Allah’s House

Not much time had passed since Abdullah’s death, now Abdul Muttalib, who was in grief over his beloved son, was facing another distress. Abraha, the governor of Yemen at that time, gathered his army to destroy the Ka’ba in Mecca, which was the house of Allah. The fact that the Arabs visited the Ka’ba in such large groups made Abraha feel very indisposed, so he built a big church in his own land as an alternative to the Ka’ba. He mobilized all his troops and workers, and set to work immediately on an imposing and magnificent church. His intention was to turn the attention of the people who went to the Ka’ba to that church. For the most part though, no one paid attention to Abraha’s church. People, as usual were hurrying to the Ka’ba for pilgrimage.

In the meantime, the Arabs began making fun of that church in their poetry readings. A man who heard that Abraha built the church to change the pilgrims’ direction went secretly to that church and dirtied it. This incident was the last straw for Abraha. He immediately ordered the preparation of a large army.

He began threatening that he would pull the stones of the Ka’ba out one by one and destroy them all.

Then, he prepared an army of sixty thousand men and started marching towards Mecca. There was also a huge elephant called Mahmud in the army. When the army approached Mecca, Abraha’s soldiers began to raid Quraysh’s goods. They even confiscated two hundred camels of Abdul Muttalib, who was the head of Mecca at the time. Upon hearing about the power of the approaching army, the people of Mecca understood that they did not have much of a chance, and started to wait with hopelessness. After a while, Abraha sent his delegate to Abdul Muttalib with the following message: “I did not come to fight you. The only reason I came is to destroy the Ka’ba. If you do not oppose me, I will have nothing to do with you and I will not harm you.”

Upon receiving this message, Abdul Muttalib said, “I swear to Allah that it is not our intention to fight him. We do not have the strength for that anyway. However, this house is Allah’s house. If he wishes, then he will definitely protect it. If he wills it to be destroyed, then we have no chance to protect it today.” Afterwards, he went to Abraha with his delegate.

When Abraha saw Abdul Muttalib, he was impressed with his imposing stance. He entertained Abdul Muttalib royally. He came down from his high seat and sat down together with Abdul Muttalib on the floor. He asked with the help of his translator, “What do you want from me?”

“I want you to return my two hundred camels that your soldiers plundered,” replied Abdul Muttalib.

Abraha was confused. What kind of a leader was he? He was threatening to destroy his land, but he was after his own property. He did not care about what was going to happen. He could not hide his feelings and said, “To tell you the truth, I was very impressed with you at first. However, the more I talk to you, the more I understand that you are not the man I thought you were. I am telling you that I came to destroy your Ka’ba, and all you care about are your camels.”

With great seriousness, Abdul Muttalib said the following phrase, word for word: “I am just the owner of the camels. The owner of the Ka’ba is Allah. Surely, He will protect his house!”

Abraha was very angry. He shouted with anger, “Nobody is able to protect it against me! Nobody!”

Without changing his attitude, Abdul Muttalib in return said, “If so, then there is Him and there is you.”

The atmosphere tensed up almost immediately. Abraha, who had become furious at the response he received, gave Abdul Muttalib his camels and sent him away. After returning to Mecca, Abdul Muttalib gathered his people and warned them of Abraha’s threat and advised them to escape to the mountains to save their lives. On the other side, Abraha prepared his army and ordered them to destroy the Ka’ba. However, some men in his army would not obey his orders. A man named Nufayl, who was appointed to command the elephants, whispered into the biggest elephant ear, Mahmud, who was expected to do a great job, “Kneel down where you are and do not stand back up! Then go back to the place that you were born –Because you are in a blessed land.”

He then departed and took refuge in the mountains. Indeed, as a miracle from Allah, Mahmud knelt down, and despite all the stress put on him, he refused to stand. No matter what, he would not walk towards Mecca. However, when his direction was changed, he would jump and start running. It was the same condition when his direction was changed to the left and right. The only direction the elephant would not go was towards the Ka’ba. To make him do what they wanted, they beat and harassed the poor animal, but the result did not change. Mahmud’s whole body was drenched in blood, but he still did not march on to the Ka’ba.

While Abraha and his troops were still baffled in shock from the present situation, as time passed, they saw a dark silhouette was coming toward them from the coast side. When it got closer, they realized it was a large flock of birds. Each of these birds was known as Ababil, and was carrying three stones, holding one with its beak and the other two with its feet. Every stone they threw hit a soldier spot on, and the soldier hit by a stone fell to the ground instantly. The army was terrified and scared to death. While they were running around screaming, each of them died from being hit by stones.

Abraha had his share as well. While escaping, his body began to flake from the effect of a stone that hit him. He breathed his last breath in big agony and fear. The army that deliberately tried to destroy Allah’s house had been shattered and torn apart. Soon, it started raining cats and dogs. The flood carried away the bodies of the disbeliever’s army to the sea. Thus, just before the birth of the Messenger of Messengers, no damage was caused to the sacred house of Allah, the Ka’ba. The Ka’ba that was built by Prophet Abraham and his son Ishmael years ago who had plead to Allah, “Bring forth a Muslim nation from our descent,” was now waiting for the Last Prophet.

The Ka’ba, which had been frequented by the Prophets since Adam, became a center of gloom. In this holy town, where one should be closest to Allah, everything that took people away from Allah was found. People left the religion of the Prophet Abraham, forgot the Lord of the Heavens, and made gods of wood and stone for themselves. They prostrated with such great respect in front of these inanimate idols that did not even bring themselves benefit, and were offering sacrifices to them. They even took it as far as filling every part of the Ka’ba with these idols.

The world had been facing a huge collapse in terms of religion, and Hijaz got its share too. People were assessed according to their material possessions, whereas the homeless were absolutely ignored. Rights and law were brutally forced out. The society was divided into classes. The condition of slaves was miserable. It had taken its toll on the institution of marriage. A woman was a worthless object. The fate of most of the girls was to be buried in the hot sands at very young ages so that they would be killed.

However, despite all that, there were people in Mecca who did not smudge the dirt of ignorance, who lived in this city that was home to ignorant and cruel beings. But these people were few in number. Some of the few were Quss ibn Saida, Waraqa ibn Nawfal, and Zayd ibn Amr. They were disturbed by what was happening around them, but they could not think of any solutions. The only hope these people who knew the holy books very well was the last Prophet. They accessed sources like the Torah and the Bible and came across signs of the last Prophet, who was going to enlighten the darkness. The glad tiding of the last Prophet that was going to be from the Prophet Abraham’s descendant was circulating. It was as if the world was thirsty for the noble Prophet.