Teacher's Book Al-Fiil

ILQ | Teachers’ Book Al-Fiil SURAH 105: AL-FIIL ‫سورة الفيل‬ The Elephant Learning Outcomes: At the end of this Surah, the students will learn: 1. The story of the Abrahah army and the lessons behind it. 2. That Allah will protect the Kaabah from destroyers. SURAH OVERVIEW “Al-Fiil” means elephant. This surah is a Meccan surah. It was revealed as a remembrance about an extremely important event that occurred in the birth year of the Prophet. The Abrahah army came to Mecca to destroy the Kaabah. However, Allah defended it by sending the least likely creature to succeed, small birds. This surah emphasizes on the significance of the Arab Peninsula as the birthplace of Islam. It is common that the birth of great persons was preceded by great events. Also, the commemoration of the event serves as a reminder for the Arab people that the peace and serenity that they are enjoying are due to Allah’s bounty that He made the sacred place safe. Therefore, they are obliged to worship Him and be grateful to Him.

ILQ | Teachers’ Book Al-Fiil TAFSIR CORNER 1. Provoking the Arabs with a Rhetorical Question: “Are you not aware how your Lord dealt with the people of the Elephant?” Allah begins the surah with an abrupt question that is related to their recent history. It is a history that occurred not long ago, and it is still fresh in the memory of the Arab people. 2. Reminding the Arabs of What Really Happened: “Did He not utterly fail their treacherous plan,” He then continues to describe the details of the event. He says: “Do you not remember what happened to the people of Elephant? Do you know why I did that to them? Do you know why they fail miserably? It is because they are evil. And that is the certain outcome for those who try to oppose Me.” 3. Allah Gives an Example of His Power: “and send against them flocks of birds,” “In case you forget,” He continues, “I only sent the weakest creature to deal with your arrogance. That is how powerful I am. I don’t need to break even the smallest drop of sweat to deal with you people”. 4. How the Weakest Creature was Made Victorious: “which pelted them with stones of sand and clay?” How did Allah turn the table over and made the small birds triumphant over the large army? He did it with the least imaginable approach, by dropping small fiery stones on them. 5. The Grave Outcome of Opposing God: “Thus He made them like stalks of devoured leaves.” The elephant army did not only fail their mission, but also got killed along the way. None of the soldiers survived the ordeal. In this surah, the message is to be delivered into the minds of the Arabs that they should be grateful for everything that they are enjoying today, and even in their times. All of these blessings are because of God’s plans. He is the One who decreed that Kaabah should be built there; consequently, making the place a centre of attention for visits; rendering it suitable for international trades; and improving their economy and lifestyle. All of these is because Islam is there. Without Islam, they are nothing.

ILQ | Teachers’ Book Al-Fiil LESSON 1: GAME: GUESS THE VERB! Introduction: In the next activities, the focus of the lessons is on verse 1. This activity explores the verb “faʿala” which means “to do”. This verb then will be related to the actions of Allah upon the army of Abrahah. Set Induction: 1. The teacher begins by asking the students about the things that they want to do so badly, but are unable to do it. 2. The teacher then asks the students about Allah: “When He wants to do something, is there anything that could hinder Him from doing so?” 3. The teacher tells the story of Aṣḥāb al-Fīl to the students to relate it with the student’s answer. Lesson Outcome: At the end of the lesson, students will be able to: 1. Know the meaning of the word “faʿala” in verse 1. 2. Compare the actions of Allah and the actions of man. Materials: 1. Paper drew with pictures of verbs, for example, Cooking, eating and hiding. Procedure: 1. The teacher will draw a few pictures of verbs on paper. For example; combing, climbing, cooking etc 2. Ask a student to come out and act out the verb without uttering a word. 3. Other students need to guess the verb by watching the action. 4. Option: You can also do this activity with Arabic verbs. 5. Lessons: 1. This activity is related to the word “faʿala” in verse 1, surah Al-Fil, which means “act or doing”. 2. All human’s actions are actually by Allah’s permission. 3. Meanwhile, Allah does not need the permission of anyone in performing his actions. 4. Even the wretched Abrahah needed the permission of Allah to be able to attack the Kaabah. 5. And Allah allowed him to reach Mekkah. But He did not allow him to attack the Kaabah. 6. So, we should thank Allah for giving us energy and health to do our daily routines, play, study etc. Lesson Assessment: Formative: Ask the students the meaning of the verb “faʿala”. Suggestion: 1. What is the meaning of the word “faʿala”? Summative: Ask the students to compare the nature of actions of man and God.

ILQ | Teachers’ Book Al-Fiil Suggestion: 2. Are human actions limited by any conditions? Ans: Yes. For example, we cannot play outside when it is raining. 3. Are God’s actions limited by any condition? Ans: No. He can do anything that He wants.

ILQ | Teachers’ Book Al-Fiil LESSON 2: D.I.Y: HAND ELEPHANT Introduction: This activity transitions to the main character of the surah, which is “elephants”. On this day, students will explore the anatomy of an elephant. Set Induction: 1. The teacher asks the students about the animals that are involved in the story of Aṣḥāb al-Fīl. 2. The teacher asks the students about what happened to the elephant in Surah al-Fiil. 3. Then, the teacher asks about the elephant: its appearance, size, body parts. Lesson Outcome: At the end of the lesson, students will be able to: 1. Identify the body parts of an elephant. 2. State the functions of all body parts. Materials: 1. Canvas/ Paper 2. Acrylic colours 3. Googly eyes 4. Your body parts Procedure: 1. Prepare your canvas. 2. Paint the canvas using different parts of your body to shape an elephant. Let your imagination run wild! 3. Now, decorate the hand-shaped design with googly eyes. 4. You have now drawn an elephant. Congratulations! 5. Finally, label the body parts of your elephant. Lessons: 1. This activity is related to the word “Al-Fiil” in verse 1, surah al-Fiil, which means “elephant”. 2. Elephants are magnificent creatures. 3. When Abrahah brought the elephants to attack the Kaabah, the elephants refused to obey him. 4. This is because the elephants obeyed only Allah. Lesson Assessment: Formative: Ask the students about the body parts of an elephant. Suggestion: 1. What does the trunk of an elephant look like? 2. What do you call the horns of an elephant? Summative: Ask the students about the functions of an elephant’s body parts. Suggestion: 1. Why are elephant’s ears so big? 2. What is the purpose of an elephant’s trunk?

ILQ | Teachers’ Book Al-Fiil LESSON 3: EXPERIMENT – ELEPHANT’S WATER SPRAY Introduction: This activity focuses on the science of one of the most important organs of an elephant, its trunk. Set Induction: 1. The teacher recalled the previous lesson about the function of the elephant's body part. 2. The teacher asks the students about the most important organ for an elephant. 3. The teacher asks the students whether they know how an elephant’s trunk works Lesson Outcome: At the end of the lesson, students will be able to Explain the concept of air pressure in the workings of an elephant trunk. Simulate the workings of an elephant trunk by conducting an experiment. Materials: 1. A half-full glass filled with water 2. Straws 3. A suitable place for experiment with an easy-clean environment Procedure: 1. Fill the glass with water 2. Ask each student to take a straw and put the straw in their mouths. 3. Sip a bit of water from the glass and hold it. 4. Ask all the students to stand at a distance in line and blow the water out of their straw as hard as they can. 5. Enjoy pretending to have an elephant's trunk. Lessons: 1. This activity is related to the name of the surah which is ‘al-fil’ – elephant. 2. This activity demonstrates the elephant trunk water spray mechanism in a fun physics experiment. 3. A high-speed flow can create a low-pressure zone that sucks up a liquid. 4. The air blows across the open end of a straw immersed in water creating a low- pressure zone, causing the liquid to push itself up through the straw. 5. When this liquid meets the blast of air, it breaks up into a fine spray. Lesson Assessment: 1. Ask the students to conduct the experiment. 2. Ask the students to explain the air pressure concept that takes place in the experiment conducted.

ILQ | Teachers’ Book Al-Fiil LESSON 4: D.I.Y – BUBBLE PAINTED ELEPHANT Introduction: This week, the focuses will be on three verses: 1, 2, and 3. This activity touches on the elephant. Set Induction: The teacher begins by recalling the previous lessons on elephants. The teacher then informs the students about today’s activity. Lesson Outcome: At the end of the lesson, students will be able to express their creativity in artistic activity. Materials: 1. Washing up liquid soap 2. A little water 3. Food colouring 4. Bubble wands 5. Cups and/or trays to dip your wands into 6. Large sheet of painting paper 7. Scissors Procedure: 1. First, draw an elephant on paper. 2. Second, make the bubbles by mixing a little water, and a squirt liquid soap. 3. Simply tip a little bubble mixture into each tray or cup – one for each colour. 4. Add a little food colouring to each tray and stir gently. 5. Use several small pots of different coloured bubbles 6. Print the bubbles one at a time on the same page in the shape of an elephant. 7. When it’s dried, you can cut the elephant using scissors 8. Paste it onto another sheet of clean paper. Lessons: 1. This activity is related to the name of the surah which is ‘al-fil’ – elephant.

ILQ | Teachers’ Book Al-Fiil LESSON 5: GAME – AIM THE ARMY OF ABRAHAH Introduction: This activity the focus is on verse 2. It explores the topic of the elephant army and how Allah failed their evil attempt. Set Induction: 1. The teacher asks the students about the elephant army: “What happened to the elephant army?” Ans: They were destroyed. 2. Based on the answer given by the students, ask them the manner in which they were destroyed: “How did they get destroyed?” Ans: They were pelted with fiery stones from hell. 3. The teacher begins the activity. The students have to imagine themselves as birds. Lesson Outcome: At the end of the lesson, students will be able to picture the situation of the battle described in surah al-Fīl. Materials: 1. A paper elephant doll 2. Papers 3. A table Procedure: 1. Bundle some papers into a few paper balls. Load your ammo! 2. Take a distance. You don’t want to be in the elephants’ way. 3. Imagine that the elephants are the soldiers of Abrahah. 4. Now, toss the balls towards the elephant doll! 5. If the elephant falls, you win. Hurray!! 6. Well done. You can now collect your prize. Lessons: 1. From the third verse of surah al Fil, Allah said He sent the flocks of birds to destroy the armies. And from this game, we can imagine how these small birds could throw the small stones at the Abrahah’s army destroying them until they became like crushed leaves. 2. How could a small and weak creature win against a bigger opponent? Be confident and have faith in Allah because all things are determined by Allah. Lesson Assessment: Formative: 1. Ask the students about the situation of their game. 2. Suggestions: 3. How did you feel playing this game? 4. Was it easy or hard to hit the elephants? Summative: 1. Ask about the precision of the birds’ throw. 2. Suggestions: 3. Do you think that the birds are sharpshooters? 4. Yes: Because they were able to throw the stones without missing.

ILQ | Teachers’ Book Al-Fiil LESSON 6: PAPERCRAFT – BIRDS OF FOREST Introduction: This activity focus turns to verse 3 which mentions the birds that Allah sent to destroy the elephant army. Set Induction: 1. The teacher recalls the previous activity 2. Students will be asked about animals that attack elephants with a stone. 3. Students will be asked about the possibility of the event and relate it with the greatness of Allah. 4. Teachers relate the size of a bird with the event to point out the greatness of Allah. Lesson Outcome: At the end of the lesson, students will be able to: 1. Identify the birds that are mentioned in this surah as among the characters in this story. 2. Relate the event with the greatness of Allah Materials: 1. Different colour papers 2. Scissors 3. Glue 4. Googly eyes 5. Pencil Procedure: 1. Draw big half circles on the papers, for the body and smaller half-circles for wings. Cut the half circles out. 2. Cut a long, small straight piece for the tail, and a shorter triangle piece for the beak. 3. Now, glue together the body and the wings. Don’t forget the glue in the tail. 4. Glue in the small triangle piece for the beak. 5. Decorate the bird with googly eyes. And you can create a lot more as his friends. Lessons: This activity is related to the word “Thoiran” in verse 3, surah Al-Fil, which means “birds”. The students will learn about birds in a fun way by doing this activity. In this way, students will be imagining the greatness of Allah for sending a small bird to defeat the army of elephants. Lesson Assessment: Formative: 1. Ask the students about the types of birds that were attacking the elephant armies. 2. Suggestions: 3. What were the birds that attacked the elephant armies? 4. Ans: All sorts of birds. Summative: 1. Ask the students a series of logical questions to realize Allah’s power. 2. Suggestions: 3. Between birds and elephants, which animals are bigger and stronger?

ILQ | Teachers’ Book Al-Fiil 4. If small and weak animals can defeat bigger and stronger animals, then who is actually stronger? 5. How did the birds get so strong? 6. Ans: Because Allah helped them and allowed them victory.

ILQ | Teachers’ Book Al-Fiil LESSON 7: GAMES APPLICATION – ANGRY BIRD Introduction: This activity the focus will be on exploring verse 3-4. This activity visualizes the sending of the birds to destroy the elephant army. Set Induction: 1. The teacher begins the session by recalling the characters of the surah. 2. The teacher points out the birds as one of the important characters mentioned in the surah. Lesson Outcome: At the end of the lesson, students will be able to state the factors that enabled the birds to succeed against Abrahah. Materials: 1. Game apps – Angry Bird Procedure: 1. Download the game or play the game online on the website. 2. The students take turns in playing the game. 3. Let them imagine themselves as birds of Abaabil and aim to defeat the pigs. Lessons: 1. In this game, the birds attack and defeat the pigs by firing themselves over the walls using their giant slingshot. 2. This lesson can be related to the power of teamwork by a flock of birds that were sent by Allah to defeat the elephant army. Lesson Assessment: Formative: 1. Ask the students about the manner in which the birds attacked the army. 2. Suggestions: 3. Where did the birds come from? 4. How many birds were there? 5. How did the birds attack the elephant army? Summative: 1. Ask the students about the factor of the birds’ victory. 2. Suggestions: 3. Why did the birds succeed? 4. Who helped the birds to succeed?

ILQ | Teachers’ Book Al-Fiil LESSON 8: GAMES – FLOOR TIC TAC TOE Introduction: This activity focuses on the meaning and the implications of the word “tarmī” in verse 4. Lesson Outcome: At the end of the lesson, students will be able to: 1. Know the meaning of the word “tarmī”. 2. Explain the shades of meaning for the word “tarmī”. Materials: 1. Small bean bags 2. Dark-coloured tape Procedure: 1. Make sure the bean bags are in two different colours/labelled with X’s and O’s then make a big tic-tac-toe board on the floor using masking tape. 2. Divide the students to two teams and decide X’s and O’s or choose a colour for them. 3. Then, they take turns throwing a bean bag into a square. 4. They can move all around the sides of the board; just make sure that they stay about two feet away from the sides. 5. If a bean bag lands in the same square as the other person’s or on a line, it doesn’t count. 6. The first team to get three in a row win. Lessons: 1. This activity is related to the word “tarmī” in verse 4 of surah al-Fil which means to throw. 2. This activity sharpens the students motor and aiming skill. 3. “tarmī” means to throw accurately. A throw that misses its target is not called “tarmī”. 4. The tiny birds of Ababil accurately aimed at the elephant's army. 5. Therefore, that is why Allah uses the word “tarmī” in describing the action of the birds Lesson Assessment: 1. When you throw the bean bags, do you always hit the target? If not, can your throw be called “tarmī”?

ILQ | Teachers’ Book Al-Fiil LESSON 9: EXPERIMENT – STONES FROM THE SKY Introduction: This activity explores the stones that were used by the birds and its effects. Lesson Outcome: At the end of the lesson, students will be able to: 1. Explain the effects of gravity on the velocity of an object. 2. Relate the working of gravity and the effects it had on the velocity of the stones and the effects on the elephant army. Materials: 1. Marble 2. Bowl 3. Shaving cream Procedure: 1. Make sure your bowl is filled with shaving cream. 2. Hold the marble above the bowl at the height of your knee. 3. Now, drop the marble into the bowl and look at what happens to the cream magnificent, isn’t it? 4. Repeat everything. This time, the marble is up higher at your waist. 5. Repeat again. Now hold it at the height of your head. Lessons: 1. In the last verse of Surah al-Fiil, Allah told us that the army died being hit by stones thrown by small birds and they became like leaves eaten by maggots. Can you imagine how small stones can destroy a whole army? 2. The higher speed /acceleration of a stone result in a deeper hole in the object. That’s why a small stone from a high-flying bird in the sky can create holes in the human body and kill them. Lesson Assessment: Formative 1. Ask the students about the effects of gravity. 2. Suggestions: 3. Why do objects naturally fall down? Why don’t they float upwards? 4. How does gravity increase the velocity of a dropping object? Summative: 1. How did gravity become an advantage for the birds? Ans: gravity pulls the stones downwards towards the elephant army, making the stones move faster. With a higher velocity, the damage produced by the stones are higher.

ILQ | Teachers’ Book Al-Fiil LESSON 10: TRIP THE GARDEN – FIND THE CATERPILLAR Introduction: This activity focus will be on verse 5 which describes the damage affected by the stones thrown by the birds. Lesson Outcome: At the end of the lesson, students will be able to visualize the imagery of verse 5. Materials: 1. Pencils 2. Notebooks 3. Magnifying glass (optional) Procedure: 1. Bring the students to a nearby park or garden. 2. Ensure their outfits are safe and comfortable for the short walk. 3. Let them compete to find caterpillars on leaves. 4. If one of them finds any, let other students watch how it looks like; leaves eaten by the caterpillars. (use the magnifying glass) 5. Encourage the students to draw what they found in their notebooks. Lessons: 1. Allah’s creation comes in many shapes and forms. Let us learn about them and enjoy them. Lesson Assessment: Formative: 1. Ask the students about the condition of a caterpillar eating leaves. 2. Suggestion: 3. What do caterpillars eat? 4. Do they eat fast or slow? 5. Can the dried leaves fight back when eaten? Summative: 1. Ask them about the correspondences between the actual situation of the event mentioned in the surah and the imagery described by verse 5. 2. Suggestions: 3. Based on the metaphor, who were the caterpillars and who were the leaves? 4. Ans: the army was the leaves, and the stones were the caterpillars. Because the stones “ate” the army. 5. Did the stones kill the army quickly or slowly? 6. Ans: slowly, because Allah wanted them to regret their actions. 7. Were the armies able to fight back? 8. Ans: No, they were helpless.

ILQ | Teachers’ Book Al-Fiil LESSON 11: JOURNAL OF SURAH AL-FIIL Set Induction: Let us write a journal to record everything that we have learned. Lesson Outcome: At the end of the lesson, students will be able to recall all the lesson of this surah. Materials: 1. Papers 2. Colour pencils 3. Paper decorations Procedure: 1. Give the students a few pieces of paper printed with pictures of elephants, birds, armies, and let them paste them on plain paper. 2. They also can draw extra pictures by themselves of what they have been learning throughout the month about surah Al-Fiil. 3. They may decorate their papers as they wish! The teacher will check their journal once a month. Lessons: In the last verse of Surah al-Fiil, Allah told us that the army died being hit by stones thrown by small birds and they became like leaves eaten by maggots. Can you imagine how small stones can destroy a whole army? The higher speed /acceleration of a stone result in a deeper hole in the object. That’s why a small stone from a high-flying bird in the sky can create holes in human bodies and kill them.