Meaning of “eelaaf”:
Eelaaf is not a common word in the Quran. There are some other derivatives of it.
Alf: The word “Alf” in Arabic means thousand.
Alif: The word “Alif” is used for a person we are very familiar with and we are used to seeing them all the time. For example, our mom and others in the family.
Another example is of the pigeons that used to fly and return to the same place because they were accustomed to it, found comfort in it etc. These pigeons were called “Awalif”.Alifa: “Alifa” is used as a verb for getting to know something, finding comfort in it and loving it. So when someone has “ulfa” towards us, it means they know us really well, they are very comfortable with us and they love us.
Aalafa: “Aalafa” means to connect two things together to make them into one. In other words, it means to combine two things after they have been apart.
Allafa: “Allafa” suggests something that takes a long time. For example the bond of brotherhood among Muslims takes a long time to develop. People of different backgrounds (different cities, countries etc.) don’t gel right away. It takes a long time for them to look beyond their cultural backgrounds and accept people for Islam and even then it remains fragile.
An example from the Seerah: When Prophet Muhammad (sallallahu alaihi wasallam) gave a Khutbah about Abdullah ibn Ubay because he started a scandal about Aisha (radi allahu anha). Prophet Muhammad (sallallahu alaihi wasallam) said, “Who can alleviate me of a man, because of whom my family is suffering?” He said this on the Mimbar. Before this he didn’t speak about it publicly at all, but now he couldn’t take the pain anymore and spoke about it on the Mimbar. When Prophet Muhammad (sallallahu alaihi wasallam) said this, the Sahaba were listening and wondering who the person was. One of them stood up and said, “Tell me if he is from Aws tribe and I’ll cut off his head myself, but if he is from our brothers, Khazraj, you tell us what to do”. The other side got up and said to the man, “Liars, you ain’t killing nobody, and you can’t anyway, and you are a munafiq, and you are covering for the munafiq”. Aisha (radi allahu anha) describes them as two snakes that got up and were about to fight each other. The point is that even after much of the Quran was revealed, even after being Muslims who were trained by Prophet Muhammad (sallallahu alaihi wasallam), and even after fighting on the battlefield and having a much stronger bond, their brotherhood remained fragile.