Muslim tradition connects this sūra with a story that a Christian (“Abyssinian”) ruler of Yemen attacked Mecca with the help of an elephant in the year of Muhammad’s birth, which Muslims believe to be AD 570.

105.1 – Have you not seen how your Lord did with the companions of the elephant?
This sūra is a good example of a short sūra that has little meaning apart from Muslim tradition. Muslim narratives present the back story not as a parable but as an event in history (Sīra, 21–28). Scholars are divided on the historicity of the event, and some have suggested that the story in Muslim tradition is actually an echo of a tale from early Jewish or Christian writings.