The Life & Character of the Seal of Prophets (sa) - Volume II — Page 474
Seal of the Prophets - Volume II 474 “O God, Who is the Revealer of commandments in the world! O You Who is Swift in calling to account! Send these disbelieving confederates to flight by Your Grace. O My Powerful God, put them to flight, and help us against the disbelievers, and shake their strength. 1 O You Who listens to the cries of those who are in distress! O You Who listens to the supplications of the afflicted! Remove our grief, distress and anxiety, for you see the affliction that my Companions and I are confronted with at this time. ” 2 By good fortune, at that very moment, or around that time, an individual named Na‘īm bin Mas‘ūd who belonged to the Ashja‘ tribe, which was a branch of the Ghaṭafān tribes, and was fighting against the Muslims in this war, reached Madīnah. In his heart, this person had accepted Islām, but until now, the disbelievers were unaware of this. Taking benefit of this state, with great intelligence, he employed a strategy which succeeded in creating rift between the disbelievers. 3 First, Na‘īm bin Mas‘ūd went to the Banū Quraiẓah, and since he held old relations with them, he met their chieftains and said: “In my opinion you did not do well in betraying Muḥammad [sa] and joining the Quraish and Ghaṭafān. The Quraish and Ghaṭafān are only here in Madīnah for a few days, but you are permanent residents of this place, because this is your homeland and you shall continue to come into contact with the Muslims. Just remember that when the Quraish, etc. leave from here, they shall not give you 1 Ṣaḥīḥul-Bukhārī, Kitābul-Maghāzī, Bābu Ghazwatil-Khandaqi Wa Hiyal-Aḥzābu, Ḥadīth No. 4115 2 Sharḥul-‘Allāmatiz-Zarqānī ‘Alal-Mawāhibil-Ladunniyyah, By Allāmah Shihābuddīn Al-Qusṭalānī, Volume 3, p. 55, Ghazwatul-Khandaqi Wa Hiyal-Aḥzābu, Dārul-Kutubil-‘Ilmiyyah, Beirut, Lebanon, First Edition (1996) 3 Aṭ-Ṭabaqātul-Kubrā, By Muḥammad bin Sa‘d, Volume 2, p. 284, Ghazwatu Rasūlillāhi sa Al-Khandaqa Wa Hiyal-Aḥzābu, Dāru Iḥyā’it-Turāthil-‘Arabī, Beirut, Lebanon, First Edition (1996) - At this instance, Ibni Hishām has recorded a narration that Na‘īm bin Mas‘ūd presented himself before the Holy Prophet sa , and then, the Holy Prophet sa personally assigned him the task of formulating an intelligent plan by which the disbelievers could be routed. In principle, if this actually happened, there would be nothing objectionable about it, but in light of principles of Riwāyat , this does not prove to be correct. The reason being that firstly, Ibni Hishām has related this account without a chain of narrators, but in comparison to this, Ibni Sa‘d has provided a chain of narrators for the account relayed by him - refer to the aforementioned reference of Ibni Sa‘d. In addition to this, the narration of Ibni Hishām, which has been quoted by Muḥaddith Shirāzī in his work ‘Alqāb’ has been declared a weak narration by research scholars - refer to Al-Jāmi‘uṣ-Ṣaghīru Fī Aḥādīthil-Bashīri Wan-Nadīri, By Jalāluddīn bin Abī Bakr As-Suyūṭī, Volume 2, p. 236, Ḥarful-Khā’i, Ḥadīth No. 3884, Dārul-Kutubil-‘Ilmiyyah, Beirut (2004). Hence, the correct version of this incident seems to be that Na‘īm employed this strategy of his own accord. And Allāh knows best.