Year of The Elephant
The respect and esteem which Makkah and her holy house enjoyed suggested to some distant provinces in Arabia that they should construct holy houses in order to attract some of the people away from Makkah. The Ghassanis built such a house at al Hirah. Abrahah al Ashram built another in Yaman. Neither of them succeeded, however, in drawing the Arabs away from Makkah and its holy house. Indeed, Abrahah took a special care to decorate the house in Yaman and filled it with such beautiful furniture and statues that he thought that he could draw thereto not only the Arabs but the Makkans themselves. When later he found out that the Arabs were still going to the ancient house, that the inhabitants of Yaman were leaving behind the newly built house in their own territory and did not regard the pilgrimage valid except in Makkah, he came to the conclusion that there was no escape from destroying the house of Ibrahim and Isma'il. The viceroy of the Negus therefore prepared for war and brought a great army for that purpose from Abyssinia equipped with a great elephant on which he rode. When the Arabs heard of his war preparations, they became quite upset and feared the impending doom of Makkah, the Ka'bah, its statues, and the institution of pilgrimage. Dhu Nafar, a nobleman from Yaman, appealed to his fellow countrymen to revolt and fight Abrahah and thus prevent him from the destruction of God's house. Abrahah, however, was too strong to be fought with such tactics: Dhu Nafar as well as Nufayl ibn Habib al Khath'ami, leader of the two tribes of Shahran and Nahis, were taken prisoners after a brief but gallant fight. On the other hand, the people of al Ta'if, when they learned that it was not their house that he intended to destroy, cooperated with Abrahah and sent a guide with him to show him the way to Makkah.
Upon approaching Makkah, Abrahah sent a number of horsemen to seize whatever there was of Quraysh's animal wealth in the outskirts. The horsemen returned with some cattle and a hundred camels belonging to `Abd al Muttalib. The Quraysh and other Makkans first thought of holding their ground and fighting Abrahah, but they soon realized that his power was far superior to theirs. Abrahah sent one of his men, Hunatah al Himyari to inform `Abd al Muttalib, chief of Makkah, that Abrahah had not come to make war against the Makkans but only to destroy the house and that should the Makkans not stand in his way, he would not fight them at all. When 'Abd al Muttalib declared the intention of Makkah not to fight Abrahah, Hunatah invited `Abd al Muttalib and his sons and some of the leaders of Makkah to Abrahah's encampment in order to talk to Abrahah directly. Abrahah received `Abd al Muttalib well and returned his seized camels. But he refused to entertain any suggestion of saving the Ka'bah from destruction as well as the Makkans' offer to pay him one-third of the yearly crop of the Tihamah province. The conference therefore came to no conclusion, and `Abd al Muttalib returned to Makkah. He immediately advised the Makkans to evacuate the city and withdraw to the mountains and thus save their own persons.
It was certainly a grave day on which the Makkans decided to evacuate their town and leave it an open city for destruction by Abrahah. `Abd al Muttalib and the leaders of the Quraysh grasped the lock of the door of the Ka'bah and prayed to their gods to stop this aggression against the house of God. As they left Makkah, and Abrahah prepared to send his terrifying and formidable army into the city to destroy the house, smallpox spread within its ranks and began to take its toll. The epidemic attacked the army with unheard of fury. Perhaps the microbes of the disease were carried there by the wind from the west. Abrahah himself was not spared; and terrified by what he saw, he ordered the army to return to Yaman. Attacked by death and desertion, Abrahah's army dwindled to almost nothing, and, by the time he reached San'a', his capital in Yaman, he himself succumbed to the disease. This phenomenon was so extraordinary that the Makkans reckoned time with it by calling that year "The Year of the Elephant."
There was nothing unusual about Aminah's pregnancy or delivery. As soon as she delivered her baby, she sent to `Abd al Muttalib, who was then at the Ka'bah, announcing to him the birth of a grandson. The old man was overjoyed at the news and must have remembered on this occasion his loved one `Abdullah. He rushed to his daughter-in-law, took her newborn in his hands, went into the Ka'bah and there called him "Muhammad." This name was not familiar among the Arabs, but it was known. He then returned the infant to his mother and awaited by her side for the arrival of wet nurses from the tribe of Banu Sa'd in order to arrange for one of them to take care of the new born, as was the practice of Makkan nobility.
Historians have disagreed about the year of Muhammad's birth. Most of them hold that it took place in "the Year of the Elephant," i.e. 570 C.E. Ibn 'Abbas claims that Muhammad was born on "the Day of the Elephant." Others claim that he was born fifteen years earlier. Still others claim that he was born a few days, months, or years, after "the Year of the Elephant." Some even assert that Muhammad was born thirty years and others seventy years later than "the Year of the Elephant." Historians have also differed concerning the month of Muhammad's birth although the majority of them agree that it was Rabi` al Awwal, the third month of the lunar year. It has also been claimed that he was born in Muharram, in Safar, in Rajab, or in Ramadan. Furthermore, historians have differed as to the day of the month on which Muhammad was born. Some claim that the birth took place on the third, of Rabi` al Awwal; others, on the ninth; and others on the tenth. The majority, however, agree that Muhammad was born on the twelfth of Rabi` al Awwal, the claim of ibn Ishaq and other biographers. Moreover, historians disagreed as to the time of day at which Muhammad was born, as well as to the place of birth. Caussin de Perceval wrote in his book on the Arabs that after weighing the evidence, it is most probable that Muhammad was born in August, 570 C.E., i.e. "the Year of the Elephant," and that he was born in the house of his grandfather `Abd al Muttalib in Makkah. On the seventh day after Muhammad's birth, `Abd al Muttalib gave a banquet in honor of his grandson to which he invited a number of Quraysh tribesmen and peers. When they inquired from him why he had chosen to name the child Muhammad, thus changing the practice of using the ancestors' names, `Abd al Muttalib answered: "I did so with the wish that my grandson would be praised by God in heaven and on earth by men."