, knelt and refused to move forward.

It was beaten by Abrahah’s men in an attempt to get it to rise, but it refused due to its Lord’s instruction.

They tried to make the elephant stand by hitting it with axes and pulling it with hooked poles, but it refused.

Then they pointed it toward Yemen, and it swiftly rose and walked.

When they pointed it toward ash-Sham or east, it performed the same thing.

When they turned it toward Makkah, though, it knelt down once more.

In Surah al-Mudaththir, Allah says:

And none knows the soldiers of your Lord except Him.

As for the second verse,

Allah sent birds from the sea, resembling swallows and herons, to attack them.

Tayr are birds (tuyur) of every kind, and ababeel are groups of every species.

Allah sent flocks upon flocks of these birds against the vast army of invaders, launching hard stones at them from a great height.

Some of the army was destroyed right away, while others were broken down limb by limb as they tried to flee.

One of them was Abrahah.

Ibn Ishaq, a historian, wrote:

“Abrahah’s body was plagued by the stone pestilence, and his army took him away with them as he crumbled piece by piece till they returned to San’a.”

He looked like a young bird chick when they got there.

And he didn’t pass away until his heart was ripped from his chest.”

As a result of their evil plan, Allah took such retribution on them that Allah reduced their powerful army to husks chewed by cattle.

Ibn Zayd said,

“Asf is the leaves and produce of vegetation; when cattle eat it, they excrete, and it turns into manure.”

Ibn ‘Abbas said,

“Asf is the grain’s shell, similar to wheat’s covering.”

Asf is defined by Ibn Katheer as the leaves of crops that are left on the ground and not harvested, causing them to dry up and crumble.

He went on to say,

“What this means is that Allah, the Exalted, devastated them, demolished them, and sent them back empty-handed, having accomplished nothing useful.”

He annihilated them all, and not a single one of them returned [to Yemen] to report anything other than that he had been wounded, which was their leader, Abrahah’s condition.

By the time he arrived in San’a, he had been torn open and his heart had been revealed.

He died after informing the people of what had happened to them.

According to the two Saheehs, on the day of Makkah’s capture, Allah’s Messenger SAW said,

“Indeed, Allah withheld the elephant from Makkah, and He has now granted dominion over it to His Messenger and the believers.”

Its sacredness has been restored today, as it was previously.

So let those who are present communicate with those who are not.”

Allah Knows Best.