The Trench

The expedition entitled Ahzab or Khandak was undertaken in the month of Ramazân, in the fifth year of the Hijret, and was occasioned in the following manner: - When the Benee Nazeer were expected from Medeenah, some of them went to Khyber, and their chief, Hy-bin-Akhtab, repaired to Mekkah, and induced Abusüfeeân to make an expedition against Mohammed, for which purpose a force of ten thousand men was raised. When the prophet heard what a powerful army was advancing against him, he held a council of war with his companions, who were in all seven hundred men. Salman the Fàrsee observed, A small force cannot withstand a large one. What shall we do then? said Mohammed. Salman replied, Let us entrench ourselves in such a manner that we can be attacked only in one quarter. Jibrâeel descended and pronounced the plan of Salman excellent, and declared it must be executed. The ground was then marked out from Ohod to Râyah, and divided into sections of twenty or thirty feet, each section being assigned to a particular party for excavation. The Musulmâns began the work with spades and pickaxes, the prophet himself laboring in a section of the Muhâjerees. The second day they came to a rock which Mohammed broke to pieces with a pickaxe, as has been related in the chapter on miracles. During this work in Ramazân, the month of fasting, a man fainted in consequence of having eaten nothing the previous night. The rule as first instituted was that no one should eat or drink who slept at night in Ramazân; but it was now modified by the following verse: "Eat and drink, until ye can plainly distinguish a white thread from a black thread by the daybreak". (Surah 2:183) It is related that the entrenchment was finished three days before the coming up of the Koraysh, and that it had eight gateways, at each of which Mohammed stationed a Muhâjer and an Ansâr, with a party as a guard.

The Koraysh, with their Yehoodee allies, in all ten thousand strong, encamped between Jeraf and Ghâyah. But while they were encamped at Akeek, Hy-bin-Akhtab visited the Benee Kareezah to induce them to join the confederation against Mohammed. This tribe were in league with the prophet and enjoyed his protection. Hy arrived at their castle in the night, and after knocking awhile roused Kàb-bin Asayd, who, perceiving who the visitor was, remarked to his family, This man ruined his own tribe, and has now come to bring calamity upon us by urging us to break our league with Mohammed, who has been faith Cal and kind to us, and it is not right that we should practice deceit with him. Kab then went to hold a conference with Hy, who said to the former, I have come to proffer you exalted fortunes. Perhaps you. have rather come, retorted Kab, to cause our degradation and rain. Hy then expatiated on the number and power of the allies, and that it was impossible Mohammed could escape an utter overthrow. To this Kمb replied, Go back the way you came, for I will never open the gate to you. Nothing prevents your doing it, retorted fly, but the young gazelle you are roasting and which you fear hospitality will require you to share with me. But do not be alarmed at that, for I will not rob you of your gazelle. May God curse you! returned Kàb, for overreaching me in a way that compels me to open to you in order to preserve my own honor as a hospitable man. Hy was now admitted into the fortified place, and again urged Kab to break his league with Mohammed.

The chiefs of the tribe were assembled, and after assuring Kàb of their fealty to him as superior, declared they would follow his opinion and example in the case, whatever it was. An old and experienced Yehoodee now arose and said, I have read in the Torât which has come to us from God, that he will send a prophet in the last days who will remove from Mekkah to Medeenah. He will ride an ass without a saddle, wear old clothes, and satisfy the wants of nature with dry bread and dates. He will be noted for smiling, have a rod spot in each of his eyes, and will cause the death of many. Between his shoulders will be the seal of prophecy. He will lay his sword on his shoulder and repel all that attack him, and his kingdom will extend throughout the earth. If Mohammed be that prophet he will not shrink before the vast multitude assembled against him, and were the very mountains to war on him he would overcome them.

Ibn-Akhtab replied, This man cannot be the predicted prophet, for he is to be of the Benee Isrâeel; Mohammed is of the Benee Ismàeel, whom the Benee Isrâeel will never obey, for God has given them superiority over all other men, and has committed to them prophecy and royalty. Moreover, Moosâ has obligated us never to believe in any prophet who does not bring the sign of a sacrifice consumed by fire from heaven. But Mohammed is attended with no miracle at all, and has gathered a deluded multitude about him by sorcery, through which he hopes to overcome the world. By addresses of this sort, Hy at length brought the tribe into his views, and demanding their written treaty with Mohammed, tore it to pieces, saying, Now you have no alternative but to fight.

lNews of the defection of the Benee Kareezah much depressed the prophet and his companions. He sent two men, one of whom was Sمd-bin-Màâz, to learn the true state of the matter, and charged them, if they found reports correct, on their return to inform none pf it but himself, and to signify it to him by the watchword "Azul and Algârah; which were the names of two Koraysh clans who once professed islâm, but had practiced deceit and become infidels. On reaching the Benee Kareenah the messengers were derided by Kàb, who reviled their prophet in very abusive terms. They returned to Mohammed and gave the concerted watchword, on which, by way of policy, he exclaimed, A curse on them! I ordered them to do so. This was said with the design that the Koraysh spies, who were always about him, might suspect there was a collusion between him and the Benee Kareezah, and that they were laying a plot to ensnare the Koraysh.

Hy-bin-Akhtab, after his success with the Benee Kareezah, rejoined Abusufeeân, who, with the rest of the Koraysh, were rejoiced at the accession of another ally. A man by the name of Nàeem-bin Màsood visited the prophet, and declared he had very recently become a Musulmân, but had concealed the fact from the Koraysh, and that he was now ready to perform any service Mohammed should require, and if permitted, would excite dissension between the Koraysh and Benee Kareezah. The prophet accordingly directed him to go and subvert the treaty, which would be a greater service than he could render by remaining. Naeem then asked permission to say what he might think expedient about the prophet, which was granted. He then went to Abusufeeân, who knew nothing of his having become a Musulmân, and said to him, You know my friendship for you, and how much I wish that God would favor you with His aid against your enemies. Verily, I have heard that Mohammed has formed a treaty with the Yehoodes that, when they are admitted into your ranks, they shall unexpectedly attack you, and thus enable him to overcome you. On condition of this treachery, he has promised them the houses and lands taken from the Benee Nazeer and Benee Keenkau. My advice is that you do not permit them to enter your army until they have delivered to~ you some of their chiefs, to be sent as hostages to Mekkah, and thus secure yourselves from their treachery. Ahusufeeân replied, May God give you favor and a good reward for your counsel!

Naeem now repaired in all haste to the Benee Kareezah, who were likewise ignorant of his being a Musulmân, and addressing Kab, observed, You know my friendship for you which induces me to say that I have heard Abusufeeân has declared he would draw you out of your fortifications and impel you against Mohammed, whom if you conquer, the glory would come to the Koraysh, but if you were defeated they would suffer no harm. My counsel is that you do not join their army till you receive ten of their chiefs to be kept as hostages within your own walls, which hostages are to be detained until the Koraysh either conquer Mohammed or restore your league with him. Kàb replied, You have conferred the greatest possible favor on us, and we shall certainly abide your advice, and not leave our castle till we get the hostages into our hands. By thus deceiving both parties, Naeem succeeded in exciting hostility between the Koraysh and Benee Kareezah.

The Koraysh lay more than twenty days before Mohammed's entrenchments, and then retreated without making an attack. There was some exchange of missiles, in the form of arrows and stones dis. charged by the adverse armies, and an important duel between Aly and a celebrated champion of the Koraysh, Amer-bin-Abdood, who was reckoned equal to a thousand mounted men, and had been surnamed Fâris-e-Yaleel the Horseman of Yaleel, from the circumstance of his repelling alone a band of one thousand robbers at Yaleel on the road to Sham. The robbers attacked his kâfilah at that place, and although his companions fled to a man, he routed and put to flight the whole banditti. At the head of a p arty he rode up to the ditch, and passing along to a narrow place, they leaped their horses over it. Amer then rode to and fro, chanting an ode and demanding an antagonist, while all the army of islam fled at his approach and took post behind the prophet. In this emergency Omar said to Ahdurrahman-bin-Auf- Do you see this shaytan? No one will escape him with life. Let us deliver Mohammed to him to be slain, and rejoin our Koraysh kindred. Immediately the Most High sent down this verse: "God already knoweth those among you who hinder others from following his apostle, and who say unto their brethren, Come hither unto us, and who come not to battle, except a little; being covetous towards you: but when fear cometh on them, thou seest them look unto thee for assistance, their eyes rolling about, like ~1se eyes of him who fainteth by reason of tile agonies of death; yet when their fear is past, they inveigh against you with sharp tongues, being covetous of the best and most valuable part of the spoils. These believe not sincerely; wherefore God hath rendered their works of' no avail; and this is easy with God." (Surah 33:18,19)

Meanwhile Amer thrust his spear into the ground and rode around the arena, chanting an ode to this purport: -My voice is gone in calling so long for an antagonist: who of you all will fight with me? I stood when the brave feared the encounter, and was always a champion in great battles; verily, bravery and generosity are the best qualities for young heroes. The prophet now demanded of his followers, Who will go and repel this dog? No one answered till the commander of the faithful sprang up and engaged to do it. But, said Mohammed, this is Amer-bin-Abdood! And I am Aly bin-Abutâlib! exclaimed the youthful hero. The prophet then with his own blessed hand bound a turban on Aly's head, and gave him Zoolfakâr and prayed to the Lord to preserve him on all sides from danger. Aly then rushed on the ground like a ravening lion, chanting an ode to this purport: - Be not so hasty, for the acceptor of your challenge has come, not weak to withstand thee, but true to his purpose, and clear-sighted in the way of truth which giveth salvation. I hope soon to raise the wail of mourning for you by a cleaving stroke whose fame shall long remain.

Who art thou? demanded Amer, that darest meet my fight in this arena? He replied, I am AIy-bin-Abutâlib, the cousin and son-in-law of the prophet of God. Wallah! said Amer, your father was an intimate friend of mine, and I do not like to toss thee off the ground with my spear, and hold thee up between heaven and earth neither dead nor alive. Aly replied, My cousin, the prophet, has assured me that if you kill me I shall enter paradise, while you will be doomed to hell: and further, if I slay you I shall still gain paradise, and hell will still be your portion. Amer retorted sarcastically, Will the advantage in both cases be yours? this is a bad division of consequences which you talk of. Be it so, returned Aly; but I have heard that, laying your hand on the curtains of the Kàbah, you declared that whoever should offer you three conditions respecting a combat, you would accept. one of them. Name your conditions, exclaimed the champion. Aly resumed, My first condition is that you confess the unity of God and the prophetship of Mohammed; or second, that you retire and cause the Koraysh army to retreat, for if Mohammed's claims are true, his cause is sure, and this peaceful act will enhance your own dignity; but if he be a liar and no prophet, the wolves and wild Arabs are enough to overthrow his artifice. I reject both these conditions, replied Amer; the Koraysh women would reproach me with cowardice, and it would be published in poems that I dreaded battle and rendered no aid to the people that made me their chief. My third condition, then, added Aly, is that we fight on foot. Amer immediately leaped on the ground, and hamstrung his horse, observing, I did not suppose there was an Arab living that would dare to offer me this condition.

 The infidel then aimed a furious blow at Aly which cut through his shield and wounded him in the head. As stratagem is lawful in war, Aly said to his adversary, As you esteem yourself the horseman of the Arabs, why have you brought with you a second to combat a youth like me? The champion on this looking behind him, Aly cut off both his legs at a blow, and in falling to the ground he raised such a cloud of dust that the spectators did not know which was slain, and the hypocrites among the Musulmàns declared that Aly was killed. When the dust cleared away, Aly was seen on the breast of Amer, with his beard in his hand, in the act of cutting off his head, which he directly brought to the prophet, blood meanwhile flowing from the wound he had received on his own head. Blood likewise dripped from his sword, and he exclaimed triumphantly, I am the son of Abdulmutalib! death is better than flight for a young hero.

Another duel ended in the triumph of a Musulmân named Zobayr, but Omar engaging a Koraysh champion, called Zarâr, treacherously attempted to despatch his adversary with an arrow. Zarâr reproached and threatened him, on which Omar fled, his antagonist pursuing and pricking him in the back with his spear, saying, Let this remind you that I spared your life. Omar did not forget the favor, but when he became khaleefah gave Zarâr a government.

The compiler adds that the account of Aly's practicing a stratagem in his combat with Amer, is stated in no other tradition, and most of the sunnee writers say nothing of it, but as it is related by Aly-binIbrâheem it is here recorded. One tradition says that in challenging the Musulmàns, Amer tauntingly said, Where is your paradise to which your slain go I On this combat, Jâber, an Ansâr, observed, How much the killing of Amer resembles Dâood's slaying Jâloot! (Goliath) The sunnee writers affirm that immediately after the death of Amer, Abusufeeân retreated to Mekkah, but Aly-bin-Ibrâheem and others declare that he remained fifteen days or more, and besieged the Musulmâns, who suffered much from cold and scarcity of provisions, until they were miraculously relieved by the prophet, as stated in the chapter of miracles. At length, at the prayer of Mohammed, the Most High sent a violent west wind, which overthrew the tents of the Koraysh and put them to flight. The entrenchment was made in the month of Ramazân, but the combats which ensued were in the following month, Shevâl. The length of the siege is variously stated at twenty, twenty-four, and twenty-seven days: God knows best which is right.

After the retreat of the Koraysh, Mohammed returned to Medeenah, and his daughter Fâtimah had just brought water to cleanse him from the dust of his campaign, when Jibràeel, mounted on a mule, appeared, wearing a white turban and having a piece of the satin of paradise, embroidered with pearl and rubies, thrown over his shoulders. He too was covered with dust, which Mohammed rose and brushed away, the angel saying to him, The Lord be merciful to you! you have your armor off sooner than the hosts of heaven, who have pursued the Koraysh to Rohà and given them much annoyance. The Lord now commands you to perform evening prayers to-day in no other place but by the Benee Kareezah. I will myself precede you and shake their walls, and will crush the enemy like an egg dashed to atoms by a stone. Jibrâeel then went out, and in the form of a man called iDahyah, proclaimed among the Musulmâns that evening prayers must be performed at the quarter of Benee Kareezah. The Musulmâns hereupon assembled, and led by Aly bearing the great standard, marched to the attack. On their approaching the walls, Kab-bin-Asayd appeared and reviled, the prophet and his army. Mohammed replied, Ye brothers of apes and hogs, and worshippers of Taghoot,t do you revile me? it is a bad day for any people when we besiege them. Kab answered, Verily, O Abool-kasim, you were never known as a reviler. At this remark, the prophet dropped his staff and cloak, and retreated backwards several steps, through excessive shame. As the groves of date-trees around the walls did not allow him to take up the position he wished, he signed to them with his blessed hand, and they removed to the neighboring wilderness.

The siege lasted three days before the Yehoodees offered to capitulate, and then they asked to quit the country with life and liberty, and leave him their property, as their brethren the Benee Nazeer had done. The prophet replied that they must make an unconditional surrender and submit t~ any treatment he might choose to order. To this they would not agree, till, reduced to the greatest extremity, they at last made an absolute surrender after a siege of twenty-five days. The prophet ordered the men, who were seven hundred in number, to be separated from their families, and their hands to he bound. A deputation from 9the tribe of Aus now waited on the prophet and represented that the Benee Kareezah were their friends and allies, and had aided them in their wars against the Khazrej on all occasions. They therefore asked the boon of having all the prisoners delivered over to them, to be treated consistently with their former friendship and alliance, enforcing their claim by reminding the prophet that he had once delivered seven hundred men in coats of mail, and three hundred without arms, to Abdullahbin-Aby, the Khazrej chief, and protesting that they were not inferior to him.

After they had pressed him long, he replied, Will you be satisfied that I make one of your own tribe arbiter in the case, and abide by his decision? They answered in the affirmative and asked who should be arbiter. He named Sad-bin-Maaz, and all were satisfied with the nomination. Sad, who had been severely wounded at Kbandak, was brought on a litter, and the tribe of Aus crowded around him and begged him to decide in their favor. In expectation of speedy death he replied, This is not an hour for me to fear reproaches; on which the Aus cried out, Verily our allies of Kareezah are doomed! The women and children of the captive Yehoodees besought him in the humblest manner to decide favorably for them, to which he replied, Are you satisfied that I should give judgment concerning you.? They answered in the affirmative, and he then went to the prophet and said, How do you command me to decide? According to your own judgment, said Mohammed. Sad rejoined, I decide then, O prophet of God, that the men be slain, the women and children held as slaves, and their property be divided among the Muhâjerees and Ansârees. Mohammed rose and said, You have judged as God above the seventh heaven has decreed. The wound of Sad, which had been miraculously stanched at the prayer of the prophet, till he should see the fall of the Benee Kareezah, now opened afresh and bled till his pure soul joined the spirits of the prophets and their successors, and of the martyrs.

Mohammed ordered the captives to be brought into Medeenah and closely confined. He then had a pit dug, and brought out the prisoners one by one, and beheaded them, and cast them into the pit. Hy-bin-Akhtab, who, after the retreat of the Koraysh, had resolved to share the fortunes of the Benee Kareezah, and was taken prisoner with them, said to their chief, Kàb-bin-Asayd, What do you think they do with the men they are taking away? Why, are you so dull? answered Kàb; do you not know they put every man to death that they lead out from us? but be patient and firm in your faith. At length Kàb, who was a fine-looking man, was led out with his hands bound behind his back. Mohammed asked him if he did not now find the truth of what a certain learned Yehoodee had declared respecting his pro phetship. Kàb admited it was so, and added that were it not the Yehoodees would reproach him for turning through fear of death, he would acknowledge Mohammed a prophet and become a Musulmân ; .but, said he, I have lived in the Yehoodee religion, and I will die in it. He was then beheaded.

When Hy-bin-Akhtab was brought out, Mohammed said to him, Thou corrupt wretch! have you not sufficiently felt the divine power subduing your own? He replied, I will not reproach myself for being your enemy. I have tried every means in my power to overthrow you, but he whom God does not aid is defeated. As Aly was about to strike off his head he exclaimed, A noble falls by the hand of a noble. Some say My executed all the prisoners, addressing himself to the task morning and evening, and finishing it in three days; others maintain that he only beheaded ten, and the rest fell by other hands. Boys not fully arrived at puberty were spared. Of the women, Mohammed selected for himself, Marah the daughter of Hanakah; some say the woman's name was Keehânah.

 Source - The Life and Religion of Muhammad -Hiyat al-Qulub, by Allamah Muhammad Baqir al-Majlisi. Translated by Rev. James L. Merrick.