“Who fed them against hunger and secured them from fear.

“Who fed them against hunger and secured them from fear.” In the previous Surah (Fil) the story of the destruction of the possessors of the elephant and Abrahah's army, who came to Mecca intending to destroy the Ka'ba and obliterate that Sacred House, was stated.

In the first verse of this Surah which is, in fact, the supplement to it, followed to the idea that 'We destroyed the companions of the elephant and made them like straw eaten up' before the advent of the Prophet of Islam (S), it says: "For stabilizing and unifying the Quraish" The term /ilaf/ is an infinitive which means 'uniting together', and the term /ulfat/ means 'a gathering with intimacy and union'.

Some have construed / ilaf/, deriving from another root, to mean 'agreement, compact' which is not appropriate with the content of the Surah.

So, the purpose of using it is for the familiarity and union amongst the Quraish tribe who, together with all the citizens of Mecca, had settled there because of the honour, importance and security of the Holy Ka'ba for which, every year, many people from Arabia and the Arabian Peninsula came to that city for pilgrimage, also taking profit from some commercial and literacy exchanges. All of them were obtained under the existence of that peculiar security.

If the army of Abrahah, and the like, could have disturbed the security or were successful in destroying the Ka'ba, no other people would become familiar with the region. "(We maintain for them) their trading caravans by winter and summer.” The purpose of the unifying and familiarity of the Quraish may be due to their love for their sacred land.

The political and economical importance of the Holy Shrine (Ka'ba), for the Quraish, then secure from the invasions of the hostile tribes in the Arabian Peninsula thus made them monopolize the trade of the area from the North to the South and vice-versa.

In the summer, they used to go to Syria which had moderate weather and in winter to Yemen where they enjoyed a warm climate, for the purposes of trade, and it was by Allah's Grace that they travelled safe and undisturbed on their journeys, otherwise, the routes were not safe and none could travel without being plundered and suffering death and destruction or suffering heavy losses. (Of course, for the same love, they did not leave Mecca to settle in these places).