۞

« like those of predatory beasts.’ Their likeness had never been seen before that day nor has it been seen since. They proceeded to pelt them [the Men of the Elephant] with stones to infect their skin with smallpox. This was the first day on which a person infected with smallpox was seen. But God, Exalted is He, knows best what is correct.  1 This sūra alludes to an event which took place in 570 c.e., the year of the Prophet’s birth, when Abraha, the Christian ruler of Yemen, led an army to attack the Kaʿba, wishing to destroy Meccan power and divert the pilgrims to his newly- »