بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
ألم ترَ كيف فعل ربك(1) ألم يجعل كيدهم في تضليل (2) و أرسل عليهم طيرًا أبابيل (3) ترميهم بحجارةٍ من سجيل (4) فجعلهم كعصف مأكول (5) سورة الفيل
“Did you not see how your Lord dealt with the people of the elephant?” Do you not know O prophet, how your Lord dealt with Abraha and his army? Along with them were elephants at the time when they came to destroy the ka’bah.
“Did He not make their plot” their scheme and or plan to demolish Allah’s house. “Go astray” i.e., lost and fleeting. A punishment for them, as they did not achieve anything by way of this effort, this plot, this scheme except loss.
“And He sent birds in flocks, against them” A group of birds in sequence (one after another). They came with elephants, which is, per their claim, the most humongous and large of animals. There is no blocker to prevent them, nor a repellent to drive them away. So Allah sent against them, small birds carrying small rocks (pebbles) in their beaks.
“Pelting them with shale” rocks from solid clay (dropped) from a high place (altitude). Thus a rock did not hit (from falling) anyone among them, except that they were utterly wiped out.
“And He made them” this assemblage that came to demolish Allah’s house “Like devoured stalk” i.e., crop that cattle pounces upon, devours, and flattens with their feet.
This (event that took place) is from Allah’s signs and powerful ability. Likewise (from the benefits derived from the chapter are) the servant, no matter what his plots, schemes, and ambushes achieve, Allah will make it, for him, a harmful and humiliating end in this life and the next.
Also the Prophet -sallahu alayhi wa sallam- was born in this year in which that incident occurred, which was in general an unprecedented thing before his -sallahu alayhi wa sallam- advent.
Translated by Najeeb ibn Yusuf Al Anjelesi
Source: شرح الدروس المهمة لعامة الأمة