Editing Year of the Elephant (section)

{{Short description|Aksumite attack on Mecca, associated with the birth of Muhammad}}
{{for|the music album|The Year of the Elephant}}
[[File:Umar Farrukh's Year of the Elephant.png|thumb|right|Abyssinian rout at [[Mecca]] in the Year of the Elephant, as depicted in ''Tareekh Al-Islam Al-Musawwar'' (published 1964) ]]

The '''ʿām al-fīl ''' ({{langx|ar|عام الفيل}}, '''Year of the Elephant''') is the name in [[History of Islam|Islamic history]] for the year approximately equating to 570–571 [[Common Era|CE]].  According to Islamic resources, it was in this year that prophet [[Muhammad|Mohammad]] was born.<ref name="Hajjah">Hajjah Adil, Amina, "''Prophet Muhammad''", ISCA, Jun 1, 2002, {{ISBN|1-930409-11-7}}</ref> The name is derived from an event said to have occurred at [[Mecca]]: [[Abraha]], the [[Habasha|Abyssinian]], [[Christians|Christian]] king of [[Himyarite Kingdom|Himyar]] marched upon the [[Ka‘bah]] in [[Mecca]] with a large army, which included [[war elephant]]s, intending to demolish it. However, the lead elephant, known as 'Mahmud' ({{langx|ar|مَـحْـمُـوْد}}),<ref>{{cite web | title = Tafsir of Surah al Fil - The Elephant (Surah 105) | url = http://islaam.net/main/display.php?id=1480&category=176 | work = Translated by Abū Rumaysah | publisher = Islamic Network | access-date = 15 March 2013 | author = ʿAbdu r-Rahmān ibn Nāsir as-Saʿdī | author-link = Abd ar-Rahman ibn Nasir as-Sa'di | quote = This elephant was called Mahmud and it was sent to Abrahah from [[Negus|Najashi]], the king of Abyssinia, particularly for this expedition. | url-status = dead | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20101220090653/http://islaam.net/main/display.php?id=1480&category=176 | archive-date = 20 December 2010 }}</ref> is said to have stopped at the boundary around Mecca, and refused to enter. It has been mentioned in the Quran that the army was destroyed by small birds, sent by [[Allah]], that carried pebbles that destroyed the entire army and Abraha perished. [[Al-Fil|Surah Fil]] in the Quran contains an account of the event.<ref>{{cite journal |author=[[John S. Marr|Marr JS]], Hubbard E, Cathey, JT |date=2015 |title=The Year of the Elephant |url=https://en.wikiversity.org/wiki/The_Year_of_the_Elephant |journal= WikiJournal of Medicine|volume=2 |issue=1 |doi=10.15347/wjm/2015.003 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150526193449/https://en.wikiversity.org/wiki/The_Year_of_the_Elephant |archive-date=2015-05-26 |doi-access=free }}<br>In turn citing: {{cite book |author= Willan R. |title= Miscellaneous works: comprising An inquiry into the antiquity of the small-pox, measles, and scarlet fever, now first published; Reports on the diseases in London, a new ed.; and detached papers on medical subjects, collected from various periodical publi |publisher= Cadell |date= 1821 |pages= 488 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=TXEFAAAAQAAJ |url-status= live |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20150904004402/https://books.google.com/books?id=TXEFAAAAQAAJ&pgis=1 |archive-date= 2015-09-04 }}</ref> The year came to be known as the Year of the Elephant, beginning a trend for reckoning the years in the [[Arabian Peninsula]]. This reckoning was used until it was replaced with the [[Islamic calendar]] during the times of ‘[[Umar|Omar]].

Archaeological discoveries in [[Southern Arabia]] suggest that Year of the Elephant may have been 569 or 568, as the [[Sasanian Empire]] overthrew the [[Kingdom of Aksum|Aksumite]]-affiliated rulers in Yemen around 570.<ref name=" Watt"/>

The year is also recorded as that of the birth of ‘[[Ammar ibn Yasir]].<ref>{{Cite book|title=New Researchers on the Quran: Why and how two versions of Islam entered the history of mankind|last=Azmayesh|first=Seyed Mostafa|publisher=Mehraby Publishing House|year=2015|isbn=9780955811760|location=United Kingdom|pages=262}}</ref>