and the other elephant, Shuja, was pelted with stones.

Muqatil ibn Sulayman claimed that what emboldened the companions of the elephant was that some young men of Quraysh had set out as merchants for the land of the Negus. They came near the seashore, where there was a church which Quraysh called the Temple. They stopped there, kindled a fire, and roasted meat. When they departed, they left the fire as it was on a windy day. The wind blew fiercely, and the church burst into flames. The alarm reached the Negus, who was enraged over the church, and he sent Abraha to demolish the Ka‘bah.

He also said: Abu Masud al-Thaqafi was in Mecca at that time. He was blind, spending the summer in Ta’if and the winter in Mecca. He was an intelligent and distinguished man, whose judgment set matters aright, and he was a close friend of Abd al-Muttalib. Abd al-Muttalib said to him, “What counsel do you have? This is a day on which we cannot do without your judgment.”

Abu Masud said, “Take us up to Hira.” So he ascended the mountain. Abu Masud then said to Abd al-Muttalib, “Take one hundred camels, dedicate them to Allah, mark them with sandal-garlands, and then release them within the Sacred Precinct. Perhaps some of these Abyssinians will hamstring one of them, whereupon the Lord of this House will become angry and seize them.”

Abd al-Muttalib did so. The people rushed upon those camels and hamstrung some of them, while Abd al-Muttalib continued to supplicate. Abu Masud said, “This House has a Lord who will protect it. Tubba, the king of Yemen, once entered the courtyard of this House and intended to destroy it, but Allah prevented him and afflicted him, causing darkness to surround him for three days. When Tubba saw this, he clothed it in fine white Coptic linen, venerated it, and slaughtered a camel in its honor.”

Then Abu Masud said (1), “Look toward the sea.” Abd al-Muttalib looked and said, “I see white birds rising from the seashore.”

He said, “Keep your eyes on them. Where are they heading?”

He replied, “I see that they have circled above our heads.”

He asked, “Do you recognize them?”

He replied, “By Allah, I do not recognize them. They are neither from Najd, nor Tihamah, nor the west, nor Syria.”

He asked, “What is their size?”

He replied, “They are like dragonflies (2), with pebbles in their beaks like stones used for throwing. They are coming like the night, pressing one another onward from behind. Before every flock is a bird leading it, red-beaked, black-headed, and long-necked.”

They came until they were level with the people’s army and hovered above their heads (3). When all the men had assembled, the birds cast what was in their beaks upon those beneath them. Upon every stone was written the name of the one for whom it was intended. Then they scattered, returning whence they had come.

When morning came, the two descended from the summit of the mountain. They crossed one rise but saw no one, then drew near another rise but heard no sound. They said, “The people must have spent the night awake, and now they have fallen asleep” (4). But when they drew near the people’s camp, they found them lifeless; and a stone would fall