Tafseer of The Elephant · Al-Fil · 105:5
And He made them like eaten straw.
Important: The Arabic source text is always authoritative. This translation is a study aid and has not been verified by scholars — do not use it as a basis for religious proof or for deriving rulings (ahkam). When in doubt, always consult the Arabic text and a qualified scholar.
And His word: فَجَعَلَهُمْ كَعَصْفٍ مَأْكُولٍ ("And He made them like devoured stubble")
By this the Exalted, whose remembrance is glorified, means: Allah made the Companions of the Elephant (aṣḥāb al-fīl) like a crop that the cattle have eaten and excreted, so that it was withered and its parts had fallen apart. He compared the tearing apart of their limbs by the punishment that descended upon them, and the scattering of the parts of their bodies thereby, to the scattering of the parts of the dung that resulted from the eating of the crop.
Some of them said: al-ʿaṣf is the outer husk that is around the grain-kernel of wheat on the outside, like a covering for it.
*Mention of those who said that by this is meant the leaf of the crop:*
Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related to me, saying: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us, saying: ʿĪsā related to us; and al-Ḥārith related to me, saying: al-Ḥasan related to us, saying: Warqāʾ related to us — all on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning the word: كَعَصْفٍ مَأْكُولٍ — he said: "The leaf of the wheat."
Ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us, saying: Ibn Thawr related to us, on the authority of Maʿmar, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning كَعَصْفٍ مَأْكُولٍ — he said: "It is the straw."
And it was related to me on the authority of al-Ḥusayn, saying: I heard Abū Muʿādh, saying: ʿUbayd informed us, saying: I heard al-Ḍaḥḥāk say concerning the word كَعَصْفٍ مَأْكُولٍ : "Like a devoured crop."
Muḥammad ibn ʿUmāra al-Asadī related to me, saying: Zurayq ibn Marzūq related to us, saying: Hubayra related to us, on the authority of Salama ibn Nubayt, on the authority of al-Ḍaḥḥāk, concerning the word كَعَصْفٍ مَأْكُولٍ — he said: "It is al-habūr in Nabataean" — and in another narration: "the crushed."
Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said concerning the word فَجَعَلَهُمْ كَعَصْفٍ مَأْكُولٍ — he said: "The leaf of the crop and the leaf of the vegetables, when the cattle have eaten it and excreted it, so that it became dung."
*Mention of those who said that by this is meant the chaff of the grain-kernel:*
Muḥammad ibn Saʿd related to me, saying: my father related to me, saying: my uncle related to me, saying: my father related to me, on the authority of his father, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās: كَعَصْفٍ مَأْكُولٍ — he said: "The wheat is eaten and its ʿaṣf is blown away by the wind; al-ʿaṣf is what is upon the wheat: it is the bark of the wheat."
And others said concerning this what Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Mihrān related to us, on the authority of Abū Sinān, on the authority of Ḥabīb ibn Abī Thābit: كَعَصْفٍ مَأْكُولٍ — he said: "Like food that has been eaten."
End of the exegesis of Sūrah al-Fīl.
