followers to eat. The dates began to increase in number until they dropped over the trim of his robe. Another illustrious preternatural example went to the effect that an obstinate rock stood out as an immune obstacle in the ditch. The Prophet [pbuh] took the spade and struck, and the rock immediately turned into a loose sand dune. In another version, Al-Bara‘ said: On Al-Khandaq (the trench) Day there stood out a rock too immune for our spades to break up. We therefore went to see the Messenger of Allâh [pbuh] for advice. He took the spade, and struck the rock uttering "in the Name of Allâh, Allâh is Great, the keys of Ash-Shâm (Geographical Syria) are mine, I swear by Allâh, I can see its palaces at the moment;" on the second strike he said: "Allâh is Great, Persia is mine, I swear by Allâh, I can now see the white palace of Madain;" and for the third time he struck the rock, which turned into very small pieces, he said: "Allâh is Great, I have been given the keys of Yemen, I swear by Allâh, I can see the gates of San‘a while I am in my place." The same version was narrated by Ishaq.[Ibn Hisham 3/330,331] The northern part of Madinah was the most vulnerable, all the other sides being surrounded by mountains and palm tree orchards, the Prophet [pbuh] as a skillful military expert, understood that the Confederates would march in that direction, so the trench was ordered to be on that side. The Muslims went on digging the trench for several days; they used to work on it during the day, and go back home in the evening until it had assumed its full dimensions militarily before the huge army of the idolaters;[ibid] which numbered, as many as ten thousand fighters, arrived and settled in the vicinity of Madinah in places called Al-Asyal and Uhud.
"And when the believers saw ‘Al-Ahzab’ (the confederates), they said: ‘This is what Allâh and His Messenger (Muhammad [pbuh]) had promised us, and Allâh and His Messenger (Muhammad [pbuh]) had spoken the truth, and it only added to their Faith and to their submissiveness (to Allâh)." [Al-Quran 33:22]
Three thousand Muslims, with Muhammad [pbuh] at their head, came out to encounter the idolaters, with Allâh’s Promise of victory deeply established in their minds. They entrenched themselves in Sila‘ Mountain with the trench standing as a barrier between them and the disbelievers.
On attempting to attack the Muslims and break into Madinah, the idolaters were surprised to see a wide trench, a new stratagem unknown in Arabia before, standing as an obstinate obstruction. Consequently they decided to lay siege to Madinah and began to manoeuvre around the trench trying hard to find a vulnerable spot through which they could infiltrate into Madinah. To deter their enemies from approaching or bridging any gap in their defences, the Muslims hurled arrows, and engaged in skirmishes with them. The veteran fighters of Quraish were averse to this situation waiting in vain in anticipation of what the siege might reveal. Therefore they decided that a group of fighters led by ‘Amr bin ‘Abd-e-Wudd, ‘Ikrima bin Abi Jahl and Dirar bin Al-Khattab, should work its way through the trench. They, in fact, managed to do that and their horsemen captured a marshy area between the trench and Sila‘ Mountain. ‘Amr challenged the Muslims to a duel, and ‘Ali bin Abi Talib was deputed. After a short but fierce engagement, ‘Ali killed ‘Amr and obliged the others to evacuate in a state of panic and confusion. However, some days later, the polytheists conducted fresh desperate attempts but all of them failed due to Muslims’ steadfastness and heroic confrontation.