BIRTH OF ISLAM 9and murdered them when they could be found in small parties. One of
Muhammad’s close followers, Khubeyb, was captured and sold to the
Meccans, who publicly tortured him to death in Mecca. The Hebrews
became openly hostile and frankly stated that the pagan religion of the
Meccans was superior to Islam. Again, this was not the first time that
Hebrews underestimated a prophet.
InA.D. 627 a force known as the “Confederates”(al-ahzab)that con-
sisted of Meccans with Bedouin and Abyssinian mercenaries had begun
to take military action against Medina. In a gathering to discuss strategy,
a Persian follower of Muhammad, named Hazrat Salaman Farsi, suggested
to Muhammad that he dig a trench around Medina. This was done by
3,000 Muslims, apparently in a day. When the confederates arrived before
Medina the moat defense prevented them from attacking, so they camped
and contented themselves for several days with showering arrows on the
city.
As the Muslims waited for the assault, word came that the Banu-
Qurayzah tribe of Hebrews had abandoned their loyalty to Muhammad
and had gone over to the Confederates, combining their fighting men. It
is possible to say that this news signified the absolute nadir of Muslim
fortunes in all of what had passed, and all that was to come. In 1,
years of Muslim history, at no point does the entire fate of the Prophet’s
people rest on a small, dispirited, besieged garrison such as that at Medina
in 627.
But Muhammad was neither discouraged nor helpless. Matters would
quickly change.
These combined enemy forces sat before Medina and contemplated
their next action. While they discussed their options, agents from Medina
spread dissent between the Confederates and their new Hebrew allies. As
distrust brewed, a storm came in from the sea so strong that the besiegers’
tents blew over and no fires could be lit either to cook or keep warm. The
leader of the Confederates, having had enough, quietly slipped away in
the night. His mercenaries and adventurers followed. When the Banu-
Qurayzah awoke in the morning, they found they’d been abandoned and
also quickly decamped. The Battle of the Ditches, or Battle of Ahzab, as
the blockade of Medina was called, ended with both sides losing about
twenty men.
Muhammad felt obliged to take action. The Bani Nadir Hebrew tribe
of Medina had actually been expelled a full year before the Confederates
attacked Medina. But now the Banu-Qurayzah tribe was singled out for
destruction. Muhammad caught the Banu-Qurayzah in their stronghold
and began a month-long siege. When it ended, they surrendered uncon-