I wanted to share some
interesting insights and beautiful similarities I noted in one of the stories of
the holy Quran (Surah Al-Fil, 105:4) and that of the Ramayana (Ram-Setu episode).
The connection I am posting about is based on the story of the Ababeel (birds)
of the Surah Al-Fil in Quran.
First, I will talk of that part:
In that story, there is a tyrant
(named Abraha) who wanted to destroy the holy Kaaba and marched along with his mighty
army of elephants. At that moment, Abdul-Muttalib, the grandfather of Prophet
Muhammad (S.A.W.) prayed to Allah to help protect Kaaba from the attack. At
that moment, the sky was filled with a vast flock of Ababeel (birds) that were
each carrying specific stones (called Sijjil in the Quran), with each
bird carrying one in its beak and two in both its claws, thus fully loaded. Seeming
harmless at first, these little stones rained down on the army and had the
power to completely destroy the army of Abraha and his elephants and brought
about the complete destruction of the tyrant’s army, thus protecting the house of God.
Let me now talk of the Ramayana episode which bears a familiarity with this. In that story, Rama, in his ardent search for his beloved wife Sita (who was abducted by the tyrant Ravana in his golden palace Lanka), takes help of his army of monkeys (Vanar Sena), who carried stones that were thrown on the sea, and they began to float instead of sinking (due to a divine miracle as they bore the name of Ram written by the Vanar Sena, although some other narratives say that they floated as they were thrown by specific Vanars (Nal and Neel) who had the boon that whatever they threw in water shall never sink). The bridge (called as Ram Setu) was thus built after innumerable stones were carried and thrown on water without sinking, and Ram crossed it with his army and overthrew the tyrant Ravana and saved the prestige of his dynasty (Raghukul) and also brought back his wife, thus upholding Dharma...
Now, I found that the stones which the birds carried were stones of baked clay or pumice (referred to as Sijjil) that are supposedly very light (and that's what makes it possible for birds to carry it), but when thrown from such heights in the sky, they are capable of wreaking havoc...And in this case, pumice stone has air pockets and is actually porous, so if its thrown in water (which was the case in the story of Ramayana) it can actually float (see the photo below and the link with it, where the nature of such stones as in the Surah Al-Fil is described):
Note that the link below only talks about the power of stones in the Ababeel story when they were sent down from a great height but in the sky.
However, the common theme I observed was that the stone used in Ram Setu construction was also same (pumice stone); thus, it was indeed Sijjil (but which was thrown on the water by monkeys) instead of thrown on the ground by birds...But the purpose of both was the same- that is, to uphold the Dharma or sanctity and bring about the destruction of the evil (Abraha in the first and Ravana in the second case). I was awed as I also noted that both six-lettered names (Abraha and Ravana) are mostly similar (67% similar letters), and both were tyrants who were filled with pride (takabbur) and chose the path of adharma...
Interestingly enough, one of the recent missiles Iran
launched against Israel in the Iran-US-Israel 2026 war (to uphold the truth and Dharma) was also called
"Sijjil" - inspiration deriving from the name of that baked clay stone Sijjil mentioned in the Surah Al-Fil.
Moreover, the actual pumice stone (from the holy Hindu site of Rameswaram, South India), is actually sold as originating from the Ram Setu Bridge, and those pilgrims who visit Rameswaram can actually bring similar stones that actually float on water). I had a similar stone that I was so fascinated with in the house once and I was told by my mother in my early childhood that her father got it from Rameswaram when he visited it in one of his pilgrimages...I was so deeply fascinated by that stone that I would drop it in water and it would float, and I always wanted to keep that holy stone...Anyways, now as I look back, there is no stone or any bridge, just flowing water.............
