21 August 2011

21 August 2011

Seerah of Muhammed*

*: May the Peace, Blessings & Mercy of Allah be upon him

TMQ: Translation to the nearest meaning of the Qur’an

Seerah: Battle of the Trench / Confederates (Coalition) [part1]

The Jews make alliance with the Quraish

The exiled Jews of Bani Nadir who had settled in Khaybar were determined to recover the land they had lost. Their hopes were centred on the preparations of Quraish for a final attack on the Prophet*; and towards the end of the fifth year of Islam -it was about the New Year of AD 627 -these preparations were brought to a head by a secret visit to Mecca of Huyay and other Jewish leaders from Khaybar. "We are one with you," they said to Abu Sufyan, "that we may eradicate Muhammad*." "The dearest of men to us", he replied, "are those who help us against Muhammad*." So he and Safwan and other chiefs of Quraish took the Jews inside the Ka'bah, and together they swore a solemn oath to God that they would not fail one another until they had achieved their end and aim. Then it occurred to Quraish that they should take this opportunity of asking the opinion of the Jews about the rights of their conflict with the founder of the new religion. "Men of the Jews," said Abu Sufyan, "ye are the people of the first scripture, and ye have knowledge. Tell us how we stand with regard unto Muhammad*, Is our religion the better or his?" They answered: "Your religion is better than his, and ye are nearer the truth than he is."

Gathering the Coalition (Confederacy)

On this harmonious basis the two allies laid their plans. The Jews undertook to rouse up all the nomads in the plain of Najd who had grievances against Medina; and where desire for revenge was not sufficient the matter was to be clinched by bribery. The Bani Asad readily agreed to help them; as to the Bani Ghatafan, they were promised half the date harvest of Khaybar if they would join the confederacy, and their agreement to do so increased the army by nearly six thousand men, from the Ghatafanite clans of Fazarah, Murrah and Ashja', The Jews also succeeded in securing a contingent from the Bani Sulaym seven hundred strong, which would no doubt have been larger but for the fact that ever since the massacre at the well of Ma'unah a small but increasing party within this tribe had been favourable to Islam. As to the southerly neighbour of Sulaym, the Bani'Amir, they remained altogether faithful to their pact with the Prophet*.

Quraish themselves and their closest allies were four thousand strong. Together with one or two other contingents from the south, they were to march out from Mecca along the west coastal route to Medina, the same route which they had taken to Uhud. The second army, which was considerably less of a unity, was to close in on Medina from the east, that is, from the plain of Najd. Together the two armies were estimated at a total of more than three times the strength of Quraish at Uhud. There the Muslims had been defeated by a force of three thousand. What could they now hope to do against ten thousand? Moreover, instead of a troop of only two hundred horse, Quraish had this time three hundred and could rely on Ghatafan for another troop of the same strength.

They marched forth from Mecca-according to plan; and about the same time, possibly with the connivance of 'Abbas, a number of horsemen from the Bani Khuza'ah set out with all speed for Medina to warn the Prophet* of the impending attack and to give him details of its strength. They reached him in four days, thus giving him only a week to make preparations. He at once alerted the whole oasis and spoke words of encouragement to his followers, promising them the victory if only they would have patience and fear God and obey orders.

The Prophet Plans the Defence of Medina

Then, as he had done at Uhud, he summoned them to a consultation (Shura) at which many opinions were expressed as to what would be the best plan of action; but finally Salman rose to his feet and said: "O Messenger of God, in Persia when we feared an attack of horse, we would surround ourselves with a trench, so let us dig a trench about us now." Everyone agreed to this plan with enthusiasm, the more so as they were averse to repeating the strategy of Uhud.

Time was short and all efforts would have to be strained to the utmost if no dangerous gap was to be left in the defences. But the trench did not need to be continuous; at many places a long stretch of fortress-like houses at the edge of the city was adequate protection; and to the north-west there were some masses of rock which in themselves were impregnable and merely needed to be connected to each other. The nearest of these, known as Mount Sal', was to be brought within the entrenchments, for the ground in front of it was an excellent site for the camp. The trench itself would bound the camp to the north in a wide sweep from one of the rocky eminences to a point on the eastern wall of the town. This was to be the longest single stretch of trench and also the most important.

As well as being the originator of the strategy, Salman knew exactly how wide and how deep the trench would have to be; and having worked with the Bani Qurayzah, he knew that they possessed all the implements that were needed. Nor were they averse to lending them in the face of the common danger; for although they had no love for the Prophet* the majority of opinion amongst them had been that their pact with him was a political advantage, not to be thrown away. So mattocks, pickaxes and shovels were borrowed from them. They also supplied date-baskets which were strongly woven of palm-fibre and could thus be used for carrying the excavated earth. The Prophet* made each section of his community responsible for a part of the trench and he himself worked with them (10 men to forty feet of Trench).

The Prophet* worked now with the Emigrants, and now with the Helpers, sometimes with a pickaxe, sometimes with a shovel and sometimes as a carrier. But wherever he might be, it was understood that he must be informed of any unusual difficulty. Most of the diggers at the trench had not normally enough to eat, and the hard work increased the pangs of hunger. Anas relates that the food they had was rotten animal fat mixed with barley that stuck in their throats.

The Meccan army and their allies pitched separate camps not far from Uhud. Quraish were dismayed to find that the crops of the oasis had already been harvested. Their camels would have to subsist on the acacias of the valley of 'Aqiq. Meantime the camels of Ghatafan were living on the two kinds of tamarisk which grow in the thicketed parts of the plain near Uhud. But there was nothing for the horses of either army except the fodder they had brought with them. It was therefore imperative to make an end of the enemy as quickly as possible, and with this intention the two armies joined together and advanced in the direction of the city. Abu Sufyan was commander-in-chief, but by turns each of the various leaders was to have his day of honour in which he would direct the actual fighting. Khalid and 'Ikrimah were again in command of the Meccan cavalry, and 'Amr was in Khalid's troop. As they approached they were heartened to see the enemy camp in front of them outside the town. They had been afraid that they would find them garrisoned behind their battlements; but out in the open they should be able to overwhelm them by sheer weight of numbers. When they drew nearer, however, they were amazed to see that a broad trench lay between them and the archers who were lined the whole way along it on its further side. Their horse would only be able to reach it with difficulty, and then would come the greater difficulty of crossing it. Even now a shower of arrows told them that they were already within range of the enemy, so they drew back to a safer distance.

Meantime Khalid and 'Ikrimah were examining the trench, albeit from a distance, to see where it might most easily be crossed. "This piece of trickery!" they exclaimed in exasperation. "Never have Arabs resorted to such a device. There must surely be with him a man of Persia." To their disappointment they saw that the work had been all too well done, except for a short section which was slightly narrower than the rest, and this was closely guarded. One or two attempts to storm it were a total failure. Their horses had never seen anything like the trench and manifested a strong aversion for it. This might change, but for the moment the fighting could be no more than an interchange of archery.

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