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THE
BATTLE OF TRENCH
Towards
the Battle of Trench
The Jewish
tribe of Banu Nadir were
originally sworn allies of the
Muslims in Madina but they
secretly intrigued with the Makkan
pagans and the Madinan hypocrites.
They even tried treacherously to
take the life of the Prophet while
he was on a visit to them,
breaking both the laws of
hospitality and their own sworn
alliance. God’s Messenger asked
them to leave the strategic
position which they occupied,
about three miles south of Madina.
They agreed to this but when ‘Adbullah
ibn Ubayy, the chief of the
hypocrites, assured them that his
party would help them in case of
war, the Banu Nadir demurred.
The Muslim army
then besieged them in their
fortresses and, seeing that
neither the Makkan polytheists nor
the hypocrites in Madina stirred a
finger to help them, the Banu
Nadir had to leave the city. They
were dismayed but their lives were
spared, and they were given ten
days in which to remove
themselves, their families, and
such goods as they could carry.
Most of them joined their brethren
in Syria and the others in Khaybar.
While returning
from the Battle of Uhud, Abu
Sufyan had challenged the Muslims
to another encounter at Badr the
following year.1 But when
the appointed time arrived, Abu
Sufyan’s courage failed him to
fight against God’s Messenger.
As a face-saving device he sent an
agent, Nu‘aym ibn Mas‘ud, who
was then an unbeliever, to Madina
who spread the rumor that the
Quraysh were making tremendous war
preparations and that they were
gathering a huge army which no
other power in the whole of Arabia
would resist. However, when the
Prophet, upon him be peace and
blessings, reached Badr with an
army of fifteen hundred fighters,
they found there no one to fight
with them. They stayed at Badr for
eight days awaiting the threatened
encounter, and when no sign of the
Quraysh army appeared, they
returned to Madina. This campaign
was called Badr al-Sughra (Badr
the Minor).
In the fifth
year after the Hijra, God’s
Messenger, upon him be peace and
blessings, was informed that the
desert tribes of Anmar and Sa’laba
had decided to attack Madina.
Accompanied by 400 fighters, he
reached Zat al-Riqa’ and hearing
that the enemy tribes had fled,
returned to Madina.2
After this
campaign, God’s Messenger
marched upon Banu Mustaliq, a
pagan tribe of Arabia. Banu
Mustaliq had made preparations of
war against the Muslims. With an
army of 700 warriors, God’s
Messenger attacked them and
defeated them.3 On the way back
to Madina, the intrigues of the
hypocrites to bring about
dissension between the Emigrants
and Helpers were brought to
naught. The verses sent down
revealed all their secrets and how
polluted their inner world was (al-Munafiqun,
63. 1-11).
The
Battle of Trench
The Battle of
the Trench took place after the
campaign against Banu Nadir, who
had been expelled from Madina for
their treachery and who had mostly
joined their Jewish brethren in
Khaybar.
In the fifth
year of Hijra, a group of those
Jews including Sallam ibn Abi al-Huqayq
and Huyayy ibn Akhtab, together
with a number of Banu Wa’il,
left for Makka. They urged the
Quraysh to make war on the Prophet
Muhammad, upon him be peace and
blessings, and promised help and
support.
The Jewish
group then went to the tribes of
Ghatafan and Qays Aylan and
guaranteeing them help also,
encouraged them to fight against
God’s Messenger.4
These intrigues
of the Jews resulted in the
formation of a great confederacy
against Islam. It consisted of the
Makkan polytheists, the desert
tribes of central Arabia, the Jews
previously expelled for
treacheries from Madina, the Jews
(Banu Qurayza) remaining in Madina,
and the hypocrites led by ‘Abdullah
ibn Ubayy ibn Salul. The last two
constituted a treacherous network
within Madina.
When God’s
Messenger, upon him be peace and
blessings, heard, through his
intelligence service, of the
gathering of the allies or
confederates (ahzab)
against him, and the strength of
their desire to fight against him,
he consulted his Companions, as he
always used to do. It was their
unanimous view that they should
remain in Madina and fight from
there. Salman al-Farisi suggested
to God’s Messenger that they
should dig a trench around Madina.
The trench took
six days of feverish work to dig.
God’s Messenger had divided them
into groups of ten people and put
them to a competition. It was a
hard task and time was restricted;
what was more, hunger struck them
all; yet all the Companions worked
enthusiastically. In order not to
feel hunger, each fastened a rock
around his belly. While digging
they recited:
We are
those people who
Took the
oath of allegiance to
Muhammad;
Therefore
we shall fight in the way of
God
As long as
we live.
By God, if
God had not enabled us to,
We would
have neither been guided
Nor given
alms, nor performed prayers.
Send down
unto us calmness and
tranquility
And make
our feet firm if we confront
the enemy!5
The Messenger,
who dug alongside them, and had
fastened around his belly two
rocks, answered them with the
couplet:
O God, the
real life is the life of the
Hereafter.So, forgive
the Helpers and the Emigrants.6
Madina under
threat
The allies
advanced against Madina in the
hope of destroying the Muslims in
a battle to be fought in an open
field. However, when they faced a
new strategy of God’s Messenger,
they took the first blow.
Numbering around 20,000 men, they
camped near the ditch. The Madinan
fighting strength was no more than
3,000, and the Jewish tribe of
Banu Qurayza and the Hypocrites
were a source of weakness as they
were treacherously intriguing with
the enemy. As stated in the verses
of the Qur’an (al-Ahzab,
33.12-20) when the Hypocrites
first saw the enemy, they were
already in a defeatist mood. Not
content with disloyalty
themselves, they tried to infect
others, who made paltry excuses to
withdraw from the fight. If the
enemy were to gain entrance, they
were ready to betray the city to
the enemy.
God’s
Messenger’s sagacity and
military genius showed themselves
once more during this war. He had
kept them confined within the city
and stationed them in a way that
they could safeguard their homes
against possible attacks from Banu
Qurayza. It was the most critical
moments of the war when Banu
Qurayza sent a man into the city
to spy into the conditions of the
Muslim women. However, when this
man was killed by Safiyya, the
Prophet’s aunt, their hopes were
frustrated.7
While the war
was continuing with exchanges of
arrows and stones, God’s
Messenger, upon him be peace and
blessings, did not neglect to make
diplomatic attempts to disunite
the Allies. He contacted the
leaders of Ghatafan and, offering
them peace, urged them to withdraw
with their people from the war. Nu‘aym
ibn Mas‘ud was one of the
leaders of the Allies, who before
the battle, had come to Madina to
sow discord; instead, he then
began to incline towards Islam.
During the battle, he secretly
entered Islam and, ordered by God’s
Messenger, proceeded to stir up
Banu Qurayza. Nu‘aym set Banu
Qurayza against the Quraysh by
telling them that they would be
abandoned by the Makkans and
should refuse to help unless they
were given hostages from the
Quraysh. To the Quraysh, on the
other hand, he said that Banu
Qurayza would not fulfil their
promise to help and would attempt
to stall by asking for Qurayshi
hostages to share their plight in
the case of defeat. This stratagem
succeeded. Dissension among the
Allies grew.8
God’s
Messenger, supported by the
mountain Sal behind, had ordered a
point in the trench to be made
narrower. He had expected that
leading horsemen of the Quraysh
would try to cross the trench
through that narrow spot. It
happened as he had expected, and
some of the most renowned warriors
of the Quraysh attempted to cross
the trench and volunteered for
single combat with Muslim
fighters. Among them were ‘Amr
ibn ‘Abd Wudd, Ikrima ibn Abi
Jahl, Hubayra ibn Abi Wahb, Durar
ibn al-Khattab and Nawfal ibn ‘Adbullah
ibn al-Mughira.
Boasting of his
strength and fighting ability, ‘Amr
ibn ‘Abd Wudd dismounted from
his horse in the face of ‘Ali,
who was ordered by the Messenger
to fight against ‘Amr. ‘Amr
advanced towards ‘Ali with his
sword drawn. He brought his sword
quickly against him but he got his
sword caught in the shield of ‘Ali.
‘Ali, in return, struck a fierce
blow against ‘Amr and the dust
rose up around them. Then the
words, Allahu akbar - God
is the Greatest - were heard: ‘Ali
had killed his opponent.9
Dirar, Hubayra
and Nawfal were also killed by ‘Ali.10
The attempts of other horsemen or
generals of the Quraysh to cross
the trench were all brought to
naught.
The siege
lasted 27 days. It caused the
Muslims much suffering, from
hunger, cold, an unceasing shower
of arrows and stones, and attempts
and concentrated assaults to cross
the trench, and betrayals and
intrigues within the city. The Qur’an
describes this situation as
follows:
When they
come against you from above
you and from below you, and
when your eyes swerved and
your hearts reached your
throats, while you thought
thoughts about God; there it
was that the believers were
tried, and shaken most
mightily. And when the
hypocrites, and those in whose
hearts is sickness, said, ‘God
and His Messenger promised us
only delusion.’ And when a
party of them said, ‘O
people of Yathrib, there is no
abiding here for you,
therefore return!’ And a
party of them were asking
leave of the Prophet, saying,
‘Our houses are exposed’;
yet they were not exposed;
they desired only to flee. (al-Ahzab,
33. 10-13)
After a close
investment of four weeks, during
which the enemy were disheartened
by their ill success and the
believers proved their
steadfastness and loyalty, there
was a piercing blast of the cold
east wind. The enemy’s tents
were torn up, their fires were
extinguished, the sand and rain
beat in their faces, and they were
terrified by the portents against
them. They had already well nigh
fallen out among themselves.
Hudayfa al-Yamani, who was sent by
God’s Messenger to spy on the
movements of the enemy, heard Abu
Sufyan’s shouting: ‘Come on,
we are returning!’11 The Muslims
were victorious by God’s help;
there were hidden forces - the
Angels - that helped them:
O
believers, remember God’s
blessing upon you when hosts
came against you, and we
loosed against them a wind,
and hosts you saw not; and God
sees the things you do. (al-Ahzab,
33.9)
The predictions
of the Messenger
While digging
the ditch, the Companions had been
unable to break a huge rock and
referred the matter to God’s
Messenger, upon him be peace and
blessings. The Messenger struck
the rock with the pickaxe in his
hand. In the light of the sparks
caused by the blow, he predicted: I
have been given the keys to the
Kingdom of Persia; my Community
will conquer it. He struck the
rock a second time and, again in
the light of the sparks caused by
the blow, declared: God is the
Greatest. I have been given the
keys to the Empire of Byzantium.
My Community will conquer it.12
The Battle of
the Trench was the last attempt of
the Quraysh to destroy Islam and
the Muslims. Following their
withdrawal in defeat and
humiliation, God’s Messenger
declared: From this moment we
will march upon them; they will no
longer be able to raid us.13
Marching upon
the Banu Qurayza
When the Allies
were routed and turned their backs
in flight from the Muslims, God’s
Messenger, upon him be peace and
blessings, turned his attention to
Banu Qurayza. They had betrayed
their agreement with God’s
Messenger and been allied with the
Quraysh against the Muslims. They
had also given asylum to the
leaders of Banu Nadir, like Huyay
ibn Akhtab, who had been expelled
from Madina, and never refrained
from conspiracies against the
Muslims.
No sooner
had God’s Messenger arrived
home from the Battle of the
Trench than Archangel Gabriel
came and said to him: ‘I
have not taken off my coat of
mail, and I am going upon Banu
Qurayza’.14
God’s
Messenger ordered his Companions
to march upon Banu Qurayza and had
his tent pitched opposite their
fortresses. If Banu Qurayza had
asked the Messenger for
forgiveness, he would have
forgiven them, but they preferred
resistance. The Messenger remained
besieging Banu Qurayza for
twenty-five days. At last they
asked the Messenger for surrender
terms, agreeing that they should
submit to the judgment of Sa‘d
ibn Mu’adh, who decreed the
sentence according to the Torah.
This was the end of the
conspiracies of Banu Qurayza, as
well as the Jewish presence in
Madina.15
Sa‘d ibn Mu‘adh
was among the leaders of the
Helpers. He had been wounded in
the Battle of the Trench and
prayed to God: ‘O God! If I am
able to fight once more beside God’s
Messenger, make me live.
Otherwise, I am ready to die’.
So, he died a martyr shortly after
the Jewish conspiracies ended.16
1. I.
Hisham, 3.94; I. Sa‘d,
2.59.
2. I. Hisham, 3.213.
3. I. Kathir, 4.178-9.
4. I. Hisham, 3.225-6; Waqidi,
441-3.
5. Bukhari, “Manaqib al-Ansar,”
9, “Maghazi,” 29; Muslim, “Jihad,”
123-5.
6. Bukhari, “Manaqib,” 9;
Muslim, “Jihad,” 127.
7. I. Hisham, 3.230; I. Kathir,
al-Bidaya, 4.116.
8. I. Hisham, 3.239.
9. I. Hisham, 3.240-2.
10. I. Hisham, 3.235-6.
11. I. Kathir, 4.123.
12. I. Hisham, 3.243.
13. Bukhari, “Maghazi,” 29;
I. Hanbal, 4.262.
14. Bukhari, “Maghazi,” 30.
15. I. Hisham, 3.249-51.
16. I. Hisham, 3.238, 262; I.
Sa‘d, 3. 423-4; Tabari, Tarikh,
3.49.
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