Sirat Ibn Hisham 61
What was said in poetry in description of the elephant
[ شِعْرُ ابْنِ الْأَسْلَتِ فِي وَقْعَةِ الْفِيلِ ] وَقَالَ أَبُو قَيْسِ بْنُ الْأَسْلَتِ الْأَنْصَارِيُّ ثُمَّ الْخَطْمِيُّ، وَاسْمُهُ صَيْفِيٌّ. قَالَ ابْنُ هِشَامٍ أَبُو قَيْسٍ: صَيْفِيُّ بْنُ الْأَسْلَتِ بْنِ جُشَمَ بْنِ وَائِلِ بْنِ زَيْدِ بْنِ قَيْسِ بْنِ عَامِرَةَ بْنِ مُرَّةَ بْنِ مَالِكِ بْنِ الْأَوْسِ:: وَمِنْ صُنْعِهِ يَوْمَ فِيلِ الْحُوشِ إذْ كُلَّمَا بَعَثُوهُ رَزَمْ مَحَاجِنُهُمْ تَحْتَ أَقْرَابِهِ وَقَدْ شَرَّمُوا أَنْفَهُ فَانْخَرَمْ وَقَدْ جَعَلُوا سَوْطَهُ مِغْوَلًا إذَا يَمَّمُوهُ قَفَاهُ كُلِمْ فَوَلَّى وَأَدْبَرَ أَدْرَاجَهُ وَقَدْ بَاءَ بِالظُّلْمِ مَنْ كَانَ ثَمَّ فَأَرْسَلَ مِنْ فَوْقِهِمْ حَاصِبًا فَلَفَّهُمْ مِثْلَ لَفِّ الْقُزُمْ تَحُضُّ عَلَى الصَّبْرِ أَحْبَارُهُمْ وَقَدْ ثَأَجُوا كَثُؤَاجِ الغَنَمْ قَالَ ابْنُ هِشَامٍ: وَهَذِهِ الْأَبْيَاتُ فِي قَصِيدَةٍ لَهُ. وَالْقَصِيدَةُ أَيْضًا تُرْوَى لِأُمَيَّةِ بْنِ أَبِي الصَّلْتِ قَالَ ابْنُ إسْحَاقَ: وَقَالَ أَبُو قَيْسِ بْنُ الْأَسْلَتِ:: فَقُومُوا فَصَلُّوا رَبَّكُمْ وَتَمَسَّحُوا بِأَرْكَانِ هَذَا الْبَيْتِ بَيْنَ الْأَخَاشِبِ فَعِنْدَكُمْ مِنْهُ بَلَاءٌ مُصَدَّقٌ غَدَاةَ أَبِي يَكسومَ هَادِي الْكَتَائِبِ كَتِيبَتُهُ بِالسَّهْلِ تُمْسِي وَرَجْلُهُ عَلَى الْقَاذِفَاتِ فِي رُءُوسِ الْمَنَاقِبِ فَلَمَّا أَتَاكُمْ نَصْرُ ذِي الْعَرْشِ رَدَّهُمْ جُنُودُ الْمَلِيكِ بَيْنَ سَافٍ وَحَاصِبِ فَوَلَّوْا سِرَاعًا هَارِبِينَ وَلَمْ يَؤُبْ إلَى أَهْلِهِ مِلْحَبْشِ غَيْرُ عَصَائِبِ قَالَ ابْنُ هِشَامٍ: أَنْشَدَنِي أَبُو زَيْدٍ الْأَنْصَارِيُّ قَوْلَهُ: عَلَى الْقَاذِفَاتِ فِي رُءُوسِ الْمَنَاقِبِ وَهَذِهِ الْأَبْيَاتُ فِي قَصِيدَةٍ لِأَبِي قَيْسٍ سَأَذْكُرُهَا فِي مَوْضِعِهَا إنْ شَاءَ اللَّهُ وَقَوْلُهُ: غَدَاةَ أَبِي يَكْسُومَ -: يَعْنِي أَبْرَهَةَ، كَانَ يُكَنَّى أَبَا يَكْسُومَ
Translation
✧ [The poetry of Ibn al-Aslat concerning the event of the Elephant] And Abū Qays b. al-Aslat al-Anṣārī, then al-Khaṭmī, whose name was Ṣayfī, said. Ibn Hishām said: Abū Qays is Ṣayfī b. al-Aslat b. Jusham b. Wāʾil b. Zayd b. Qays b. ʿĀmira b. Murra b. Mālik b. al-Aws: And among his deeds on the day of the Elephant of the wild beasts, when, each time they urged him on, he knelt down. Their hooked staffs were under his flanks, and they had slit his nose, so it was cut. They had made his goad a dagger; whenever they aimed at him, his neck was wounded. So he turned and retreated on his tracks, and whoever was there was guilty of wrongdoing. Then He sent upon them from above a shower of stones, and wrapped them up like the wrapping of a rope. Their rabbis urged them to patience, and they bleated like the bleating of sheep. Ibn Hishām said: These verses are in a poem of his. The poem is also transmitted from Umayya b. Abī al-Ṣalt. Ibn Isḥāq said: Abū Qays b. al-Aslat said: Rise, then, and pray to your Lord, and wipe yourselves against the corners of this House, between the rugged hills. For with you is a true trial from Him, on the morning of Abū Yaksūm, the leader of the battalions. His battalion in the plain spends the evening, while his infantry are upon the swift camels on the tops of the mountain paths. When the help of the Lord of the Throne came to you, the armies of the King repelled them between a dust-storm and a shower of stones. So they turned in haste, fleeing, and no one returned to his family from the army of the Abyssinian except scattered bands. Ibn Hishām said: Abū Zayd al-Anṣārī recited to me his saying: "upon the swift camels on the tops of the mountain paths." These verses are in a poem of Abū Qays which I shall mention in its place, if God wills. His saying: "on the morning of Abū Yaksūm" means Abraha; he was called by the kunya Abū Yaksūm.
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