Circumstances of Revelation
Place: Mecca. → Introduction
The subject: The sūrah recalls the Riders of the Elephants, who marched on Mecca to destroy the Kaʿbah and whom God destroyed with flocks of birds pelting them with stones of clay. Al-Mizan notes that this was one of God's great signs, hidden from no one, which people before Islam recorded in their poetry. → Introduction
The story in the narrations: A long report tells how Abrahah, king of Yemen, built a rival kaʿbah there and marched on Mecca with elephants; how ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib asked him only for his two hundred camels, saying "The House has its own Lord Who will defend it"; and how the birds destroyed the army. Al-Mizan: the narrations disagree widely about the details of the story. → Narrations
A summary prepared from Tafsīr al-Mīzān: where and when the sūrah was revealed, and the occasions reported for its verses, with the ʿAllāmah's view of them. Each point links to the full discussion.