Qubath ibn Ashyam
قباث بن أشيمQubāth ibn Ashyam
Companion · Witness of the Year of the Elephant
Biography
A companion of the Prophet ﷺ, of the tribe of Kinanah, who was born before him and as a boy witnessed the aftermath of the Year of the Elephant. He is famous for telling an Umayyad caliph, “The Messenger of Allah ﷺ is greater than me, but I was born before him,” recalling that he had seen with his own eyes the withered dung of Abraha's elephants.
Significance
A living witness to the Year of the Elephant; his narration helped fix the date of the Prophet's birth.
Stories
The Year of the Elephant
In the year the Prophet ﷺ was to be born, the gravest threat yet came upon Mecca from the south. Abraha al-Ashram was the viceroy of Yemen under the N…
Read the full story →The Birth of the Light
The Prophet ﷺ was born in Mecca in the Year of the Elephant, the year Allah turned back Abraha's army, which the historians place at about 570 CE. Two…
Read the full story →