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The Battle of Khandaq (AKA Battle of the Trench (Arabic غزوةالخندق), Battle of the Ditch, Battle of Ahzab (Arabic غزوةالاحزاب) was an attack by the city of Mecca on the city Medina in 627. The name "Battle of the Trench" comes from the fact that the Muslims dug a trench north of Medina to protect the city (Medina was naturally fortified on all other fronts). Although Mecca fielded a larger army it was not unable to overcome the defenses. The Qur'an narrates this war in the Qur'anic verses .

Preface to the battle

The army of Mecca was a confederation of the tribes Quraysh, Kinanah, Banu Sulaim, Ghatafan, Bani Murrah, Fazarah and Ashja' under the leadership of, amongst others, Abu Sufyan ibn Harb. The confederation fielded 10,000 soldiers; its backbone was the Quraysh cavalry. Medina was defended by 3,000 Muslims led by Muhammad. Outnumbered, the Muslim army opted to engage in a defensive battle by establishing deep trenches to act as a barrier along the northern front. The tactic of a defensive trench was introduced to the Arabs by Salman al-Farsi who acquired its knowledge in Persia. It is said that every capable Muslim in Medina contributed in digging the massive trench.

Medina's Jews

According to most sources, individuals from among these clans plotted to take Muhammad's life at least twice, and once they came within a bite of poisoning him. Two of the tribes,the Banu Nadir and the Banu Qaynuqa,were eventually exiled for falling short on their agreed upon commitments and for the consequent danger they posed to the nascent Muslim community.Muhammad asked them to leave the strategic position which they occupied, approximately 3 miles south of Medina. They refused to leave and the Muslims attacked. Since neither the Meccan polytheists nor other Jewish tribes helped, they were dismayed but their lives were spared, and they were given 10 days to leave with their families, and any other possessions they could carry. Most of them joined their brethren in Syria and the others in Khaybar.There were many Jewish clans of which three were prominent: the Banu Nadir, the Banu Qaynuqa, and the Banu Qurayza.

Muhammad arrived in Medina in 622 believing the Jewish tribes would welcome him. Contrary to expectation, his relations with several of the Jewish tribes in Medina were uneasy almost from the start. This was probably largely a matter of local politics. Medina was not so much a city as a fractious agricultural settlement dotted by fortresses and strongholds, and all relations in the oasis were uneasy. In fact, Muhammad had been invited there to arbitrate a bloody civil war between the Khazraj and the Aws Allah, in which the Jewish clans, being their clients, were embroiled.

Medina Peace Pact

At Muhammad's persuasion, Pagan tribes, Muslim and Jewish clans signed a pact to protect each other in the event there was an attack on the city. Certain individual pagans and recent Medinan converts to Islam tried to thwart the new arrangement in various ways, and some of the Jewish clans were uneasy with the threatened demise of the old alliances. At least three times in five years, Jewish leaders, uncomfortable with the changing political situation in Medina, went against Muhammad, hoping to restore the tense, sometimes bloody-but predictable-balance of power among the tribes.

The Battle

The Quraish had recruited allies from northwestern Arabia to join the fight, including the assistance of the two exiled Jewish tribes. In addition, they sent envoys to the largest Jewish tribe still in Medina, the Banu Qurayza, hoping to win their support. The Banu Qurayza's crucial location on the south side of Medina would allow the Anti-Muslim coalition to attack Muhammad from two sides.The Banu Qurayza were hesitant to join the Meccan alliance, but when a substantial Meccan army arrived, they agreed.

When the Quraysh-led coalition arrived to fight, their cavalry unsuccessfully tried to cross the trench for three days. Amro bin Abd-e-Widd Al-'Ameri and few other horsemen could finally jump over the trench. Amro was a strong and widely feared man by the Arabs for his fighting abilities. Ali, a young man then, killed him in a duel. The other horsemen ran away, one of them fell in the trench and was killed. Ali, in this, has shown great courage to face Amro and his star rose even higher among the muslims as a great hero. The trench was a huge psychologial and strategic set back for the Quraish coalition forces as this was not something they were able to handle nor had they ever experienced in this kind of warfare.The very fact that their strongest point was the cavalry which could not cross the deep trenches was a blow to their advances.

As the siege began, the Banu Qurayza nervously awaited further developments. Learning of their intention to defect and realizing the grave danger this posed, Muhammad initiated diplomatic efforts to keep the Banu Qurayza on his side. Little progress was made. In the third week of the siege, the Banu Qurayza signaled their readiness to act against Muhammad, although they demanded that the Meccans provide them with hostages first, to ensure that they wouldn't be abandoned to face Muhammad alone. Yet that is exactly what happened. The Meccans, nearing exhaustion themselves, refused to give the Banu Qurayza any hostages. Not long after, cold, heavy rains set in, and the Meccans gave up the fight and marched home, to the horror and dismay of the Banu Qurayza.

Aftermath

The Muslims now commenced a 25-day siege against the Banu Qurazya's fortress. Finally, both sides agreed to arbitration. A former ally of the Banu Qurayza, an Arab chief named Sa'd ibn Mu'adh, now a Muslim, was chosen as judge. Sa'd, one of the few casualties of battle, would soon die of his wounds. If the earlier tribal relations had been in force, he would have certainly spared the Banu Qurayza. His fellow chiefs urged him to pardon these former allies, but he refused. In his view, the Banu Qurayza had attacked the new social order and failed to honor their agreement to protect the town. He ruled that all the men should be killed. Muhammad accepted his judgment, and the next day, according to Muslim sources, 700 men of the Banu Qurayza were executed.

Most scholars of this episode agree that neither party acted outside the bounds of normal relations in 7th century Arabia. The new order brought by Muhammad was viewed by many as a threat to the age-old system of tribal alliances, as it certainly proved to be. For the Banu Qurayza, the end of this system seemed to bring with it many risks. At the same time, the Muslims faced the threat of total extermination, and needed to send a message to all those groups in Medina that might try to betray their society in the future. It is doubtful that either party could have behaved differently under the circumstances.

Yet Muhammad did not confuse the contentiousness of clan relations in the oasis with the religious message of Judaism. Passages in the Qur'an that warn Muslims not to make pacts with the Jews of Arabia emerge from these specific wartime situations. A larger spirit of respect, acceptance, and comradeship prevailed, as recorded in a late chapter of the Qur'an,

We sent down the Torah, in which there is guidance and light, by which the Prophets who surrendered to God's will provided judgments for the Jewish people. Also, the rabbis and doctors of the Law (did likewise), according to that portion of God's Book with which they were entrusted, and they became witnesses to it as well…. Whoever does not judge by what God has sent down (including the Torah), they are indeed unbelievers. (5:44)

Some individual Medinan Jews, including at least one rabbi, became Muslims. But generally, the Jews of Medina remained true to their faith. Theologically, they could not accept Muhammad as a messenger of God, since, in keeping with Jewish belief, they were waiting for a prophet to emerge from among their own people.

The exiled Banu Nadir and the Banu Qaynuqa removed to the prosperous northern oasis of Khaybar, and later pledged political loyalty to Muhammad. Other Jewish clans honored the pact they had signed and continued to live in peace in Medina long after it became the Muslim capital of Arabia.

External links

*http://www.thewaytotruth.org/prophetmuhammad/trench.html
*http://www.al-islamforall.org/Ghazwat/ghazwat/trench.htm

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