Ibn ʿAbbās related that the birds had beaks like those of ordinary birds and talons like the paws of dogs.
ʿIkrimah said: Their heads were like the heads of beasts of prey; they emerged from the sea and were green in color.
ʿUbayd ibn ʿUmayr added: They were black sea-birds, and in their beaks and claws they carried stones.
Ibn ʿAbbās also said: They resembled the fabulous bird known as the ʿAnqāʾ al-Mughrib.
He further reported that the smallest stone among them was the size of a human head, and some were as large as camels—so too did Yūnus ibn Bukayr transmit from Ibn Isḥāq.
Others maintained that the stones were small; God knows best.
Ibn Abī Ḥātim said: Abū Zurʿah narrated to us, and ʿAbdullāh ibn Muḥammad ibn Abī Shaybah narrated to us, and Abū Muʿāwiyah narrated to us, from al-Aʿmash, from Abū Sufyān, from ʿUbayd ibn ʿUmayr, who said:
When God resolved to destroy the People of the Elephant, He sent against them birds that had been created in the sea, resembling swallows. Each bird carried three variegated stones—two in its claws and one in its beak. They flew in, arrayed themselves above the enemy, screeched, and then dropped what they carried. No stone struck a man’s head without exiting through his backside, and none hit any part of his body without piercing straight through. God also unleashed a fierce wind that drove the stones on, increasing their force, so that they were all annihilated.
As cited earlier, Ibn Isḥāq said: Not every one of them was struck by the stones; some of them made it back to Yemen and informed their people of the chastisement that had befallen their companions.
They recount that Abraha himself returned while pieces of his flesh were falling off, joint by joint. When he reached Yemen his chest split open and he died—may God curse him.
Ibn Isḥāq also narrated: ʿAbdullāh ibn Abī Bakr told me, from ʿAmrah, from ʿĀʾishah, who said: I saw both the elephant’s driver and its handler in Mecca—blind and crippled—begging for food.
We have already mentioned that the handler’s name was Unays, whereas the driver’s name has not been recorded. God knows best.