Al-Fil 105
The ElephantHow to read the Hangul
الرَّحْمَٰنِ르r라흐마니 بِسْمِ비스밀
- Bold = the stressed syllable of the word; a little stronger.
- Overline = long vowel (madd): hold it about two beats. Length matters most in recitation.
- Tiny = no vowel in the Arabic here — just the consonant, short.
- Small Latin letter = a sound Korean lacks, on the next syllable: f upper teeth on lower lip · θ/ð tongue tip between the teeth · r rolled tongue tip (a bare ㄹ is l).
How to read the Hangul
beginning the Christ salvation
- Bold, larger (ˈ) = say it strong and a little longer — the stressed syllable.
- Faint = weak and short (a reduced vowel). Don't give every syllable equal weight.
- Tiny 으 · 트 · 스 = barely voiced. English has no vowel there — stop on the consonant.
- Whole word faint (the, of, and, to…) = light and quick in a sentence; stress the content words.
- Small f v θ ð r = sounds Korean doesn't have — f: upper teeth on the lower lip; v: the same, voiced; θ/ð: tongue tip between the teeth; r: tongue curled back, touching nothing.
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Surah
About this surah
Classed as a Meccan sura, it tells a brief story in five verses, beginning with a question to the listener: have you not considered what your Lord did with the men of the elephant? A second question follows — did He not make their plan go astray? The answer is given in three images. God sent against them birds in flocks; the birds struck them with stones of baked clay; and God left them like straw that has been eaten. The text does not say who these men were or what their plan was. Its attention is on the outcome: a company known by an elephant was undone by birds and small stones. Opening with a question, the passage invites the listener to reflect on what happened to them.
- The men of the elephant
- A plan undone
- Birds in flocks
- Stones of baked clay
The name It is named after 'the elephant' (al-Fil) in verse 1, 'the men of the elephant'.