The Life & Character of the Seal of Prophets (sa) - Volume II — Page 463
X - Siege of Madīnah and Delicate State of the Muslims, Failure of the Disbelievers and Reality of Miracles 463 one to guidance, shall become the cause of error and misguidance. After this brief and secondary note, we return to our actual subject matter. Remaining Events Relevant to the Ghazwah of the Ditch After the continuous labour of more or less twenty days 1 , or in light of one narration, after six days of work day and night, 2 the ditch was completed. The Companions were absolutely exhausted as a result of this extraordinary effort and labour. However, as soon as this work was completed, the Jews and idolators of Arabia dawned upon the horizon of Madīnah, intoxicated by their number and strength, with their army and baggage. Before anything else, Abū Sufyān advanced towards the mount of Uḥud. Upon finding this place deserted and abandoned, he marched towards that part of Madīnah, which was best suited for an attack upon the city, but had now been surrounded by a ditch. When the army of the disbelievers reached this place, upon confronting the hindrance of a ditch on their route, everyone was left astonished and confounded. They were compelled, therefore, to setup camp on the plain beyond the ditch. On the opposing front, upon receiving news of the imminent arrival of the disbelieving army, the Holy Prophet sa set out from the city with 3,000 Muslims and when he neared the ditch, he positioned himself between the city and the ditch in such a manner that the mount of Sala‘ was to his rear. 3 The ditch, however, was not very wide and definitely, there were certain areas from where strong and experienced riders could have managed to leap over into the city. Furthermore, there were also fronts of Madīnah which were not guarded by the ditch, and the only barrier that existed there was of homes, orchards and large rocks, which were unevenly spaced. Naturally, it was necessary to secure these areas, in order to prevent the enemy from destroying these homes or entering into the city in smaller groups and waging an attack by some other strategy. Hence, the Holy Prophet sa divided the Companions into various detachments and positioned them to stand guard on different posts in appropriate locations at the ditch and on the other fronts of Madīnah. The Holy Prophet sa stressed that be it day or night, this security should not 1 * Sharḥul-‘Allāmatiz-Zarqānī ‘Alal-Mawāhibil-Ladunniyyah, By Allāmah Shihābuddīn Al-Qusṭalānī, Volume 3, p. 33, Ghazwatul-Khandaqi Wa Hiyal-Aḥzābu, Dārul-Kutubil-‘Ilmiyyah, Beirut, Lebanon, First Edition (1996) 2 Aṭ-Ṭabaqātul-Kubrā, By Muḥammad bin Sa‘d, Volume 2, p. 282, Ghazwatu Rasūlillāhi sa Al-Khandaqa Wa Hiyal-Aḥzābu, Dāru Iḥyā’it-Turāthil-‘Arabī, Beirut, Lebanon, First Edition (1996) 3 As-Sīratun-Nabawiyyah, By Abū Muḥammad ‘Abdul-Mālik bin Hishām, p. 625, Ghazwatul-Khandaqi Fī Shawwālin Sanata Khamsin, Dārul-Kutubil-‘Ilmiyyah, Beirut, Lebanon, First Edition (2001)