HAVE YOU NOT seen how your Lord dealt with the people of the elephants?
1
Tafseer
'Abdullāh Ibn 'Abbās / Muḥammad al-Fīrūzabādī
تفسير : and from his narration on the authority of ibn 'abbas that he said about the interpretation of allah's saying (hast thou not seen): '(hast thou not seen) i.e. have you not been informed, o muhammad, in the qur'an (how thy lord dealt with) how your lord punished and destroyed (the owners of the elephant) the people of the negus who intended to destroy the house of allah?
Jalāl al-Dīn al-Maḥallī
تفسير : have you not considered (an interrogative meant to provoke marvel, in other words, ‘marvel at’) the way in which your lord dealt with the men of the elephant?, who was named mahmūd, and the men were abraha, king of yemen and his troops. he had built a church in san‘ā’ in order to divert pilgrims away from mecca to it. a man from among the banū kināna defecated in it and stained its prayer niche with a deflowered virgin’s blood, in contempt of it. abraha then swore that he would knock down the ka‘ba. so he approached mecca with his troops riding yemeni elephants with mahmūd at the vanguard. but when they turned to destroy the ka‘ba, god unleashed upon them what he relates in his words:
Ali ibn Ahmad al-Wahidi
تفسير : (hast thou not seen how thy lord dealt with the owners of the elephant? …) [105:1-5].
this was revealed about the story of the owners of the elephant who intended to destroy the ka'bah and how allah, exalted is he, dealt with them by destroying them and driving them away from the holy sanctuary. this story is well known.
Sahl al-Tustari
تفسير : have you not considered the way in which your lord dealt with the men of the elephant? he said:‘do you not know how your lord dealt with your enemies while you had not yet appeared in this world? thus will he treat your enemies while you are amongst them, and will avert their scheming (makr) from you.’his words, exalted is he:
