The 'Year of the Elephant': Abraha's march on Mecca (Q 105)
c. c. 552 – c. 570
Place: mecca
21.422, 39.826 · On the map
The Q 105 story and the 570 date are traditional. Campaigns in central Arabia in 552 are attested (Ry 506). Whether they are the same event is a scholarly debate.
Islamic tradition says Abraha attacked Mecca with an elephant in the year Muhammad was born (conventionally 570) and was turned back by birds sent by God, the story told in Sura 105. Inscriptions show Abraha really did campaign in central Arabia in 552. The date and the link to Mecca are debated.
People named here
- Abraha
- 'Abd al-Muttalib
Where scholars disagree
For
- Lawrence I. Conrad — BSOAS 1987: the 570 date is a literary topos, and the campaign is earlier
Against
- Christian Julien Robin — JSAI 2012: Ry 506 records a successful reconquest and should not simply be identified with the failed Elephant campaign
Links
People and office
In
Abraha, Christian ruler of Yemen
Abraha's central Arabian campaigns (552) versus the traditional Elephant story (570).
led
scholarly hypothesis
Sequence
Out
Tradition dates Muhammad's birth to the Year of the Elephant.
dated_birth
traditional
Conflict and authority
In
al-Qalis, Abraha's cathedral at Sanaa
Tradition says a desecration of al-Qalis provoked the march on Mecca.
motivated
traditional
Sources
- Qur'an, Surat al-Fil (105)
Quran.com. Accessed 2026-11-11.
- Lawrence I. Conrad, 'Abraha and Muhammad: Some Observations Apropos of Chronology and Literary Topoi in the Early Arabic Historical Tradition', BSOAS 50.2 (1987), 225–240
Cambridge UP. Accessed 2026-11-11.
- Christian Julien Robin, 'Abraha et la reconquête de l'Arabie déserte: un réexamen de l'inscription Ryckmans 506 = Murayghan 1', JSAI 39 (2012), 1–93
OCIANA bibliographic record. Accessed 2026-11-11.