  :this article is about the chapter of the qur'an translated to english as "the elephant." for other uses, see elephant (disambiguation). al-fil ( ) (the elephant) is the 105th chapter (sura) of the quran. it is a meccan sura consisting of 5 verses. == notes == the year of muhammad's birth is identified as 'the year of the elephant', when mecca was attacked by abraha accompanied by an elephant. quranic exegetes interpreted that god saved the meccans from this force by sending a swarm of birds that pelted the invaders with clay stones and drove them away. a number of other interpretations exist.  there is uncertainty about the origin of the word 'sijjÄ«l' (lumps of hard clay) in verse 4. the etymologies proposed for 'sijjÄ«l' include the persian 'sang' + 'gil' (stone + clay), or aramaic 'sgyl' (smooth altar stone), or syriac 'sÄ«gÄ«liyon' (seal or diploma).rippin, andrew (editor) (2007). the blackwell companion to the qur'an. oxford: john wiley & sons. pp. 137-138. isbn 1405178442 in the quran 'sijjÄ«l' occurs in two other verses: 11:82 and 15:74. ==references==  ==external links== * surah al-feel (complete text in arabic with english and french translations) ==other information==  
Suras