058 - The Battle of Khandaq (Ahzab) Part 2

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We discussed the fact that the Prophet PBUH accepted Salman al-Farisi's suggestion to build a trench. In Ibn Sa'd, it's reported that the Prophet PBUH drew the lines as to where the trench would be dug. Therefore, the Prophet PBUH basically took charge of the logistics, as we expect him to.

Food Shortage

For some reason, there seemed to have been a food shortage from the very beginning of building the trench. Allah knows best, but perhaps the reasons are:

1. The battle took place in winter — fruits are not growing at the time, so they have to rely on the stored food.

2. They had not prepared for a siege.

3. The people are no longer able to engage in commerce and trade, as everybody is busy digging the trench. So the supplies naturally dwindled.

Bukhari mentions that the sahaba would only have dried barley with oil that they mixed together just to make something edible. And they said it had a bad smell, but they ignored it and forced themselves to eat it — whatever it was, they just had to eat it. And Jabir narrates that sometimes they would only find the pits of dates to eat.

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Miracles That Happened During This Time

There are so many stories narrated about the miracles that took place with regards to food during the Battle of Khandaq.

Jabir ibn Abdillah narrates that once, the Prophet PBUH was digging in the trench, and as he put his hand up and his garment came up, Jabir saw a big rock tied to his PBUH stomach. (In those days, when they were hungry, they would tie a rock to their stomach very tightly to make them psychologically feel as if they have something — as the stomach is wound tight, they don't feel the gnawing pangs of hunger.) After seeing this, Jabir came back to his wife saying, "I saw something that I don't have the strength to bear (i.e., the sight of the Prophet PBUH in the state of hunger). What do we have at home?" She said, "We have a little bit of bread and a small goat"—a small goat that typically shouldn't be sacrificed, but—"That's all that we have." Jabir told her to prepare the bread, and he went to sacrifice the only goat they had just so they can serve some meal for their beloved Prophet Muhammad PBUH. Then Jabir came to the Prophet PBUH and whispered, "Ya Rasulullah, my wife has just prepared some meal, so why don't you and one or two people come; we can eat." And this is when that funny incident took place. The Prophet PBUH stood up and said, "O people of the trench! Jabir and his wife have prepared a meal for us! All of you, welcome!" Then the Prophet PBUH told Jabir, "Do not lift your pot until I come." Jabir went running back to his wife and said, "The Prophet PBUH invited everyone in the trench to come! What are we going to do now?! We only have this much food?" His wife asked, "Did you announce and invite everyone to come, or did the Prophet PBUH?" Jabir: "The Prophet PBUH." His wife, with full of Iman, said: "In that case, don't worry. It is not going to be an issue." When the Prophet PBUH came to their house, the pot was still on the stove, so he made du'a over it and spit into it. (Note: as we know, his spit has barakah). And then he told 10 people to come into the room (as the room could only house 10 people), and every one of them came, ate, left, and then another 10 came, ate, left, and they kept doing this until every single one had eaten to his full. The whole people of the khandaq ate from this one pot and bread. Way later on, one of the narrators asked Jabir, "Roughly, how much do you think we would've been?" Jabir said, "Around 1,000 people."

There are at least three or four similar miracles of food narrated to have happened during this time: The Prophet PBUH took a small amount of food and asked Allah to bless it. And of course, this is the essence of what barakah (بركة - blessing) means — an increase in good. This incident truly demonstrates that when we ask Allah sincerely, we will get barakah. The quantity appears to remain the same, but the quality of it is increased manyfold. E.g., If we have 1 hour, we will manage to do the work of 10 hours in that 1 hour. So we ask Allah to give us barakah in all that He has given us.

اللهم بارك لنا في أهلنا - O Allah, bless us in our family

اللهم بارك لنا في مالنا - O Allah, bless us in our wealth

اللهم بارك لنا في وقتنا - O Allah, bless us in our time

اللهم بارك لنا في كل ما رزقتنا - O Allah, bless us in all that You have provided us

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Prophecy About Muslims Conquering al-Sham, Persia, and Yemen

Also, of the miracles reported in the hadiths of digging the trench was the incident of the hacking of the stone. Once, the sahaba came across a rock that was in the very line which the Prophet PBUH drew out. So they one after the other entered into the trench and tried to hack it. But it would not break. So some of them said, "Let us just go around the stone." But one sahabi said, "No, until we ask the Prophet PBUH. Because he is the one who showed us this line." (Subhan'Allah, look at their complete obedience to the Prophet PBUH.) When they asked him, the Prophet PBUH said, "Give me the ax." Then he PBUH went into the trench and said, "Bismillah Allahu'akbar (بسم الله الله أكبر)," and he hit the stone. With one hit, ⅓ of the stone crumbled. When it crumbled, he said, "Allahu'akbar! I have just seen that Allah has given me the keys to al-Sham. By Allah, I can see the red castles in al-Sham now." (And of course, the very first land the Muslims conquered after the death of the Prophet PBUH, beginning in Abu Bakr's khilafa and captured in Umar's khilafa, was al-Sham.) He hit it again and ⅔ of the stone crumbled, and he said, "Allahu'akbar! I have been given the keys to Persia. And I can see the white pillars of al-Mada'in (المدائن - Ctesiphon, the capital of the Sassanid Empire) now." (And indeed, after al-Sham, the very second land the Muslims conquered was the land of Persia.) Then upon the third strike, which crumbled the entire stone, he said, "Allahu'akbar! I have been given the keys to Yemen. And wallahi, I can see the doors of Sana'a now." (And of course, Yemen as well was conquered.)

All these lands are lands surrounding Arabia, and the Prophet PBUH prophesied all of them would be conquered by the Muslims.

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Prophecy About the Death of Ammar ibn Yasir RA

Another prophecy the Prophet PBUH gave while he was digging the trench was about the death of Ammar ibn Yasir RA. He saw Ammar doing double the work of everyone else, —and indeed Ammar was an enthusiastic and determined young man, especially after seeing his parents die in Makkah— he PBUH said to him, "May Allah have mercy on you, O Ammar. Al-Fiat al-Baghiyah (الفئة الباغية - the Group That Has Gone Beyond the Bounds) will kill you." (Note: This hadith occurs twice, once when they were building Masjid al-Nabawi [see episode 31], and another time when they were digging the trench.) And as we discussed in episode 31, this hadith came true in 37 AH in the reign of Ali ibn Abi Talib RA when Ammar fought against the forces of Muawiyah RA.

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Muslims' Overall Plan

Muslims' overall plan was that they would camp such that their backs are towards a mountain called Jabal Sila' (جبل سلع - Mountain of Sila'), and they are facing the trench. So Madinah is in the direction of their back. And it was during this time that the Prophet PBUH suggested all of the women and children to go inside the fortress of the Banu Harithah, al-Fari'. He PBUH was worried mainly about the possible treachery of the Banu Qurayza.

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Leaders of the Ahzab

Ibn Sa'd mentions that there were around 4,000 people from the Quraysh taking part, with 300 horses and 150 camels — this is the largest force Quraysh has ever gathered in their history. And there were lots of other tribes:

700 people from Banu Sulaym (بنو سليم),

1,000 from Banu Fizara (بنو فزارة),

400 from Banu Ashja' (بنو أشجع),

400 from Banu Murrah (بنو مرة),

700 from Banu Asad (بنو أسد),

etc.

And this is why this battle is called "ahzab" which means the "confederates," the "alliance," the "groups," the "parties." It wasn't just Quraysh, it was a combination of several groups.

The largest was the Quraysh, so they had the biggest say, but there was no unified leader. (And this proved to be the disaster. This is what Allah SWT will use to split them up, as we will see — without unity, they will easily break apart.)

Some of the leaders of the ahzab have interesting histories.

1. Abu Sufyan Sakhr ibn Harb ibn Umayyah (أبو سفيان صخر بن حرب بن أمية)

We know the primary leader of the Quraysh is Abu Sufyan. His name was Sakhr ibn Harb ibn Umayyah. And the Banu Umayyah (بنو أمية) are the subtribe of the Banu Abd Shams (بنو عبد شمس), which are the subtribe of the Banu Abd Manaf (بنو عبد مناف), which are the parent tribe of the Banu Hashim (بنو هاشم). So the Banu Hashim and the Banu Umayyah are rival clans. (Side note: Abu Sufyan was born 10 years before the Prophet PBUH, and he of course remained a 'noble' enemy, i.e., he was an enemy but he never stooped to dirty tactics that Abu Jahal, Umayyah ibn Khalaf, Uqba, et al., did.) Abu Sufyan was the most noble and seniormost of the people of the Quraysh after Badr, thus he became the de facto leader. And of course as we know, he had leadership in his blood — his son Muawiyah will eventually become the first king in Islam and found the Umayyad dynasty.

2. Uyaynah ibn Hisn (عيينة بن حصن)

Another interesting leader of the ahzab was Uyaynah ibn Hisn. He was a crude Bedouin known for his uncouth manners. It's narrated that once, Uyaynah came to visit Madinah before the verses of hijab were revealed. (Side note: He came to visit just to see if any treaty could be enacted; not to embrace Islam.) It is narrated that he just barged in to the Prophet's PBUH house without knocking. So the Prophet PBUH said, "O Uyaynah, you have to ask before you enter (i.e. where are your manners?)." His response was, "I have never once in my life asked permission from a Mudari to enter his house." (Side note: Mudar [مضر] & Rabi'ah [ربيعة] are two main tribes in the northern Arabia.) Look at his complete lack of manners. And then he asked, "Who is this young red one (i.e. young girl)?"—referring to Aisha RA. The Prophet PBUH said it's Aisha. And he said to the Prophet PBUH, "Why don't I give you someone more beautiful than her? I will give you one of my own wives"—divorcing wives to give them to somebody else was of jahili practice. So the Prophet PBUH said, "Allah has made this haram." When he left, Aisha RA asked, "Who is this man?" The Prophet PBUH said, "This is the fool that is obeyed amongst his people." The Prophet PBUH was polite to him, but then harsh when he left, so Aisha RA asked, "Why are you harsh when he leaves?" The Prophet PBUH said, "When have you known me to be fahish (فاحش - obscene) with the fahish? The worst people of mankind are those who people are nice to only in order to save themselves from their evil," i.e., some people are just so evil that you have to force yourself to always be nice around them just to protect yourself from their evil. And Uyaynah was such a person.

A [tangential] question arises: How could Uyaynah, someone so uncivilized and barbaric, become a tribal leader? The story is as follows: Hisn, his father, had ten sons. And at the end of his life, he suffered a severe disease that made him very sick and painful. So he called his sons one by one and tested them, "If I tell you to do something, will you do it on my deathbed?" And all his sons one by one promised, "Of course." But then when he said, "Take this knife and stab me so this pain leaves me (i.e., kill me)," every one of his sons said, "Have you ever heard of a son killing his own father?" (And indeed we would never hear of such a son, especially in those tribal days when lineage and tribalism was everything.) So each one of them refused to do it, until Uyaynah came along and asked, "What do I get in return?" His father said, "Whoever listens to me, he will be the chieftain after me." So Uyaynah ibn Hisn killed his own father, and this is how he became the leader of the Banu Fizara.

Towards the end of the seerah, all of Arabia accepted Islam, so Uyaynah had to accept Islam too. But as soon as Tulayha ibn Khuwaylid ibn Nawfal, the 3rd false prophet who declared himself a prophet, declared himself a prophet, Uyaynah joined him. So after the Battles of Ridda (wars against apostates) [12 AH], when Khalid ibn al-Walid captures Uyaynah and brings him back to Madinah and tied him up, the people of Madinah rebuked him, "You are a Muslim! How could you have accepted Tulayha?" He said, "I never [really] accepted Islam in the first place," i.e., "What's the big deal? I wasn't really ever a Muslim that you are now getting angry at me that I left it?" Subhan'Allah, look at his mentality. Nonetheless, after some exchange, he accepted Islam again, so Abu Bakr RA let him go, and Allah knows what state he died in — we don't say anything bad or good about his death.

3. Tulayha ibn Khuwaylid ibn Nawfal (طليحة بن خويلد الأسدي)

Another leader was Tulayha ibn Khuwaylid ibn Nawfal from the Banu Asad. He too has a very interesting history. Right now he is standing outside Madinah willing to fight and get rid of the Muslims, but eventually in 9 AH, he embraces Islam. But then as soon as the Prophet PBUH dies, Tulayha was one of the 10 people who declared themselves to be a prophet. (Side note: Musaylimah was the most famous of the false prophets, Sajah bint al-Harith [سجاح بنت الحارث] was the 2nd, and Tulayha was the 3rd.) And he started spewing forth some weird concoctions that he called his quran. Then Khalid ibn al-Walid was sent against his tribe, and the tribe repented and came back to Islam, but Tulayha had a horse he had prepared to escape, so he fled to Syria unrepentant. But then amazingly, in Syria, he genuinely accepted Islam. So he then came back to Madinah repentant, asking for forgiveness. And Abu Bakr RA granted him that forgiveness. But he was always guilty of what he had done, so he kept on making du'a to Allah to accept him as a shaheed in order to make up for what he had done. And he actually fought alongside Khalid ibn al-Walid in the Battle of al-Qadisiyyah (معركة القادسية) [in 15 AH] against the Persians, played a big role and accomplished a lot in it, and eventually died a shaheed.

So these are some of the leaders of the ahzab.

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Banu Ghatafan

The second-largest group in the ahzab after the Quraysh was the tribe of Ghatafan. They numbered around 2,000-4,000. And recall they were promised by the Jews half of Khaybar — a large fortune for them. But for some reason —probably they weren't too eager to fight— they sent an emissary to the Muslims in Madinah and tried to negotiate: "These are the stakes: the Jews have given us half of Khaybar to fight you, but if you give us ⅓ of [the produce of] Madinah, we won't fight you!" Subhan'Allah, look at how money-hungry they are. The Prophet PBUH made shura and called Sa'd ibn Mu'adh and Sa'd ibn Ubadah (leaders of the Aws and the Khazraj) and asked them what their position was. Some books of seerah mention the Prophet PBUH was willing to agree — he was open; but both Sa'ds said, "Is this something Allah has commanded, or something open to ijtihad? If it's from wahy, then we will obey, but if it's not, then we have never humiliated ourselves in Jahiliyyah, so why should we humiliate ourselves in Islam?" (Side note: Notice from this response that this is one of the wisdoms Allah chose Madinah for the Prophet PBUH to migrate to: The Aws and the Khazraj have never been conquered by another tribe, thus they were fiercely independent.) The Prophet PBUH was happy at their response, and he sent the emissary back basically saying, "We have no need of your bargain."

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How Long Did It Take to Dig the Trench?

How long did it take to build the trench? Ibn Sa'd said 6 days, others said 15 days, one book even said 1 month — but one scholar commented that this is clearly a mistake, the one month was the siege, not the building. It could not have been more than 2 weeks. The more authentic books say 6 days. So it must have taken between 6 days and 2 weeks — not longer than this since the ahzab were coming and they did not give the Muslims any longer than 2 weeks.

And as we had said, the sahaba were assigned sections of the trench.

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Problem With Trying to Sort the Events in Chronological Order

The actual incident must have lasted around 40 days (1 week of building the trench + 30 days of the siege), and as with the Battle of Uhud, we only have small pieces of the puzzles narrated by various sahaba. So the problem comes with filling in the gaps and figuring out what happened in what order. Our version is but one reconstruction of the events.

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The Siege

Ibn Sa'd said the Prophet PBUH left his house on the 8th of Dhu al-Qa'dah, 5 AH, and began camping in his tent that was close to the trench. (Others say it was Shawwal, but this is only a matter of weeks difference). And this was when he divided the Muslims into various portions to guard the trench. And all the Muslims were sent to guard: The houses were empty, they weren't sleeping in their houses for the entire duration, and this is another reason why the women and children were sent to al-Fari'.

Ibn Ishaq mentions that a group of sahaba was assigned a job to patrol the trench the entire night in shifts, and simply shout out, "Allahu'akbar! Allahu'akbar!" to make people think if they got to the trench, there is a large group on the other side. Ummi Salama, when she narrated about the Incident of Khandaq, said, "I witnessed many battles with the Prophet PBUH in which there was fighting and fear: al-Muraysi, Khaybar, Hudaybiyyah, Fath al-Makkah, Hunayn; but none of them was more tiring or more fearful than Khandaq, for the Muslims were in a very precarious situation. We were worried for our children from the Banu Qurayza; and Madinah was patrolled all night, we would hear the takbirs of the Muslims all the way until Fajr."

Even our Prophet PBUH took the job of patrolling an area — he would go out and stand at a particular area of the trench. Aisha RA narrates, "One night, we heard the clinking of armor that a man is walking, and the Prophet PBUH was outside, he asked, 'Who is that?' The man said, 'Sa'd ibn Abi Waqqas — I have come to give you my services (i.e., to relieve you of your shift).' The Prophet PBUH said, 'Okay, you stay here; I will rest.'" And Aisha RA narrates that the Prophet PBUH came into the tent and falls asleep immediately, so much so that she could hear his snores — meaning he was so tired and fatigued. And she RA said, "I never forgot that favor of Sa'd"—he volunteered to give up his own sleep so that the Prophet PBUH could sleep. (Side note: Aisha RA says she was in the tent by the trench with the Prophet PBUH during some part of the incident, as she wanted to be with him PBUH.)

We learn from the books of seerah that it was the middle of the winter — it was so cold that the sahaba had to go into the tent to warm up and then go back out.

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Banu Qurayza Changes Sides

It was at this point in time the final blow came and shifted the entire scenario, which brought about an unprecedented fear for the sahaba: It was the shifting of the Banu Qurayza's alliance. First it was just rumors, but now it's becoming public. The Banu Nadir sent a secret emissary, Huyayy ibn Akhtab, the father of Safiyyah, to the Banu Qurayza in Madinah. (Side note: This shows us the difference between father and daughter: you can have the worst of all and then the best of all. Allah AWJ does not carry good or bad from father to his offspring every single time. E.g., Ibrahim's AS father was an idol maker, and Ibrahim AS is the Friend of Allah. Nuh AS is a prophet, and [one of] his son[s] was a disbeliever. And here we have Safiyyah the [future] wife of the Prophet PBUH, and her father Huyayy an enemy of Islam — he is sneaking his way back into Madinah to plot a plan to kill the Muslims.) [And] this [also] shows that the trench was not watertight — its main purpose was to prevent large groups from entering Madinah at once. You cannot stop one person from sneaking in, especially someone like Huyayy who has been born and raised in Madinah and knows the city like the back of his hand. So he finds his way in and makes his way to the Banu Qurayza. The most respected person of the Banu Nadir is now seeing the chieftain of the Banu Qurayza, Ka'b ibn Asad al-Qurazi (كعب بن أسد القرظي). And Huyayy enticed Ka'b to shift over. Initially, Ka'b said, "No way I can do this. We have a promise with Muhammad," but Huyayy knows what can bribe his own people, so he promised protection, immunity, riches, fortune, etc., until finally Ka'b agreed to shift over.

This was the deadly blow, and it was none other than al-Zubayr ibn al-Awwam RA who informed the Prophet PBUH of this treachery: The Prophet PBUH said, "I fear something about the Banu Qurayza. Who will volunteer to go see them?" And Zubayr stood up and said, "I will volunteer!" And this is when our Prophet PBUH said the very famous phrase, "Every single prophet has a disciple, and my disciple is Zubayr ibn al-Awwam." And Zubayr went to find out what the Banu Qurayza were up to. We don't know what he saw, but most likely, it was a sight of the Banu Qurayza making preparations for war, so he came back and informed the Prophet PBUH, "They have destroyed the treaty"— this was his presumption. But of course in wars you cannot act upon a presumption — so the Prophet PBUH sent four of the leaders of the Ansar (who were close to the Banu Qurayza in the days of Jahiliyyah) to lay it out straight. And the four notice evasive answers. They clearly see the treaty that used to exist is no longer being mentioned or honored — the Banu Qurayza are just giving vague responses, and treachery was clearly in the air. So they come back and confirm with the Prophet PBUH that the Banu Qurayza have indeed flipped.

In so many reports we find the sahaba saying, "This was the worst night of our lives. We didn't know what to expect. There were 10,000 enemies outside, and then we got at least 2,000 more inside. And it was not just affecting us — our women and children in al-Fari', they were completely unprotected." This was a life-threatening situation. Allah references this in the Quran:

إِذْ جَاءُوكُم مِّن فَوْقِكُمْ وَمِنْ أَسْفَلَ مِنكُمْ وَإِذْ زَاغَتِ الْأَبْصَارُ وَبَلَغَتِ الْقُلُوبُ الْحَنَاجِرَ وَتَظُنُّونَ بِاللَّهِ الظُّنُونَا

هُنَالِكَ ابْتُلِيَ الْمُؤْمِنُونَ وَزُلْزِلُوا زِلْزَالًا شَدِيدًا

"[Remember] when they came at you from above you (the ahzab) and from below you (the Banu Qurayza), when your eyes grew wild [in horror] and your hearts jumped into your throats, and you entertained [conflicting] thoughts about Allah. Then and there the believers were put to the test, and were violently shaken" [Quran, 33:10-11].

So even the sahaba were shaken, and they began to think thoughts about Allah, "Will the help of Allah ever come?" etc. And put yourself in their shoes: Weeks have gone by, food is dwindling, you have 10,000 enemies outside, 2,000 inside — where will the help come from?! How can they win this war?

But of course as we know, after this the tide changes, and Allah's promised help came to the Muslims.

[Transcribed by Br. Safwan Khan & Faizan]
safwan-khan@hotmail.com
[Revised by Br. Syed Haq & MAR, May 2021]