Question 39: Why was the army of Abraha al-Habashi stoned when it wanted to demolish the Kaaba with shale rocks, and the Ummayyad army was not when they wanted to demolish the Kaaba to the point where the catapult fell in the Kaaba and demolished the sacred house?
Answer: The Sacred House of Allah ‘The Kaaba’ has a sanctity and angels which protect the house from assaults. And this miraculous protection does not always occur, it rather occurs if the people were to benefit and learn a lesson from this miracle, and be guided to the straight path by its means. However, if the people were callous, and they did not learn lessons from injunctions, examples, divine punishments or clear divine signs, then there is no sense in preventing them from committing disobedience, tyranny and oppression and pushing them forcefully away from the path of hellfire; and this goes against the issue of test and trial for the human being in this earth.
And at the time of Abdul Muttalib , the grandfather of the Prophet Mohammed, people used to benefit and learn lessons from this miracle. It also used to indicate the sanctity of Abdul Muttalib and his household progeny and their connection to the skies, and he is a successor from the successors of Abraham. As for in the time of Yazeed (May the curse of Allah be upon him), the people used to be callous and did not learn lessons, they rather violated a sanctity greater than the sanctity of the Kaaba which is the sanctity of al-Hussein, when they killed him and disfigured his pure and sacred body.
And Al-Hussein clarified in his sermon to them that after they kill him, they will not leave a sanctity inviolate, nor will they be afraid of its violation. Nevertheless, when the army of Yazeed (May Allah curse him) advanced towards the Kaaba coming from Medina, the cursed Muslim bin Aqaba who was the leader of the Ummayad army died, but the people did not deter, rather they advanced under the leadership of Al-Haseen bin Nomayr Al-Sakooni until the issue reached the point of stoning the Kaaba with the catapult and killing Ibn al-Zubair inside the Sanctuary [of Mecca].
While at the end of the path, meaning at the time of Imam Al-Mahdi , when the people return to some of the nature [of Allah] and learn lessons from examples and signs, this miracle will return to appear once again. And this time, [it will be] when the army of al- Sufyani is swallowed by the earth between Medina and Mecca, following the emergence of Imam Al-Mahdi from Medina and his seeking of refuge in Mecca, the Sanctum of Allah, as is narrated from them. [Bihar al-Anwar: Part 52 page 222-223]
So the most important reason for the occurrence of this sign or its delay is for the benefit of the people from it and their guidance by its means, and their learning of lessons from it, or their negligence of it and their resort to the material, and their referring of all the reasons and causes to the material.
Ahmed Alhasan
The Allegories – volume 2
First Mahdi : Yamani : Ahmed Alhasan 