أحمد محمد لبن Ahmad.M.Lbn
مؤسس ومدير المنتدى
عدد المساهمات : 52652
العمر : 72
 | | موضوع: The Battle of al-Khandaq (the trench) الإثنين 12 فبراير 2018, 8:54 am | |
| The Battle of al-Khandaq (the trench)
Book 16
“O you who believe! Remember Allah's Favor to you, when there came against you hosts, and We sent against them a wind and forces that you saw not (i.e. troops of angels during the battle of Al-Ahzab {The Confederates}). And Allah is Ever All-Seer of what you do. When they came upon you from above you and from below you, and when the eyes grew wild and the hearts reached to the throats, and you were harboring doubts about Allah! There the Believers were and shaken with a mighty shaking. And when the hypocrites and those in whose hearts is a disease (of doubts) said, “Allah and His Messenger promised us nothing but delusions!” (TMQ, Al-Ahzaab, 9-12)
(Scene 1)
The Jews hated prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him), and when they found that his religion was spreading and that the people of Madinah had become stronger and more powerful by believing in this religion, they plotted to get rid of him. Hence, some of their leaders went to Makkah to conclude a deal with Quraysh, the most violent enemy to Islam and Muhammad, in order to fight the Muslims. The Jews went to Abu-Sufyan and Quraysh’s leaders and nobles and said, “We will be with you against him (the prophet) until we get rid of him.”
One of Quraysh’s noblemen thought of asking the Jews about Muhammad’s religion, “O Jews, You are the people of the first Holy Book (al-Taorah, Torah), and you know well the conflict and contention between us and Muhammad. Which is the blessed religion; ours or his?” The Jews envied Muhammad (Peace be upon him) and felt jealous of him, so they said, “Your religion is better than his, and you have all the right, not him!”
Their envy made them say that worshiping idols is better than worshiping Allah the Almighty. Allah, be He Exalted and Glorified, thus, sent down this verse, translated as, “Have you not seen those who were given a portion of the Scripture? They believe in Jibt and Tâghût and say to the disbelievers that they are better guided as regards the way than the believers (Muslims). They are those whom Allah has cursed, and he whom Allah curses, you will not find for him (any) advocate.” (TMQ, An-Nisa’, 51-52).
Quraysh agreed to fight Muhammad (Peace be upon him) in close collaboration with the Jews. However, the Jews were not satisfied with this, and went seeking the alliance of the other Arab tribes. They wanted to destroy Islam and blow out the light of Allah’s true religion.
(Scene 2)
The Muslims heard that the Jews had aroused Quraysh and other tribes of the Arabs against them. They also knew that Abu-Sufyan went ahead of his army to fight them.
Therefore, they started to think what to do. They could not fight these troops altogether; they could only defend Madinah. The Arabs could only fight face-to-face, so their opinion was to confront Abu-Sufyan’s troops.
Salman Al-Farsi (of Persia), who had left his home searching for the true religion and then met Allah’s messenger (Peace be upon him) and declared himself as a Muslim, had another opinion. He saw in his country how the well-trained armies acted when besieging a city. He suggested that the Muslims should dig a deep wide trench surrounding Madinah. He said, “O Prophet of Allah! I think we should dig a trench around Madinah to stand between us and the disbelievers so that they can not reach us.” The Prophet (Peace be upon him) liked this opinion and took an axe to start digging the trench. The Muslims then joined him and proceeded in digging the deep trench.
When the men became tired, the Prophet (Peace be upon him) encouraged them and helped them by taking the sand away from the trench. At this time he used to repeat the words of Ibn Rawaha (a Muslim poet) aloud, “Oh, Allah; Without You, we wouldn’t have followed the right path, or given out charity, or even prayed.” “O Allah, please send calmness upon us, and make our feet firm if we meet the enemy as the enemy has raided us, and if they intended any affliction, (i.e. against us), we don’t want to flee but withstand them.”
Then the Muslims replied, “We are the men who vowed to Muhammad to adhere to Jihad (i.e. fighting the attackers) for as long as we may live.”
When Salman was digging the trench, he was obstructed by a rock. The Prophet (Peace be upon him), who was close by, saw how difficult it was for Salman to crack it. He went to help him and took the pick. When the Prophet (Peace be upon him) hit the rock for the first time, it sparkled. Again he hit it, and it sparkled. The same happened with the third hit. Salman asked him, “O Messenger of Allah! I would sacrifice my father and mother for you.
What is that which sparkled beneath the pick when you hit the rock?” Allah’s messenger said, “Did you really see that, Salman?” “Yes, in the first time, Allah revealed to me that the Muslims will conquer Yemen. Then in the second, He revealed to me conquering the Levant and the West; while in the third, He showed me the East.”
At this hard moment, when Muslims were digging the trench and could not go out to meet their enemy face-to-face, Allah’s messenger was confident of the victory of Allah; he was sure that Allah would grant him victory and make His religion reach Yemen, the Levant, the East, and the West.
(Scene 3)
Abu-Sufyan came ahead of an army of 10000 soldiers, and Allah’s messenger (Peace be upon him) was leading only 3000 soldiers. The trench separated the two parties. The Jews of Bani Qurayzah went to their fort, where they sought shelter away from the fight. They had concluded a treaty with the Prophet (Peace be upon him) to live with the Muslims in peace. However, the leader of the Jews who made the deal with Quraysh to fight the Muslims went to the fort and said to Bani Qurayzah’s leader, “Woe to you man! Open, that is I!” The leader of Bani Qurayzah did not want to open the door because he knew that this man came to ask him to join his party against Muhammad (Peace be upon him) in the fight.
− He said, “I concluded a treaty with Muhammad and I will not break it, as I have always found him faithful and truthful.”
− “Woe to you! Open! Let me talk to you.” He kept on persisting until the door was opened, and he said, “Woe to you! I have come to you with the greatest fame and glory.”
− “What do you mean?” the leader of Bani Qurayzah asked.
− “I came to you with Quraysh and the other Arab tribes, who promised not to leave until we can uproot Muhammad and his followers.”
− “Woe to you! Leave me alone. I have always found Muhammad faithful and truthful.”
Yet, he eventually agreed to make his tribe, which was one of Muhammad’s (Peace be upon him) allies, join his enemy.
Allah’s messenger (Peace be upon him) heard about what had happened and sent the Muslim nobles of Madinah to Bani Qurayzah. He told them, “Go to these people and find out if what we heard is true or not”
They went to the Jews of Bani Qurayzah and asked them about the information reported to Allah’s messenger (Peace be upon him). The Jews answered ironically, “Who is Allah’s messenger?! We have no pact or covenant with Muhammad!” Thus, the Muslim noblemen of Madinah got ascertained that the Jews affiliated with their enemies. They returned and informed Allah’s messenger (Peace be upon him) that the Jews betrayed him and allied with his enemies.
(Scene 4)
The disbelievers tried to cross the trench, but the arrows of the Muslims kept them off. Quraysh continued to besiege the Muslims for almost a month. Abu-Sufyan became annoyed because he thought that he could defeat Muhammad and his followers in one day and return victoriously to Makkah. It was this trench which stood as an obstacle between him and his target.
Some of Quraysh’s horsemen came down to a narrow place in the trench. Yet, Ali Ibn Abu-Taleb went with some Muslims and met them. Duels took place between horsemen of both parties, which ended with defeating Quraysh’s horsemen.
However, the cold weather and hunger attacked the Muslims severely. Muslims suffered a lot because of the siege. Therefore, Allah’s messenger (Peace be upon him) supplicated to Allah, “O Allah! You are the Revealer of the Holy Book (the Qur’an), the Quick-Settler of accounts! I pray to You to defeat the confederates. O Allah! Defeat them and shake the ground below them.”
The weather got colder in the night and the storm blew hard. The Muslims went into their tents that were in the trench. The storm blew harder and uprooted Quraysh’s tents and turned their cooking pots upside down. This caused confusion and chaos in their camp, so they tried to find a place to hide from Heaven’s anger, but they could not find shelter. They become distressed, and their spirits turned low. They hoped that the storm would stop so that they would be able to return to Makkah. Thus, nature was a powerful ally of Muslims.
The weather became calm. In the morning, the Muslims looked at their enemy’s camp, and found nothing but stillness and quietness.
The Prophet (Peace be upon him) said, “Who will go and bring us their news?”
Al-Zubair Ibnul-`Awam said, “I will”
Al-Zubair went to Quraysh’s camp cautiously, yet, he found nothing but upside-down pots and uprooted tents. He returned to the Muslims rejoiced and shouted, “They left... they left...”
All Muslims became happy and said aloud, “There is no god but Allah. He has fulfilled His promise, rendered His slaves victorious, honored His warriors, and He alone defeated the confederates; so there is nothing after Him.” Allah’s messenger (Peace be upon him) thanked Allah. He then said, “Now we can go to attack them, and they will not come to attack us. We will go to them.”
(Scene 5)
Allah’s messenger (Peace be upon him) went to his house, and the Muslims went to theirs. When the Prophet (Peace be upon him) laid down his weapon, Jibril (Gabriel) came to him and said, “O messenger of Allah! Have you laid down your weapons?
Allah’s messenger said, “Yes.”
Jibril said, “Allah the Almighty commands you to go out to Bani Qurayzah. I am about to go there to help you in defeating them.”
The Jews betrayed Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him), and plotted against him, but for Allah’s mercy and help to get delivered from the siege, it would have been the end of Islam. Therefore, it was essential to fight the Jews, and to dismiss them from Muslims' neighborhood.
Allah’s messenger ordered a caller to call on the Muslims saying, “The obedient Muslim would not perform Al-Asr prayer (the afternoon prayer) except in Bani Qurayzah’s.” (Meaning that all obedient Muslims would hurry and reach there before the time of the afternoon (Asr) prayer).
The Muslims were gathered and they armed themselves before going to the forts of Bani Qurayzah. When the Jews saw them near, they trembled and went to hide inside their forts. They closed their doors though they did not have enough food or water. The Muslims besieged them until they surrendered. Allah’s messenger (Peace be upon him) proposed that they would embrace Islam, but they refused. They suggested that an arbitrator should decide between them and Allah’s messenger (Peace be upon him). The arbitrator's decision was that the Jews have plotted against their ally, and that the punishment of this betrayal was death. Then, he ordered that the Jewish men would be killed. The order of the judge was executed, so Madinah became for the Muslims only. Allah made them inherit it. Allah the Almighty is able to do everything. |
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