Sirat Ibn Hisham 56
Abrahah's entry into Makkah, what befell him and his elephant, and the poetry of Nufayl concerning that
[ دُخُولُ أَبْرَهَةَ مَكَّةَ، وَمَا وَقَعَ لَهُ وَلِفِيلِهِ، وَشِعْرُ نُفَيْلٍ فِي ذَلِكَ ] فَلَمَّا أَصْبَحَ أَبْرَهَةُ تَهَيَّأَ لِدُخُولِ مَكَّةَ، وَهَيَّأَ فِيلَهُ وَعَبَّى جَيْشَهُ، وَكَانَ اسْمُ الْفِيلِ مَحْمُودًا وَأَبْرَهَةُ مُجْمِعٌ لِهَدْمِ الْبَيْتِ، ثُمَّ الِانْصِرَافِ إلَى الْيَمَنِ فَلَمَّا وَجَّهُوا الْفِيلَ إلَى مَكَّةَ، أَقْبَلَ نُفَيْلُ بْنُ حَبِيبٍ ( الْخَثْعَمِيُّ ) حَتَّى قَامَ إلَى جَنْبِ الْفِيلِ، ثُمَّ أَخَذَ بِأُذُنِهِ. فَقَالَ: اُبْرُكْ مَحْمُودُ، أَوْ ارْجِعْ رَاشِدًا مِنْ حَيْثُ جِئْتَ، فَإِنَّكَ فِي بَلَدِ اللَّهِ الْحَرَامِ ثُمَّ أَرْسَلَ أُذُنَهُ فَبَرَكَ الْفِيلُ، وَخَرَجَ نُفَيْلُ بْنُ حَبِيبٍ يَشْتَدُّ حَتَّى أَصْعَدَ فِي الْجَبَلِ، وَضَرَبُوا الْفِيلَ لِيَقُومَ فَأَبَى، فَضَرَبُوا ( فِي ) رَأْسِهِ بالطَّبَرْزِينَ لِيَقُومَ فَأَبَى فَأَدْخَلُوا مَحَاجِنَ لَهُمْ فِي مَرَاقِّهِ فَبَزَغُوهُ بِهَا لِيَقُومَ فَأَبَى، فَوَجَّهُوهُ رَاجِعًا إلَى الْيَمَنِ، فَقَامَ يُهَرْوِلُ، وَوَجَّهُوهُ إلَى الشَّامِ فَفَعَلَ مِثْلَ ذَلِكَ، وَوَجَّهُوهُ إلَى الْمَشْرِقِ فَفَعَلَ مِثْلَ ذَلِكَ وَوَجَّهُوهُ إلَى مَكَّةَ فَبَرَكَ فَأَرْسَلَ اللَّهُ تَعَالَى عَلَيْهِمْ طَيْرًا مِنْ الْبَحْرِ أَمْثَالَ الْخَطَاطِيفِ وَالْبَلَسَانِ، مَعَ كُلِّ طَائِرٍ مِنْهَا ثَلَاثَةُ أَحْجَارٍ يَحْمِلُهَا: حَجَرٌ فِي مِنْقَارِهِ، وَحَجَرَانِ فِي رِجْلَيْهِ، أَمْثَالُ الْحِمَّصِ وَالْعَدَسِ، لَا تُصِيبُ مِنْهُمْ أَحَدًا إلَّا هَلَكَ، وَلَيْسَ كُلُّهُمْ أَصَابَتْ. وَخَرَجُوا هَارِبِينَ يَبْتَدِرُونَ الطَّرِيقَ الَّذِي مِنْهُ جَاءُوا، وَيَسْأَلُونَ عَنْ نُفَيْلِ بْنِ حَبِيبٍ لِيَدُلّهُمْ عَلَى الطَّرِيقِ إلَى الْيَمَنِ، فَقَالَ نُفَيْلٌ حِينَ رَأَى مَا أَنْزَلَ اللَّهُ بِهِمْ مِنْ نِقْمَتِهِ: أَيْنَ الْمَفَرُّ وَالْإِلَهُ الطَّالِبُ وَالْأَشْرَمُ الْمَغْلُوبُ لَيْسَ الْغَالِبُ قَالَ ابْنُ هِشَامٍ: قَوْلُهُ: لَيْسَ الْغَالِبُ عَنْ غَيْرِ ابْنِ إسْحَاقَ. قَالَ ابْنُ إسْحَاقَ: وَقَالَ نُفَيْلٌ أَيْضًا: أَلَا حُيِّيتَ عَنَّا يَا رُدَيْنَا نَعِمْنَاكُمْ مَعَ الْإِصْبَاحِ عَيْنَا ( أَتَانَا قَابِسٌ مِنْكُمْ عِشَاءً فَلَمْ يُقْدَرْ لِقَابِسِكُمْ لَدَيْنَا ) رُدَيْنَةُ لَوْ رَأَيْتِ - وَلَا تَرَيْهِ لَدَى جَنْبِ الْمُحَصَّبِ مَا رَأَيْنَا إذًا لَعَذَرْتِنِي وَحَمِدْتِ أَمْرِي وَلَمْ تَأْسَيْ عَلَى مَا فَاتَ بَيْنَا حَمِدْتُ اللَّهَ إذْ أَبْصَرْتُ طَيْرًا وَخِفْتُ حِجَارَةً تُلْقَى عَلَيْنَا وَكُلُّ الْقَوْمِ يَسْأَلُ عَنْ نُفَيْلٍ كَأَنَّ عَلَيَّ لِلْحُبْشَانِ دَيْنَا فَخَرَجُوا يَتَسَاقَطُونَ بِكُلِّ طَرِيقٍ، وَيَهْلِكُونَ بِكُلِّ مَهْلِكٍ عَلَى كُلِّ مَنْهَلٍ، وَأُصِيبَ أَبْرَهَةُ فِي جَسَدِهِ، وَخَرَجُوا بِهِ مَعَهُمْ تَسْقُطُ ( أَنَامِلُهُ ) أُنْمُلَةً أُنْمُلَةً، كُلَّمَا سَقَطَتْ أُنْمُلَةٌ أَتْبَعَتْهَا مِنْهُ مِدَّةٌ تَمُثُّ قَيْحًا وَدَمًا، حَتَّى قَدِمُوا بِهِ صَنْعَاءَ وَهُوَ مِثْلُ فَرْخِ الطَّائِرِ، فَمَا مَاتَ حَتَّى انْصَدَعَ صَدْرُهُ عَنْ قَلْبِهِ، فِيمَا يَزْعُمُونَ. قَالَ ابْنُ إسْحَاقَ: حَدَّثَنِي يَعْقُوبُ بْنُ عُتْبَةَ أَنَّهُ حُدِّثَ: أَنَّ أَوَّلَ مَا رُئِيَتْ الْحَصْبَةُ وَالْجُدَرِيُّ بِأَرْضِ الْعَرَبِ ذَلِكَ الْعَامَ، وَأَنَّهُ أَوَّلُ مَا رُئِيَ بِهَا مَرَائِرُ الشَّجَرِ الْحَرْمَلِ وَالْحَنْظَلِ وَالْعُشَرِ ذَلِكَ الْعَامَ
Translation
✧ Abrahah's entry into Makkah, what befell him and his elephant, and the poetry of Nufayl on that When morning came, Abrahah prepared to enter Makkah. He readied his elephant and marshaled his army. The elephant's name was Maḥmūd. Abrahah was determined to demolish the House, then return to Yemen. When they turned the elephant toward Makkah, Nufayl b. Ḥabīb (al-Khathʿamī) came forward and stood beside the elephant, then took hold of its ear and said: "Kneel, Maḥmūd, or turn back safely to where you came from, for you are in God's sacred land." Then he let go of its ear, and the elephant knelt. Nufayl b. Ḥabīb went off at speed until he climbed up into the mountain. They struck the elephant to make it rise, but it refused. They struck it on the head with battle-axes to make it rise, but it refused. They inserted their hooked prods into its tender parts and goaded it with them to make it rise, but it refused. They turned it back toward Yemen, and it rose and trotted; they turned it toward Syria, and it did the same; they turned it toward the east, and it did the same; and they turned it toward Makkah, and it knelt. Then God Most High sent against them birds from the sea, like swifts and starlings, each bird carrying three stones: a stone in its beak and two stones in its feet, like chickpeas and lentils. No one among them was struck except he perished, though not all of them were struck. They fled, racing along the road by which they had come, asking after Nufayl b. Ḥabīb to guide them to the road to Yemen. Nufayl said, when he saw what God's punishment had brought down upon them: Where is the refuge, when God is the pursuer, and al-Ashram is the vanquished, not the victor? Ibn Hishām said: His words "not the victor" are from someone other than Ibn Isḥāq. Ibn Isḥāq said: Nufayl also said: Have you been greeted on our behalf, O Rudaynah? We have delighted you with the morning, eye to eye. A fetcher came to us from you at nightfall, but your fetcher was not granted power over us. Rudaynah, if you had seen—but you will not see it— beside al-Muḥaṣṣab what we saw, then you would have excused me and praised my affair, and you would not grieve over what has passed between us. I praised God when I saw birds, and I feared stones being cast upon us. All the people ask about Nufayl, as if I owed the Abyssinians a debt. They went out falling by every road and perishing at every place of destruction by every watering place. Abrahah was struck in his body, and they carried him off with them, his fingertips falling off one by one. Whenever a fingertip fell, it was followed by matter flowing with pus and blood until they brought him to Ṣanʿāʾ, and he was like a bird's fledgling. He did not die until his chest split open from his heart, so they allege. Ibn Isḥāq said: Yaʿqūb b. ʿUtbah narrated to me that he was told: The first time measles and smallpox were seen in the land of the Arabs was that year, and the first time the bitter plants of ḥarmal, ḥanẓal, and ʿushar were seen there was that year.
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