How beautifully Surah Al-Feel connects and ties in with Surah Quraysh. A bit of background first. Pre-Islamic Arabia, the Quraysh are the leading tribe in Arabia due to their control of the Ka’bah and therefore the capital, Makkah itself. For this reason, Quraysh could travel throughout the entire year on trade journeys. This made their businesses extremely lucrative, cementing their influence and rise to power in the region.
Whereas any other Arab tribe that intended to trade, could only do so in extreme temperatures. They feared being looted and robbed by bandits who used to roam around the desert hunting for merchandise, resources and wealth from traders passing by.
So the other tribes only embarked on trade journeys in the hottest season towards the scorching heat, and the coldest season, towards the blistering cold. They had no other choice if they wanted to avoid facing altercations with combatant bandits. If they took the risk any other time during the year, taking on journeys with convenient climate, it would mean convenient opportunities for bandits to loot. Easy targets. Sitting ducks so to speak.
However, because the Quraysh are custodians of the House (Ka’bah), they get to travel through the most, otherwise, dangerous roads without being touched.
They go and come back with the most prosperous business and nobody’s going to rob them or touch them. Why? Because they’re the custodians of the Ka’bah.
In other words, they had “all kinds of fruit” coming their way throughout the year, and not just seasonally. Which remember was the second part of the prayer of Ibrahim a.s we saw when we spoke about Surah Feel. “رَبِّ ٱجۡعَلۡ هَـٰذَا بَلَدًا ءَامِنً۬ا وَٱرۡزُقۡ أَهۡلَهُ ۥ مِنَ ٱلثَّمَرَٲتِ” [See post on Surah Feel here] “ ‘Master! Make this a safe/peaceful city (i.e. Makkah) and give them all kinds of fruit’ ” So now, diving into Surah Quraysh itself. Surah Quraysh begins in a very peculiar way. It begins with the word “لِ” which means ‘For. . .’ Some scholars argue that because Surah Quraysh begins in a strange way, for this reason, it is connected to the previous Surah, Surah Feel.
In other words, in Surah Feel we saw it end by Allah destroying the army of the elephant. Allah turned them into ‘chewed up straw . . . ” Then Allah goes on and continues in the next Surah, Surah Quraysh, by saying لِ . . . إِيلَـٰفِ قُرَيۡشٍ” ‘For . . . the convenience/ease made for Quraysh” Surah Al-Feel:”So he made them like straws eaten up. . . Surah Quraysh: For the convenience/ease made for Quraysh”
So this huge army that came, with all their weaponry and might! They came to destroy Makkah, yet it is they that got completely crushed . . . A massive powerful army, Destroyed.
Yet these powerless, army-less, Quraysh, can go wherever they want. Whenever they want. Untouched and unchallenged. With nothing to fear. That’s the Irony of it.
The Quraysh, they have no massive armies, no protection and yet they can go in the summer, winter no Problem “إِیلَـٰفِهِمۡ رِحۡلَةَ ٱلشِّتَآءِ وَٱلصَّيۡفِ” ‘In order to make comfort/ease for them the journey of the winter and the summer.’
This was the favour done for them by Allah. Through the Du’a of Ibrahim a.s. On the one hand they were in the worst possible danger in the previous Surah, on their own land and Allah protected them.
And then, despite being in dangerous territory on their travels, get to enjoy all types of fruit without a fear of getting robbed.
The prayer of Ibrahim a.s. 1: Keep them safe 2: Give them all types of Fruit It’s been fulfilled. Now, Ibrahim a.s made that prayer when he was building the Ka’bah.
His whole point was, keep them safe, and give them all types of fruit so they could worship you at this house.
That’s why if you look at the next Aayah . . . “فَلۡيَعۡبُدُواْ رَبَّ هَـٰذَا ٱلۡبَيۡتِ” it makes total sense . . . ‘Therefore they should worship the master of this house.’
Allah didn’t say, therefore they should worship Allah, or therefore they should worship their creator. . .
He said, ‘Worship the master of this house’ The fruits they are receiving are directly a result of this house, the Ka’bah. When this house was being built, it was precisely the time when that prayer was made.
The benefit of which you, the Quraysh are still enjoying.
Then when you look at the last Aayah of this Surah, it actually sums up both of these Surahs in one Aayah.
‘The one who fed them despite hunger’ ” ٱلَّذِىٓ أَطۡعَمَهُم مِّن جُوعٍ۬ ” *That’s this Surah Quraysh.
‘And the one who gave them safety despite fear’ “وَءَامَنَهُم مِّنۡ خَوۡفِۭ ” That’s the previous Surah Feel.
Allah sums all of it up and gives the reasons why you should be worshipping Allah, and Allah alone at the house that was built by your father Ibrahim a.s.
That’s how these two Surah’s are beautifully beautifully connected.