Aksumite siege of Mecca

Aksumite siege of Mecca

14th-century Persian illustration of Abraha on his attempted destruction of the Kaaba, taken from a "Tarikhnama" (history book).
Date570 AD
Location
Mecca, Hijaz Modern day Saudi Arabia
21°25′21″N 39°49′34″E / 21.42250°N 39.82611°E / 21.42250; 39.82611
Result Qurayshi victory
Belligerents
Quraysh Kingdom of Aksum
Commanders and leaders
Abd al-Muttalib Abraha
Casualties and losses
Unknown Most of the army killed

A famous siege led by Abraha in Islamic tradition, the leader of Aksumite Himyar, who had sought to expand his authority in Arabia, and challenge Mecca's religious prominence.[1] This event is one of the most famous acts of warfare in pre-Islamic Arabia.

Siege

Around 570, Abraha had besieged Mecca, while the defender of Mecca was the grandfather of Muhammad, Abd al-Muttalib,[2][3] since the siege would be broken before the city was captured because of a smallpox increase amongst the men of Abraha as suggested by some modern scholars.[4][5]

Aftermath

After the failure of the siege, Mecca had enhanced it's prestige and sanctuary,[6] as in later sources it'd be called the Year of the Elephant.[1]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 Hawsawi, Dr Salma bint Mohammed Bakr (2022-05-23). "The attacks on Maccah in ancient times from the second millennium BC to the sixth century AD". مجلة العلوم التربوية و الدراسات الإنسانية (in Arabic) (23): 620–647. doi:10.55074/hesj.v0i23.498. ISSN 2709-0302.
  2. ↑ Newby, Gordon D. (1974). "Abraha and Sennacherib: A Talmudic Parallel to the Tafsīr on Sūrat Al-Fīl". Journal of the American Oriental Society. 94 (4): 431–437. doi:10.2307/600585. ISSN 0003-0279.
  3. ↑ Rubin, Uri (2024-10-28). Muhammad the Prophet and Arabia. Taylor & Francis. ISBN 978-1-040-24377-0.
  4. ↑ Marr, John S.; Hubbard, Elias J.; Cathey, John T. (2020-11-11). "The year of the Elephant". WikiJournal of Medicine. 2 (1): 1–5. doi:10.3316/informit.383831965954382.
  5. ↑ "Project MUSE -- Verification required!". muse.jhu.edu. Retrieved 2026-04-10.
  6. ↑ Anooshahr, Ali (2018). "The Elephant and the Sovereign: India circa 1000ce". Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society. 28 (4): 615–644. doi:10.1017/S1356186318000093. ISSN 1356-1863.
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