Surat Al-Fil Lapbook

I have another fun lapbook to share with you today.  Surat Al-Fil Lapbook.  InshaAllah you and your children find it of benefit.

Surah Summary:

This surah, as its name indicates, is about an event that happened in the year the Prophet(SAAS) was born.  When Abraha and his army came to Mecca with the intention to destroy the Kabah.  Allah destroyed this massive army of elephants with little birds that threw tiny pellets of clay onto them.

The Kaaba has been protected since the time of Prophet Ibrahim(AS).  The Quraysh took care of the Kaaba and gave water to the pilgrims when they came to visit the Kaaba.  Abdul-Mutallib, the Prophets(SAAS) grandfather, was one of the leaders of the Quraysh.  The Quraysh were well known across Arabia because of the Kaaba.  We learned in Surat Quraysh that they were a wealthy and prosperous tribe , who lived in peace and safety.  They were given all these blessings because of he Kaaba.

The Quraysh were friendly with all their fellow tribes and traded with them as well.  The Christian king of Abyssinia, An-Najashi, wanted to take over Yemen because the Christians were treated badly in that country by their king, Du Nuwas.   So An-Najashi , put an army together who would be led by Abraha and Aryat.

Once they succeeded in taking over Yemen Abraha killed Aryat because he wanted to be the only ruler in Yemen.  Because of this, An-Najashi wanted to punish Abraha for killing Aryat.  To avoid this Abraha promised An-Najashi he would build a church in his honor.  he named the church Al-Qoolays which was the most beautiful building of its time.

Once it was finished, Abraha wanted everyone to visit this church even if they were not Christian.  The Arabs did not like this because they wanted to visit the Kaaba and they had a sense of danger near.   According to some narrations some people burnt the church and some desecrated it to show their reaction to Abraha’s invitation.

Abraha became very angry and wanted to take revenge by destroying the Kaaba and in turn it would force the pilgrims to come to his church.  So he set out to invade Mecca with an army of soldiers and elephants.

As Abraha approached Mecca the Quraysh knew only Allah could protect the Kaaba.   So they prayed to Allah to protect the Kaaba and then fled to the mountains.  While this was going on,  Abraha commanded his men to capture the camels and grazing animals.  These camels belong to Abdul-Muttalib, the Prophet’s(SAAS) grandfather.

Abraha sent a messenger to the Quraysh asking to speak to their leader.  The Quraysh sent Abdul-Muttalib.  Abdul-Muttalib informed Abraha that they would not fight him, but he did want one thing from Abraha.  Abdul-Muttalib asked for his camels back which surprised Abraha.  He couldn’t understand why Abdul-Muttalib was worried about his camels when Abraha was about to attack them.

Abraha asked him why he wanted his camels back when the Kaaba was more valuable.  Abdul-Muttalib responded that the camels belonged to him and he would take care of them and the Kaaba belonged to Allah and Allah would take care of the Kaaba.  Abdul-Muttalib returned to his tribe with the camels and warned the citizens to take refuge around the mountains.

This statement made Abraha mad and so he prepared to attack with his soldiers and elephants.   Abraha approached riding his largest elephant named Mahmoud.   Abraha tried to move toward Mecca but his elephant, Mahmoud, would not budge.  He would beat him with a stick to get him to move but he still would not budge.  He kept turning towards Yemen.  At this time there was a dark cloud coming from the Red Sea.  This dark cloud was actually a flock of birds with each big carrying three tiny pebbles.  One in their beak and one in each claw.  These birds pelleted the soldiers and the elephants with these stones.  They were killed from this.   And this is also where Abraha died, in Yemen.

There are different opinions about how many elephants Abraha brought with him.  Some say only his elephant Mahmoud.  Others have cited that there were eight or ten and yet others say there was twelve.  This event is known as the year of the elephant.

It was in this year that the Prophet Muhammad(SAAS) was born.  He would be a guidance to mankind and beautiful person to look up to and emulate.

The ages for these lapbooks

This lapbook is meant to be used with the Ad-Duha Institute Mini Tafseer Books.  You can purchase the Surat Al-Fil mini book or you can purchase the Surat Al-Fil e-book and print it out yourself.  You can buy each book separately or as a set.  Check out the pages of the books here.  I gave a book to each child so that they can color and participate by reading along with me.

These lapbooks can be used at the elementary level grades 1-6.  If you have older students you can have them read and do the minbook themselves.  They can either cut and paste the answers into the mini books or they can write it in themselves.  You can give them a quiz after a review to see if they have fully understood and retained the information.  I will be sharing a study guide and quiz later so be sure to keep a look out.

If you have younger readers you can read it together as a group and then you can help them cut and paste the answers inside the mini books.  The very young may not be able to do all the mini books.  You can pick and choose which ones you would like your students to do.  Another option is for the parent/teacher to cut out all mini books and paste them into the lapbook so it is ready for the younger student to use.  Then the parent or teacher can focus on spending time going over and explaining the surah.

If this is too easy for your older students then you can soon check out my Surat Al-Fil Notebooking Pages where they can write out what they know and learned from the surah.  Keep a look out.

How long will it take to complete this lapbook?

It all depends on you and your family.  Older students might finish in a few days to a week and younger students may take a couple of weeks or more.  Do not feel pressured to finish in a certain time.  Pace yourself and your kids to what best suits your family.

What is included in this lapbook?

• Facts about the surah mini books
• Vocabulary mini book
• Trace the arabic letters of the surah
• Tafseer mini book
• Translation mini book
• What you should say before reciting Quran mini book
• Asbaab An-Nazool mini book
• 19 other mini books

Cover page for your children to color and glue to the front of the lapbook

Vocabulary & Translation Mini book

If you would like to purchase this lapbook, you can do so here.

To purchase my other lapbooks, check out my shop here.

If you would like a copy of the Surat Al-Fil Notebooking Pages, you can download them here.

If you find a mistake or would like me to add a minibook please leave a kind comment below.

 

Before you download my lapbooks or notebook pages, please note the following!

UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES SHOULD ANY PORTION OF THIS BOOK/PAGES BE DOWNLOADED AND SOLD FOR PROFIT.

The content of this lapbook is copyrighted intellectual property and offered solely here for  purchase download and personal use(one household) exclusively.  I also offer classroom license if it is for a classroom or co-op setting.

This is an Amanah(trust) that the appropriate license will be purchased for the appropriate use.  May Allah(SWT) reward you in abundance for teaching our children.

Supplies Needed:

• 2 file folders(or 2 large sheets of construction paper)
• scissors
• glue
• tape

Check out the links below to see how I make these lapbook:

• What is a lapbook?
• How to make a lapbook tutorial-Check out my YouTube channel

Hope it is of benefit.

Peace and Blessings,