8.1
ʿAbd al-Razzāq, on the authority of Maʿmar, on the authority of al-Zuhrī:
8.1.1
The incident involving the United Clans, which is the Battle of the Trench, took place two years after the incident at Uḥud.136 The Messenger of God had taken command over the Medinese side, and that day Abū Sufyān led the Pagans. They besieged the Messenger of God and his companions for over ten days until despair overtook every Medinese, at which point the Prophet—according to what Ibn al-Musayyab reported to me—said, “O Lord! I implore You to stay true to Your pledge and covenant—unless, O Lord, You truly do not wish to be worshipped!”
8.1.2
While they were swept up in these events, the Prophet sent a message to ʿUyaynah ibn Ḥiṣn ibn Badr al-Fazārī, who in those days was the leader of the Pagans of the Ghaṭafān tribe and on the side of Abū Sufyān. “If I were to offer you a third of the Allies’ harvest, would you return, along with all those who are with you from Ghaṭafān, and dissuade the united clans from fighting?” ʿUyaynah sent back a message to him, responding, “If you hand half of the harvest over to me, I shall do so.” The Prophet then sent a message to Saʿd ibn Muʿādh, who was the chieftain of the Aws, and also to Saʿd ibn ʿUbādah, who was the chieftain of the Khazraj. He said to them, “ʿUyaynah ibn Ḥiṣn has demanded half of your harvest as a condition for withdrawing with his allies from Ghaṭafān and dissuading the united clans from fighting. I had already offered him a third, but he refused to accept anything but half the harvest. How do you two see the matter?” “O Messenger of God!” the two replied. “If you have been commanded by God to do a thing, then let God’s decree be fulfilled!” The Messenger of God retorted, “Had I been commanded by God to do a thing, then I wouldn’t have sought your consent. Rather, this is my own opinion I present to you.” They replied, “Indeed, then, our view is that we shall grant him nothing but the sword.” And the Prophet answered, “So then, the matter is settled.”
8.2
Maʿmar said: Ibn Abī Najīḥ reported to me that:
The two said to him, “We swear by God, O Messenger of God, that in the Age of Ignorance ʿUyaynah ibn Ḥiṣn would come by Medina in a year of drought dragging his sorry ass around here. He couldn’t gain entrance then, so now, after having been honored by Islam, are we to just hand over the harvest to him?”
8.3
Al-Zuhrī, continuing his report from Ibn al-Musayyab, said:
8.3.1
Meanwhile, Nuʿaym ibn Masʿūd al-Ashjaʿī came to them. His safety had been guaranteed by both factions, and he was party to a nonaggression pact with both. Nuʿaym said, “I was in the company of ʿUyaynah and Abū Sufyān when the messenger of the Qurayẓah tribe came to them, saying, ‘Be resolute, for we will take the Muslims unawares from their own safe haven.’” The Prophet replied, “Perhaps we ordered them to do that.” Nuʿaym was not the type of man to keep secrets, so he divulged what the Prophet had said. Then ʿUmar came to the Prophet and said, “O Messenger of God, if this be God’s decree, then let it come to pass, but if it be merely your opinion, then consider this: The matter of the Quraysh and the Qurayẓah clan is too perilous to just take one person’s advice on the matter!” The Prophet replied, “Let me handle the man. Bring him back.” They brought Nuʿaym back to the Prophet, who said to him, “Consider carefully what we have said to you, but do not mention it to anyone.” However, the Prophet was merely spurring Nuʿaym on.
Nuʿaym then departed, and when he came to ʿUyaynah and Abū Sufyān, he asked them, “Have you ever heard Muḥammad say anything that wasn’t true?” “No,” they answered, and he continued, “Indeed, when I myself mentioned the affair of the Qurayẓah clan to him, he said, ‘Perhaps we ordered them to do that.’” Abū Sufyān responded, “We must know for sure whether this is a ploy.” So he sent a message to the Qurayẓah clan: “You have ordered us to remain resolute, claiming that you will take the Muslims unawares from their safe haven. Give us, then, a guarantee of that.” They replied, “The night of the Sabbath has come upon us, and we do not attend to any affair on the Sabbath.” Abū Sufyān exclaimed, “You all have been duped by the Qurayẓah’s gambit. Now ride off!” God then sent the tempest against them. Casting fear into their hearts, he extinguished the blaze of their fires and broke the halter of their steeds. Thus they fled, vanquished without battle.
That is when God decreed: «God spared the believers from fighting. He is strong and mighty.»137
8.3.2
The Prophet dispatched his companions to pursue them, and they pursued them as far as Ḥamrāʾ al-Asad, after which they returned to Medina. The Prophet then removed his armor, performed his ablutions, and perfumed himself.138 But Gabriel called out to Muḥammad, “Who has excused you from battle? Did I not just see you remove your armor? We angels have yet to remove ours!” Anxiously, the Prophet stood up and said to his companions, “I bid you not to pray the late-afternoon prayer until we get to the Qurayẓah clan.” The sun had set before they were able to reach them,139 so a group of the Muslims said, “The Prophet would not want you to neglect the prayer,” and they prayed. Another group of the Muslims said, “We are following the bidding of God’s Messenger, so nothing ill will befall us.” Thus one group prayed, full of faith and seeking God’s reward, and the other neglected the prayer, also full of faith and seeking God’s reward. The Prophet, accordingly, did not deal harshly with either group.
8.3.3
The Prophet set out and passed by some of the places that lay between him and the Qurayẓah clan where the people would assemble to meet. “Has anyone passed by you?” he asked. “Yes,” said one of them, “Diḥyah al-Kalbī passed by riding on a gray she-mule, seated atop a velvet brocade.” The Prophet replied, “That wasn’t he. Rather, it was Gabriel, who has been sent to the Qurayẓah clan to cause their fortresses to quake and cast terror into their hearts.” The Prophet then laid siege to the Qurayẓah clan, and when the Prophet’s companions arrived, he ordered them to cover him with their shields, lest he be pelted by rocks, so that he could hear what the Qurayẓah had to say. Then the Prophet cried out, “You brethren of monkeys and pigs!”140 They replied, “You didn’t used to be so obscene, Abū l-Qāsim!” The Prophet called on them to embrace Islam before waging battle against them, but they refused to answer his call. Then God’s Messenger and those Muslims who were with him fought the Qurayẓah until they agreed to surrender to the judgment of Saʿd ibn Muʿādh, for they had refused to surrender to the judgment of God’s Messenger. Thus they surrendered themselves over to a woeful end. The Muslims brought forward the Qurayẓah clan while Saʿd ibn Muʿādh was bound like a captive atop a jenny ass.141 Eventually they reached God’s Messenger, whereupon the Qurayẓah started to remind those present of the pact made with their tribe. Saʿd ibn Muʿādh started to look to God’s Messenger, hoping for a command from him and trying to discern what the Prophet wished his judgment to be. The Messenger of God answered him, as though wishing Saʿd to say, “Will you confirm whatever judgement I give?” Just as the Prophet began to answer “Yes,” Saʿd decreed, “Indeed, I rule that your fighting men are to be killed, your possessions plundered, and your women and children taken as captives.” The Prophet then decreed, “The judgement is just.”
Ḥuyayy ibn Akhṭab had been mustering the Pagans into an army against the Messenger of God. He went to the Qurayẓah clan at night, asking them to allow him to enter their quarters. But the chief of their clan said, “This man’s coming is ominous. Do not allow Ḥuyayy to bring calamity to you.” Then Ḥuyayy cried out to them, “O Sons of Qurayẓah! Will you not answer me? Will you not come out to meet me? Will you not admit me as your guest? I am hungry and cold!” The Qurayẓah clan said, “By God, we must open our doors to him.” Soon they opened their doors to him, and when he entered he beguiled them. Ḥuyayy exclaimed, “Sons of Qurayẓah, I have come to you in the nick of time! I come to you with a mighty hailstorm, and nothing can stand in its way!” Their chieftain replied to him, “Can you promise that this hailstorm will spare us; that you will leave us next to a calm ocean and not abandon us? On the contrary, all you promise is folly.”
Ḥuyayy gave his word to the Qurayẓah clan and made a covenant with them to the effect that if the groups of the united clans dispersed, he would return to join them in their stronghold. When they followed him, they did so in perfidy against the Prophet and the Muslims. Once God had dispersed those who had amassed from the united tribes, Ḥuyayy fled as far as al-Rawḥāʾ. He remembered the pact and covenant he had given them, and he returned to join them in their stronghold. When the Qurayẓah clan were brought forth to be executed, Ḥuyayy also was brought forth, his hands tied with a single leather strap. Ḥuyayy addressed the Prophet: “I swear by God that I do not reproach myself for having opposed you, but he who forsakes God shall himself be forsaken!”142 The Prophet issued the command to execute him, and his head was severed from his neck.