He wrote to the Negus saying...

He wrote to the Negus saying, “I have built thee a church, O King, the like of which was never built for any king before thee, and I shall not rest until I have diverted unto it the pilgrimage of the Arabs.’ He did not keep that thought to himself, and the tribes throughout Hijaz and Nejd were very angry. A man of Kinanah, a branch of Quraish, went to San’a for the deliberate purpose of defiling the church which he did one night then returned safely to his people.

When Abraha heard of it, he vowed that in revenge he would raze the Ka’ba to the ground. Having made his preparations, he set off for Mecca with a large army in van of which he placed an elephant. Some Arab tribes of north San’a tried to stop him, but the Abyssinians overpowered them and captured their leader, Nufayl of Khath’am. By way of ransom for his life, Nufayl offered to act as Abraha's road guide.

When Abraha's army reached Taif, the men of Thaqif came out to meet him, being afraid that he might destroy the temple they had built for their god al-Lat in mistake for the Ka’ba. They pointed out to him that he had not yet reached his destination, offering him a road guide of their own for the remainder of the trip.

Although Nufyal was already with him, Abraha accepted their offer, but the Thaqif guide died on the way, about two miles from Mecca, at a place called al-Mughammis where he was buried. The Arabs took to stoning his grave which is still being stoned to this day. Abraha halted at al-Mughammis and sent a detachment of horsemen to Mecca's outskirts.

They plundered whatever they could find on the way and sent it back to Abraha including two hundred camels which were the property of ‘Abdul-Muttalib, Muhammad's grandfather. Quraish and other neighbouring tribes held a war council and decided that it was useless to try to resist the enemy. Meanwhile, Abraha sent a messenger to Mecca to ask for their chief.

He was to tell him that Abraha had not come to fight but only to destroy the Ka’ba, and if he wished to avoid bloodshed, he must come to the Abyssinian camp. ‘Abdul-Muttalib, therefore, had no choice except to meet Abraha. When the latter saw him entering his tent, he was so impressed by him that he rose from his royal seat to greet him and to seat him beside himself on the carpet.

Abraha did not speak Arabic; Amheric was his tongue, so he had to communicate with ‘Abdul-Muttalib through an interpreter whom he told to inquire if ‘Abdul-Muttalib had a favour to ask.