Ar-Raheeq Al-Makhtum (The Sealed Nectar). Excellent Biography of Prophet Muhammad ﷺ Episode 118

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Ar-Raheeq Al-Makhtum (The Sealed Nectar).

Excellent Biography of Prophet Muhammad ﷺ

Episode 118

AL-AHZAB (the Confederates) INVASION

Once again, peace and security enveloped the Arabian Peninsula and this turbulent area began to experience a period of lull after a whole year warJews, however, whose treachery, intrigues and . 

The disloyalty made them taste all types of humiliation and disgrace, were not admonished. After 

they had been exiled to Khaibar, they remained waiting anxiously for the results of the skirmishes 

going on between the Muslims and the idolaterstheir hopes, the events of the war were in favour of 

the Muslims, . Contrary to therefore they started a new stage of conspiracy and prepared 

themselves to deal a deadly blow against the Muslims, but were too cowardly to manoeuvre directly 

against them, so they laid a dreadful plan in order to achieve their objectivesof the Jews with some 

celebrities of Bani Nadir went to Makkah to . Twenty chiefs negotiate an unholy alliance with 

Quraishgoad the people there to attack the Messenger of . They began to Allupon him) promising 

them full support and backing. People of Quraish, who had been âh (Peace be languid and proved 

too weak to challenge the Muslims at Badr, seized this opportunity to redeem their stained honour 

and blemished reputationdelegation set out for Ghatfan, called them to do the . The same same, 

and they responded positively. The Jewish delegation then started a fresh effort and toured some 

parts of Arabia and managed to incite the confederates of disbelief against the Prophet (Peace be 

upon him), his Message and the believers in AllKinanah and other allies from Tihama, in the south; 

rallied, âh. Quraish, ranked and recruited four thousand men under the leadership of Abu Sufyan. 

From the east there came tribes of Banu Saleem, Ghatfan, Bani Murrah, etc. They all headed for 

Madinah and gathered in its vicinity at a time already agreed upongreat army of ten thousand 

fighters. They in fact outnumbered all the Muslims in . It was a Madinah, women, lads and elders 

includedtell the truth, if they had launched a surprise attack against . To Madinah, they could have 

exterminated all the Muslimsthe leadership inside the city was on the . However, alert and the 

intelligence personnel managed to reconnoitre the area of the enemies, and reported their 

movement to the people in charge in Madinah. The Messenger of Allâh (Peace be upon him) 

summoned a high advisory board and conducted a careful discussion of a plan to defend Madinah. 

After a lengthy talk between military leaders and people possessed of sound advice, it was agreed, 

on the proposal of an honourable Companion, Salman Al-Farisi, to dig trenches as defensive lines. 

The Muslims, with the Prophet (encouraging, helping and reminding them of the reward in the 

Hereafter, Peace be upon him) at their head, most actively and diligently started to build a trench 

around Madinah. Severe hunger, bordering on starvation, could not dissuade or discourage them 

from achieving their desperately sought objective. Salman said: O Messenger of Allâh! When siege 

was to laid to us in Persia, we used to dig trenches to defend ourselves. It was really an 

unprecedented wise plan. The Messenger of Allâh (Peace be upon him) hurriedly gave orders to 

implement the planeach group of ten to dig. Sahl bin Sa‘d said: We were in . Forty yards was 

allocated to the company of the Messenger of Allâh (Peace be upon him), the men used to dig and 

we evacuate the earth on our backs. 

Some preternatural Prophetic signs appeared in the process of trenching. Jabir bin ‘Abdullah, seeing 

the Prophet (Peace be upon him) starving, slaughtered a sheep, cooked some barley and requested 

the Prophet (Peace be upon him) and some Companions to accept his invitation, but the Prophet 

(Peace be upon him) gathered all the thousand people engaged in digging the trench and they 

started to eat until they were all completely full and yet the shoulder of mutton and dough that was 

being baked remained as they were undiminished. A certain woman brought a handful of dates and 

passed by the Prophet (Peace be upon him), who took the dates, threw them over his cloak and 

invited his followers to eat. The dates began to increase in number until they dropped over the trim 

of his robe. Another illustrious preternatural example went to the effect that an obstinate rock stood 

out as an immune obstacle in the ditch. The Prophet (Peace be upon him) took the spade and 

struck, and the rock immediately turned into a loose sand dune. In another version, Al-Bara‘ said: 

On Al-Khandaq (the trench) Day there stood out a rock too immune for our spades to break up. We 

therefore went to see the Messenger of Allâh (Peace be upon him) for advice. He took the spade, 

and struck the rock uttering “in the Name of Allâh, Allâh is Great, the keys of Ash-Shâm

(Geographical Syria) are mine, I swear by Allâh, I can see its palaces at the moment;” on the 

second strike he said: “Allâh is Great, Persia is mine, I swear by Allâh, I can now see the white 

palace of Madain;” and for the third time he struck the rock, which turned into very small pieces, he 

said: “Allâh is Great, I have been given the keys of Yemen, I swear by Allâh, I can see the gates of 

San‘a while I am in my place.” The same version was narrated by Ishaq. The northern part of 

Madinah was the most vulnerable, all the other sides being surrounded by mountains and palm tree 

orchards, the Prophet (Peace be upon him) as a skillful military expert, understood that the 

Confederates would march in that direction, so the trench was ordered to be on that side. The 

Muslims went on digging the trench for several days; they used to work on it during the day, and go 

back home in the evening until it had assumed its full dimensions militarily before the huge army of 

the idolaters; which numbered, as many as ten thousand fighters, arrived and settled in the vicinity 

of Madinah in places called Al-Asyal and Uhud. 

• “And when the believers saw ‘Al-Ahzab’ (the confederates), they said: ‘This is what Allâh 

and His Messenger [Muhammad (Peace be upon him)] had promised us, and Allâh and His 

Messenger [Muhammad (Peace be upon him)] had spoken the truth, and it only added to 

their Faith and to their submissiveness (to Allâh).” [33:22] 

Three thousand Muslims, with Muhammad (Peace be upon him) at their head, came out to 

encounter the idolaters, with Allâh’s Promise of victory deeply established in their minds. They 

entrenched themselves in Sila‘ Mountain with the trench standing as a barrier between them and the 

disbelievers. 

On attempting to attack the Muslims and break into Madinah, the idolaters were surprised to see a 

wide trench, a new stratagem unknown in Arabia before, standing as an obstinate obstruction. 

Consequently they decided to lay siege to Madinah and began to manoeuvre around the trench 

trying hard to find a vulnerable spot through which they could infiltrate into Madinah. To deter their 

enemies from approaching or bridging any gap in their defences, the Muslims hurled arrows, and 

engaged in skirmishes with them. The veteran fighters of Quraish were averse to this situation 

waiting in vain in anticipation of what the siege might reveal. Therefore they decided that a group of 

fighters led by ‘Amr bin ‘Abd-e-Wudd, ‘Ikrima bin Abi Jahl and Dirar bin Al-Khattab, should work its 

way through the trench. They, in fact, managed to do that and their horsemen captured a marshy 

area between the trench and Sila‘ Mountain. ‘Amr challenged the Muslims to a duel, and ‘Ali bin Abi 

Talib was deputed. After a short but fierce engagement, ‘Ali killed ‘Amr and obliged the others to 

evacuate in a state of panic and confusion. However, some days later, the polytheists conducted 

fresh desperate attempts but all of them failed due to Muslims’ steadfastness and heroic

confrontation. 

In the context of the events of the Trench Battle, the Messenger of Allâh (Peace be upon him) failed 

to observe some prayers in their right time. Jabir (May Allah be pleased with him) narrated: On the 

Day of Trench ‘Umar bin Al-Khattab (May Allah be pleased with him) came, cursing the disbelievers 

of Quraish and said: “O Allâh’s Messenger! I have not offered the afternoon prayer and the sun has 

set.” The Prophet (Peace be upon him) replied: "By Allâh! I, , have not offered the prayer yet.” The 

Prophet (Peace be upon him) then went to Buthan, performed ablution and observed the afternoon 

prayer after the sun had set and then offered the sunset prayer after it.” He was so indignant for 

this failure that he invoked Allâh’s wrath on his enemies and besought Allâh to fill their houses and 

graves with fire because they distracted him from observing the afternoon prayer. It was narrated 

by Ahmed and Shafa‘i that the events of that battle detained him from the noon, afternoon, evening 

and night prayers, but he observed them combined. The different narrations point to the fact that 

the situation lasted for a few days. 

It is clear that, and because of the trench standing between the two parties, no direct engagement 

took place, but rather there were military activities confined to arrow hurling, consequently the fight 

claimed the lives of a small number of fighters, six Muslims and ten polytheists, one or two killed by 

sword. 

During the process of fighting, Sa‘d bin Mu‘adh was shot by an arrow that pierced his artery. 

Perceiving his end approaching, he invoked Allâh saying: “Oh, Allâh, you know nothing is closer to 

my heart than striving in Your way against those people (disbelievers) who belied Your Messenger 

and banished him from his town. Oh, Allâh, I deeply believe that You have decreed that we should 

fight them, so if there is still more fighting to go with them, let me stay alive in order to strive more 

against them. If it has settled down, I beseech you to ignite it again so that I breathe my last in its 

context.”He concluded his supplication beseeching Allâh not to let him die until he had had full 

revenge on Banu Quraiza. In the midst of these difficult circumstances, plottery and intrigues were 

in fervent action against the Muslims. The chief criminal of Bani Nadir, Huyai, headed for the 

habitations of Banu Quraiza to incite their chief Ka‘b bin Asad Al-Qurazi, who had drawn a pact with 

the Messenger of Allâh (Peace be upon him) to run to his aid in times of war. Ka‘b, in the beginning 

resisted all Huyai’s temptation, but Huyai was clever enough to manipulate him, speaking of Quraish 

and their notables in Al-Asyal, as well as Ghatfan and their chieftains entrenched in Uhud, all in one 

mind, determined to exterminate Muhammad (Peace be upon him) and his followers. He, moreover, 

promised to stay in Ka‘b’s fort exposing himself to any potential danger in case Quraish and Ghatfan 

recanted. The wicked man went on in this manner until he later managed to win Ka‘b to his side and 

persuade him to break his covenant with the Muslims. Banu Quraiza then started to launch war 

operations against the Muslims especially the secluded garrisons that housed the women and 

children of the Muslims. On the authority of Ibn Ishaq, Safiyah (May Allah be pleased with her) 

daughter of ‘Abdul Muttalib happened to be in a garrison with Hassan bin Thabit as well as some 

women and children. Safiyah said: “A Jew was spotted lurking around our site, which was vulnerable 

to any enemy attacks because there were no men to defend it. I informed Hassan that I was 

suspicious of that man’s presence near us. He might take us by surprise now that the Messenger of 

Allâh (Peace be upon him) and the Muslims are too busy to come to our aid, why don’t you get down 

and kill him? Hassan answered that he would not do it, so I took a bar of wood, went down and 

struck the Jew to death. I returned and asked Hassan to loot him but again Hassan refused to do 

that. This event had a far reaching effect and discouraged the Jews from conducting further attacks 

thinking that those sites were fortified and protected by Muslim fighters. They, however, went on 

providing the idolaters with supplies in token of their support against the Muslims. 

On hearing this bad news, the Messenger (Peace be upon him) despatched four Muslim prominent 

leaders Sa‘d bin Mu‘adh, Sa‘d bin ‘Ubada, ‘Abdullah bin Rawaha and Khawat bin Jubair for 

investigation but warning against any sort of spreading panic amongst the Muslims and advising 

that they should declare in public that the rumours are groundless if they happen to be so. 

Unfortunately the four men discovered that the news was true and that the Jews announced openly 

that no pact of alliance existed any longer with Muhammad (Peace be upon him). The Messenger of 

Allâh (Peace be upon him) was briefed on this situation, and the Muslims understood their critical 

position with the horrible danger implied therein. Their back was vulnerable to the attacks of Banu 

Quraiza, and a huge army with no way to connive at in front, while their women and children 

unprotected standing in between. In this regard, Allâh says: 

• “And when the eyes grew wild and the hearts reached to the throats, and you were 

harbouring doubts about Allâh. There, the believers were tried and shaken with a mighty 

shaking.”

[33:10, 11] 

Now that the Muslims were shut in within the Trench on the defensive, the hypocrites taunted them 

with having indulged in delusive hopes of defeating Kisra, emperor of Persia, and Caesar, emperor 

of the Romans. They began to sow the seeds of defeatism, and pretended to withdraw for the 

defence of their homes, though these were in no way exposed to danger. Here, Allâh says: 

• “And when the hypocrites and those in whose hearts is a disease (of doubts) said, ‘Allâh 

and His Messenger (Peace be upon him) promised us nothing but delusions!’ And when a 

party of them said: ‘O people of Yathrib (Al-Madinah), there is no stand (possible) for you 

(against the enemy attack!) therefore go back!’ And a band of them asked for permission of 

the Prophet (Peace be upon him) saying: ‘Truly, our homes lie open (to the enemy).’ And 

they lay not open. They but wished to flee.” [33:12, 13] 

The Messenger of Allâh, (Peace be upon him) wrapped himself in his robe and began to meditate on 

the perfidy of Banu Quraiza. The spirit of hopefulness prevailed over him and he rose to his feet 

saying: 

• “Allâh is Great. Hearken you Muslims, to Allâh’s good tidings of victory and support.” 

He then started to lay decisive plans aiming at protecting the women and children, and sent some 

fighters back to Madinah to guard them against any surprise assault by the enemy. The second step 

was to take action that could lead to undermining the ranks of the disbelieving confederates. There, 

he had in mind to conclude a sort of reconciliation with the chiefs of Ghatfan on the basis of 

donating them a third of Madinah’s fruit crops. He sought the advice of his chief Companions, 

namely, Sa‘d bin Mu‘adh and Sa‘d bin ‘Ubadah, whose reply went as follows: 

“O Messenger of Allâh! If it is Allâh’s injunction, then we have to obey, but if it is a new course you 

want to follow just to provide security for us then we don’t need it. We experienced those people in 

polytheism and idolatry and we can safely say that they don’t need the fruit of our orchards, they 

rather need to exterminate us completely. Now that Allâh has honoured us with Islam, I believe the 

best recourse in this situation is to put them to the sword.” Thereupon the Prophet (Peace be upon 

him) corrected their Belief saying: “My new policy is being forged to provide your security after all 

the Arabs have united to annihilate you (Muslims).” 

Allâh, the Glorious, the Exalted, praise is to him, created something that led to the dissension of the 

enemies of Islam and later on to their full defeat. A man from the tribe of Ghatfan called Na‘im bin 

Mas‘ud asked to be admitted in the audience of the Prophet (Peace be upon him). He declared that 

he had embraced Islam secretly and asked the Prophet (Peace be upon him) to order him do 

anything that might benefit the Muslims. The Prophet (Peace be upon him) asked him to do 

anything that could help the Muslims in the present distress and use any strategem of avail. The 

man, in a shuttle movement, between the Jews, Quraish and Ghatfan managed to incite each party 

to let down the other. He went to see the chiefs of Banu Quraiza and whispered in their ears not to 

trust Quraish nor fight with them unless the latter pledged some hostages. He tried to lend support 

to his counsel by claiminthat Quraish would forsake them if they perceived that victory over 

Muhammad (Peace be upon him) w as far fetched, and the Muslims then would have terrible revenge 

on them. Na‘im, then headed for the camp of Quraish and managed to practise a similar strategem 

in its final result but different in content. He claimed that he felt that the Jews regretted b reaching 

their covenant with Muhammad (Peace be upon him) and his followers. He told them that the Jews 

maintained regular correspondence with the Muslims to the effect that Quraishite hostages be sent 

to the camp of the Muslims with full Jewish allegiance paid to them as already agreed upon. Na‘im 

then exhorted Quraish not to send hostages to the Jews. On a third errand, he did the same with 

the people of Ghatfan. 

On Saturday night, Shawwal 5 A.H., both Quraish and Ghatfan despatched envoys to the Jews 

exhorting them to go into war against Muhammad (Peace be upon him). The Jews sent back 

messages that they would not fight on Saturday. They added that they needed hostages from them 

to guarantee their consistency. On receiving the replies, Quraish and Ghatfan came to believe 

Na‘im’s words fully. Therefore, they sent a message to the Jews again inviting them to war and 

asking them to preclude that condition of hostages. Na‘im’s scheme proved successful, and a state 

of distrust and suspicion among the disbelieving allies prevailed and reduced their morale to 

deplorable degree. 

Meanwhile, the Muslims were preoccupied supplicating their Lord to protect their homes and provide 

security for their families. The Messenger of Allâh (Peace be upon him) on his part invoked Allâh’s 

wrath on the Confederates supplicating: 

• “Oh, Allâh! You are quick in account, You are the sender of the Book, we beseech You to 

defeat the confederates.” 

Allâh the Glorious, the Exalted, responded to the call of the Muslims on the spot. Coupled with the 

dissension and variance that found their way into the hearts of the disbelievers, forces of nature —

wind, rain and cold wearied them, tents were blown down, cooking vessels and other equipage 

overthrown. 

That very cold night the Messenger of Allâh (Peace be upon him) despatched Hudhaifa bin Al-Yaman 

to hunt around for news about the enemy. He found out that they were preparing to leave frustrated 

for their inability to achieve their target. Allâh did really fulfill His Promise, spared the Muslims 

fighting a formidable army, supported His slave [Muhammad (Peace be upon him)] and inflicted a 

heavy blow on the Confederates. 

The battle of the Trench took place in the fifth year Hijri. The siege of Madinah started in Shawwal 

and ended in Dhul Qa‘dah, i.e. it lasted for over a month. It was in fact a battle of nerves rather 

than of losses. No bitter fighting was recorded; nevertheless, it was one of the most decisive battles 

in the early history of Islam and proved beyond a shadow of doubt that no forces, however huge, 

could ever exterminate the nascent Islamic power growing steadily in Madinah. When Allâh obliged 

the Confederates to evacuate, His Messenger was in a position to confidently declare that 

thenceforth he would take the initiative in war and would not wait for the land of Islam to be 

invaded.