Surah al-Fil (The Elephant) 105 : 4

Explanatory Note

The Qur’an uses a Persian term, sijjil, which denotes ‘stone and clay’ to describe the substance with which the birds struck the aggressors. The dry leaves are described as “devoured” to denote that insects or other animals had eaten them. It is a vivid image of the physical shattering of the Abyssinian army as they were stricken with these muddy stones. Then this clay touched any organism, it penetrated deep into it and then caused complications in wounds and injuries which upset the whole body, leading to the dropping off of flesh. There is no need to go into such explanations as that it was an allegorical description of their destruction by smallpox or measles.