They called upon Allah, imploring His aid against Abraha and his forces. While clasping the ring of the Kaʿbah’s door, ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib recited:

O Allah, a servant guards his dwelling—
so guard, I pray, Your Sacred House!
Let not their cross nor their devices tomorrow
prevail over Your overpowering might.

Ibn Hisham remarks: This is the portion whose transmission I deem reliable.

Ibn Isḥāq continues: ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib then released the ring of the Kaʿbah and, together with the Quraysh who were with him, ascended the mountain heights, taking refuge there while awaiting what Abraha would do.

At daybreak Abraha prepared to enter Mecca: he readied his elephant and arrayed his army. The elephant’s name was Mahmud. When they aimed the elephant toward Mecca, Nufayl ibn Ḥabīb approached, stood beside it, grasped its ear and said:

“Kneel, Mahmud, and return in safety to the place from which you came, for you are in Allah’s Sacred Land.”

He then released its ear, and the elephant knelt.

Al-Suheili comments: that is, it collapsed to the ground, for kneeling is not typical of elephants. Some assert that certain elephants do kneel like camels—Allah knows best.

Nufayl ibn Ḥabīb then hurried away until he had climbed the mountain. They struck the elephant to make it rise, but it refused; they even beat its head