The Battle Of The Trench
When the Prophet (Pbuh) first arrived in Medinah, the Jews who were
living there had welcomed him. The Prophet (Pbuh) had returned their
greeting, as he wished to be on good terms with them. An agreement was
also reached between the Muslims and the Jews, which gave the Jews the
freedom to practice their religion and which also set out their rights and
their duties. Among these duties was that in the case of war with
Quraysh, the Jews would fight on the side of the Muslims.
Despite this agreement, however, some of the Jewish tribes, who
resented the Prophet's presence in Medinah, soon began to cause trouble
amongst the Muslims. They tried to set the Muslim Emigrants from
Mecca and the Ansar against each other. The troublemakers were given
many warnings but they continued to be a nuisance. In the end, the
Muslims had no choice but to drive them from Medinah. A new
agreement was offered those Jews who remained but the trouble did not
end there. One of the Jewish tribes, the Bani Nadir plotted to murder the
Prophet (Pbuh) but their plan was discovered and they, too, were exiled
from the city. Knowing that they could not defeat the Muslims
themselves, some of the leaders of the exiled Jews secretly went to Mecca
to enlist the help of Quraysh. Knowing what the Meccans would like to
hear, they pretended to believe in the same things. They said that they
thought that the old Arab tradition was better than the teachings of the
Prophet Muhammad (Pbuh) and that they believed that the Quraysh
religion of worshipping many idols was better than the Prophet's with
only one God. Then the Jews told them that if all the Arab tribes attacked
Medinah, the Jews inside the city would help to defeat the Prophet (Pbuh)
and Islam once and for all.
The leaders of Quraysh were pleased to hear all this and seizing on
what seemed to them a very good opportunity, agreed to the plan and
began to gather together a formidable army. In the meantime in Medinah,
only one Jewish tribe, the Bani Quraydhah, refused to betray the
Muslims.
Eventually the Muslims learned of the preparations being made for
war in Mecca and of the plotting of the Jews within Medinahitself. The
betrayal of the Muslims by the Jews did not surprise the Prophet (Pbuh),
who said of them: 'The hearts of the Jews have become closed to the
truth. They have forgotten what Muses taught them long ago that there is
only one God.'
“The likeness of those who are entrusted with the Law of Moses, yet
apply it not, is as the likeness of the ass carrying books. Evil is the
likeness of the people who deny the revelations of Allah. And Allah
guideth not wrongdoing folk”. (Qur'an 62.5)
The Muslims wondered how they could defend Medinah. They heard
that Abu Sufyan was coming to attack them with an enormous army
which included many other Arab tribes, as well as Quraysh. What were
they to do with only a single week to prepare? The Prophet (Pbuh) and
his men knew that it would be impossible for them to fight off all these
tribes! The only thing they could do was to stay inside the city and try to
defend it as best they could. Now among the people of Medinah was a
Persian named Salman, who had to live in the city some time before the
Prophet's arrival there. As a convert to Christianity he had traveled to
Medinah after Christian sages had told him that a Prophet would be born
in Arabia. On arriving in he was, however, sold into slavery by the
merchants with whom he had traveled. Later he became a Muslim, gained
his freedom and became a member of the Prophet's household.
When the people gathered to discuss a plan of action against the
approaching enemy, Salman was present and it was he who suggested
that they should dig a trench around the city. The Prophet (Pbuh) thought
this a good idea, so the Muslims set to work, although it was in the
middle of winter. They worked day and night, digging the trench as
quickly as possible. The Prophet (Pbuh) himself carried rocks and when
the men were tired he gave them the will to carry on. Someone later
recalled how beautiful he looked, dressed in a red cloak with dust upon
his breast and his dark hair nearly reaching his shoulders. There was little
food at this time and the men were often hungry as they worked.
On one occasion, however, a little girl gave some dates to the Prophet
(Pbuh), which he spread out on a cloth. The men were then called to eat
and the dates kept increasing in number until everyone had been fed.
Even after everyone had eaten their fill, the dates continued to increase so
that there were more than the cloth could hold. Similarly, there is the
story of the lamb, that has come down to us from one who was there: 'We
worked with the Apostle at the trench. I had a half-grown lamb and I
thought it would be a good thing to cook it for Allah's Messenger. I told
my wife to grind barley and make some bread for us. I killed the lamb
and we roasted it for the Prophet (Pbuh). When night fell and he was
about to leave the trench, I told him we had prepared bread and meat and
invited him to our home. I wanted him to come on his own, but when I
said this he sent someone to call all the men to come along. Everyone
arrived and the food was served. He blessed it and invoked the Name of
Allah over it. Then he ate and so did all of the others. As soon as one lot
were satisfied, another group came until all the diggers had eaten enough,
but still there was food to spare.
On March 24, 627 A.D, Abu Sufyan arrived with more than ten
thousand men. The Muslims numbered only three thousand. Quraysh and
their allies surrounded Medinah but between the two armies was the long,
wide trench.
The Prophet (pbuh) and his men stayed behind this trench for nearly a
month defending the city against their more powerful enemy. Many times
warriors tried to cross the trench and enter the city, but each time they
were pushed back by the Muslims. The Muslims were afraid that if any
did manage to cross over, the Jews inside Medinah would join forces with
them and the Muslims would be beaten. The Jewish tribe of Bani
Quraydhah, who had stood by the, agreement with the Muslims, were
pressed by a Jewish emissary from the enemy without, to break their
promise. Eventually they agreed to do so and when the news of this
reached the Prophet (pbuh) and his companions they were greatly
troubled. Sa'd ibn Mu'adh, the leader of the tribe of Aws, was sent by the
Prophet (pbuh) with two other men to find out if this were true. When
they arrived in the part of Medinah where the Jews lived, they found were
even worse than they had previously thought.
Sa'd ibn Mu'adh, whose tribe was closely allied with the Bani
Quraydhah, tried to persuade their leader not to break the treaty with the
Muslims, but he refused to listen. This meant that the Muslims could not
relax their guard for one moment, for they were now threatened not only
by the enemy beyond the trench, but by the Bani Qurayzah, within the
walls of the city.
Things became more difficult for the Muslims day by day. It was
extremely cold and food began to run out. To make matters worse, the
Bani Qurayzah began openly and actively to join forces with the other
Jews and cut off all supplies to the Muslims, including food. The enemies
of Islam then planned how to capture Medinah.
The situation looked desperate and the Prophet (pbuh) prayed to Allah
to Allah to help the Muslims defeat their enemies. That very night a
sandstorm blew up which buried the tents of Quraysh. The storm
continued for three days and three nights making it impossible for the
enemy to light a fire to cook a meal or warm themselves by.
On one of these dark nights the Prophet (pbuh) asked one of his men,
Hudhayfah Ibn al-Yaman, to go on a dangerous mission. The Prophet
(pbuh) told him to make his way across the trench to the enemy camp
where he should find out what they were doing. With much difficulty
Hudhayfah crossed the trench and made his way to a circle of Quraysh
warriors talking in the darkness. He sat near them, but as there was no
fire, no one noticed him. He then heard Abu Sufyan's voice: 'Let us go
home!' he said. 'We have had enough. The horses and camels are dying,
the tents keep blowing away, most of the equipment has been lost, and we
can not cook our food. There is no reason to stay!'
Shortly after hearing this Hudhayfah made his way quickly and
quietly back across the trench and the next morning the Muslims rejoiced
to find that what he had overheard had come true-Quraysh and their allies
had gone away! The siege of Medinah had ended in a great victory for
Islam. But this was not to be the end of the difficulties, for the Archangel
Gabriel the Prophet (pbuh) and told him that he should punish the Bani
Qurayzah for betraying him and the Muslims.
On hearing this, the Prophet (pbuh) ordered the Muslims to march
against the Bani Qurayzah as they hid in their fortress. The Muslims
besieged them for twenty-five days until they finally gave in. On
surrendering, they asked the Prophet (pbuh) to let someone judge their
case, and he agreed. He also allowed them to choose who would give the
ruling. The man chosen to judge the Bani Qurayzah was Sa'd ibn Mu'adh,
leader of the Aws, a tribe which had always protected the Qurayzah in the
past. Sa'd ibn Mu'adh who had himself been wounded in the battle,
decided that the Jews should be tried by their own Holy Law, according
to which anyone who broke a treaty would be put to death. As a result all
the men of the Bani Qurayzah were executed and the women and children
made captive. If the Jews had succeeded in their pact, Islam would have
been destroyed. Instead from that day on, Medinah became a city where
only Muslims lived.
Very soon after peace had been restored to Medinah, Sa'd ibn Mu'adh
died of his wounds. It was said that the Archangel Gabriel came in the
middle of that night and said to the Prophet (pbuh) '0 Muhammad, who is
this dead man? When he arrived, the doors of heaven opened and the
Throne of Allah shook.' The Prophet (pbuh) got up as soon as he heard
this, but found that Sa'd was already dead. Although he had been a heavy
man, the men who carried his body to the grave found it quite light. They
were told that the angels were helping them. When he was buried, the
Prophet (pbuh) said three times 'Subhan Allah!' (Glory be to Allah!), and
'Allahu Akbar!' (Allah is Most Great!). When asked why he did this, he
replied, 'The grave was tight for this good man, until Allah eased it for
him.' This is one of the rewards that Allah gives to martyrs and good
Muslims.
When the Prophet (Pbuh) first arrived in Medinah, the Jews who were
living there had welcomed him. The Prophet (Pbuh) had returned their
greeting, as he wished to be on good terms with them. An agreement was
also reached between the Muslims and the Jews, which gave the Jews the
freedom to practice their religion and which also set out their rights and
their duties. Among these duties was that in the case of war with
Quraysh, the Jews would fight on the side of the Muslims.
Despite this agreement, however, some of the Jewish tribes, who
resented the Prophet's presence in Medinah, soon began to cause trouble
amongst the Muslims. They tried to set the Muslim Emigrants from
Mecca and the Ansar against each other. The troublemakers were given
many warnings but they continued to be a nuisance. In the end, the
Muslims had no choice but to drive them from Medinah. A new
agreement was offered those Jews who remained but the trouble did not
end there. One of the Jewish tribes, the Bani Nadir plotted to murder the
Prophet (Pbuh) but their plan was discovered and they, too, were exiled
from the city. Knowing that they could not defeat the Muslims
themselves, some of the leaders of the exiled Jews secretly went to Mecca
to enlist the help of Quraysh. Knowing what the Meccans would like to
hear, they pretended to believe in the same things. They said that they
thought that the old Arab tradition was better than the teachings of the
Prophet Muhammad (Pbuh) and that they believed that the Quraysh
religion of worshipping many idols was better than the Prophet's with
only one God. Then the Jews told them that if all the Arab tribes attacked
Medinah, the Jews inside the city would help to defeat the Prophet (Pbuh)
and Islam once and for all.
The leaders of Quraysh were pleased to hear all this and seizing on
what seemed to them a very good opportunity, agreed to the plan and
began to gather together a formidable army. In the meantime in Medinah,
only one Jewish tribe, the Bani Quraydhah, refused to betray the
Muslims.
Eventually the Muslims learned of the preparations being made for
war in Mecca and of the plotting of the Jews within Medinahitself. The
betrayal of the Muslims by the Jews did not surprise the Prophet (Pbuh),
who said of them: 'The hearts of the Jews have become closed to the
truth. They have forgotten what Muses taught them long ago that there is
only one God.'
“The likeness of those who are entrusted with the Law of Moses, yet
apply it not, is as the likeness of the ass carrying books. Evil is the
likeness of the people who deny the revelations of Allah. And Allah
guideth not wrongdoing folk”. (Qur'an 62.5)
The Muslims wondered how they could defend Medinah. They heard
that Abu Sufyan was coming to attack them with an enormous army
which included many other Arab tribes, as well as Quraysh. What were
they to do with only a single week to prepare? The Prophet (Pbuh) and
his men knew that it would be impossible for them to fight off all these
tribes! The only thing they could do was to stay inside the city and try to
defend it as best they could. Now among the people of Medinah was a
Persian named Salman, who had to live in the city some time before the
Prophet's arrival there. As a convert to Christianity he had traveled to
Medinah after Christian sages had told him that a Prophet would be born
in Arabia. On arriving in he was, however, sold into slavery by the
merchants with whom he had traveled. Later he became a Muslim, gained
his freedom and became a member of the Prophet's household.
When the people gathered to discuss a plan of action against the
approaching enemy, Salman was present and it was he who suggested
that they should dig a trench around the city. The Prophet (Pbuh) thought
this a good idea, so the Muslims set to work, although it was in the
middle of winter. They worked day and night, digging the trench as
quickly as possible. The Prophet (Pbuh) himself carried rocks and when
the men were tired he gave them the will to carry on. Someone later
recalled how beautiful he looked, dressed in a red cloak with dust upon
his breast and his dark hair nearly reaching his shoulders. There was little
food at this time and the men were often hungry as they worked.
On one occasion, however, a little girl gave some dates to the Prophet
(Pbuh), which he spread out on a cloth. The men were then called to eat
and the dates kept increasing in number until everyone had been fed.
Even after everyone had eaten their fill, the dates continued to increase so
that there were more than the cloth could hold. Similarly, there is the
story of the lamb, that has come down to us from one who was there: 'We
worked with the Apostle at the trench. I had a half-grown lamb and I
thought it would be a good thing to cook it for Allah's Messenger. I told
my wife to grind barley and make some bread for us. I killed the lamb
and we roasted it for the Prophet (Pbuh). When night fell and he was
about to leave the trench, I told him we had prepared bread and meat and
invited him to our home. I wanted him to come on his own, but when I
said this he sent someone to call all the men to come along. Everyone
arrived and the food was served. He blessed it and invoked the Name of
Allah over it. Then he ate and so did all of the others. As soon as one lot
were satisfied, another group came until all the diggers had eaten enough,
but still there was food to spare.
On March 24, 627 A.D, Abu Sufyan arrived with more than ten
thousand men. The Muslims numbered only three thousand. Quraysh and
their allies surrounded Medinah but between the two armies was the long,
wide trench.
The Prophet (pbuh) and his men stayed behind this trench for nearly a
month defending the city against their more powerful enemy. Many times
warriors tried to cross the trench and enter the city, but each time they
were pushed back by the Muslims. The Muslims were afraid that if any
did manage to cross over, the Jews inside Medinah would join forces with
them and the Muslims would be beaten. The Jewish tribe of Bani
Quraydhah, who had stood by the, agreement with the Muslims, were
pressed by a Jewish emissary from the enemy without, to break their
promise. Eventually they agreed to do so and when the news of this
reached the Prophet (pbuh) and his companions they were greatly
troubled. Sa'd ibn Mu'adh, the leader of the tribe of Aws, was sent by the
Prophet (pbuh) with two other men to find out if this were true. When
they arrived in the part of Medinah where the Jews lived, they found were
even worse than they had previously thought.
Sa'd ibn Mu'adh, whose tribe was closely allied with the Bani
Quraydhah, tried to persuade their leader not to break the treaty with the
Muslims, but he refused to listen. This meant that the Muslims could not
relax their guard for one moment, for they were now threatened not only
by the enemy beyond the trench, but by the Bani Qurayzah, within the
walls of the city.
Things became more difficult for the Muslims day by day. It was
extremely cold and food began to run out. To make matters worse, the
Bani Qurayzah began openly and actively to join forces with the other
Jews and cut off all supplies to the Muslims, including food. The enemies
of Islam then planned how to capture Medinah.
The situation looked desperate and the Prophet (pbuh) prayed to Allah
to Allah to help the Muslims defeat their enemies. That very night a
sandstorm blew up which buried the tents of Quraysh. The storm
continued for three days and three nights making it impossible for the
enemy to light a fire to cook a meal or warm themselves by.
On one of these dark nights the Prophet (pbuh) asked one of his men,
Hudhayfah Ibn al-Yaman, to go on a dangerous mission. The Prophet
(pbuh) told him to make his way across the trench to the enemy camp
where he should find out what they were doing. With much difficulty
Hudhayfah crossed the trench and made his way to a circle of Quraysh
warriors talking in the darkness. He sat near them, but as there was no
fire, no one noticed him. He then heard Abu Sufyan's voice: 'Let us go
home!' he said. 'We have had enough. The horses and camels are dying,
the tents keep blowing away, most of the equipment has been lost, and we
can not cook our food. There is no reason to stay!'
Shortly after hearing this Hudhayfah made his way quickly and
quietly back across the trench and the next morning the Muslims rejoiced
to find that what he had overheard had come true-Quraysh and their allies
had gone away! The siege of Medinah had ended in a great victory for
Islam. But this was not to be the end of the difficulties, for the Archangel
Gabriel the Prophet (pbuh) and told him that he should punish the Bani
Qurayzah for betraying him and the Muslims.
On hearing this, the Prophet (pbuh) ordered the Muslims to march
against the Bani Qurayzah as they hid in their fortress. The Muslims
besieged them for twenty-five days until they finally gave in. On
surrendering, they asked the Prophet (pbuh) to let someone judge their
case, and he agreed. He also allowed them to choose who would give the
ruling. The man chosen to judge the Bani Qurayzah was Sa'd ibn Mu'adh,
leader of the Aws, a tribe which had always protected the Qurayzah in the
past. Sa'd ibn Mu'adh who had himself been wounded in the battle,
decided that the Jews should be tried by their own Holy Law, according
to which anyone who broke a treaty would be put to death. As a result all
the men of the Bani Qurayzah were executed and the women and children
made captive. If the Jews had succeeded in their pact, Islam would have
been destroyed. Instead from that day on, Medinah became a city where
only Muslims lived.
Very soon after peace had been restored to Medinah, Sa'd ibn Mu'adh
died of his wounds. It was said that the Archangel Gabriel came in the
middle of that night and said to the Prophet (pbuh) '0 Muhammad, who is
this dead man? When he arrived, the doors of heaven opened and the
Throne of Allah shook.' The Prophet (pbuh) got up as soon as he heard
this, but found that Sa'd was already dead. Although he had been a heavy
man, the men who carried his body to the grave found it quite light. They
were told that the angels were helping them. When he was buried, the
Prophet (pbuh) said three times 'Subhan Allah!' (Glory be to Allah!), and
'Allahu Akbar!' (Allah is Most Great!). When asked why he did this, he
replied, 'The grave was tight for this good man, until Allah eased it for
him.' This is one of the rewards that Allah gives to martyrs and good
Muslims.
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