“Thus He made them like straw eaten up.

“Thus He made them like straw eaten up.” The Occasion of Revelation Ali-ibn-al-Husain (as) says in a tradition: "Abu-Taleb always defended, with his sword, the Messenger of Allah (S), in the wars.” He continued and said: "(One day) Abu-Taleb said: 'O my nephew, are you appointed for all peoples, entirely, or only for your own people in particular?' The Prophet (S) said that he had been appointed for all the human beings, entirely, whether they are white or black, Arab or non-Arab, and by Him in Whose hand was his soul, he was (appointed) to invite to the portent (the religion), all peoples, either white or black whether they were on the tops of the mountains or in the depths of the seas, and he was (appointed) to invite (the speakers of all) languages in Persia (Iran) and Rome, “Then, the Quraish, (hearing that), became astonished and considered it great and said: 'Do you not hearken to your nephew and what he says?

By Allah, if Persians and Romans hear this, they will snatch us from our land and surely they will break the Ka'ba into pieces of stone'. Hence, Allah sent down this verse: “They say: 'If we were to follow the guidance with thee, we should be snatched away from our land'.

Have We not established for them a secure sanctuary, to which are brought as tribute fruits of all kinds..." [^2] And for the phrase that they said: 'they break the Ka'ba into pieces of stone', He sent down Surah Fil (in order to tell them that no one could accomplish such an action)”, The Story of the of the Elephants Commentators and historians have cited this story differently and they are divided as to when it had happened.

But, the story, on the whole, is so well-known that it is counted in the line of widely transmitted chains of narrations. Here is a summary of it according to what is mentioned in 'Sirah' by Ibn-i-Husham, Buluq-ul-Irab, Bihar-ul-Anwar, and Majma'-al-Bayan. Zu-Nuwas, the king of Yemen, persecuted the Christians of Najran, who lived there, in order to force them to leave their Faith. (The Qur'an has pointed out with the terms of /ashab-i-uxdud/ ‘the makers of the pit of Fire' in Surah Buruj, No.