Period 12 of 18
The Trench, Banu Qurayza and the Slander
Madinah withstood a siege by a large coalition, and the Muslim community endured a heavy personal trial.
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The Battle of the Trench
In Shawwal 5 AH (about March 627 CE) Quraysh and their allies besieged Madinah. On the advice of Salman al-Farisi رضي الله عنه, the sirah books record, the Muslims dug a trench along the open side of the city. Jabir رضي الله عنه described the hunger: a hard rock stopped the digging and the Prophet ﷺ had a stone tied to his belly, then struck the rock with a pickaxe until it turned to loose sand. He prayed: “O Allah, Revealer of the Book, swift in reckoning, defeat the confederates.” Allah then sent a wind and forces they could not see (33:9-11), and the confederates withdrew.
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Banu Qurayza
The sirah books record that Banu Qurayza, a Jewish tribe of Madinah with a pact with the Muslims, broke that pact and sided with the besiegers. After the Trench the Muslims besieged their fortresses, and they surrendered to the judgment of Sa'd ibn Mu'adh رضي الله عنه, a leader of the Aws. Abu Sa'id al-Khudri رضي الله عنه reported that the Prophet ﷺ told the Muslims to stand for their master, and Sa'd judged that the fighters be killed and the families taken captive; the Prophet ﷺ said: “You have judged by the judgment of the King.” The Quran refers to this event (33:26-27).
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The slander against Aisha
On the return from an expedition, Aisha رضي الله عنها was accidentally left behind while searching for a lost necklace and was brought back to the army by Safwan ibn al-Mu'attal رضي الله عنه. Abdullah ibn Ubayy and others spread a slander, and Aisha رضي الله عنها fell ill and suffered for about a month without knowing what was being said. The Prophet ﷺ waited for revelation until Allah declared her innocence in ten verses of Surah an-Nur, beginning: “Those who brought forth the slander are a group among you” (24:11-20). When her mother told her to go to the Prophet ﷺ, she answered that she would thank no one but Allah.
How the sources are used
Sources are chosen in this order: the Quran first, then the hadith collections of al-Bukhari and Muslim, and then other collections such as al-Tirmidhi, Abu Dawud, an-Nasa'i, Ibn Majah and Malik. The sirah books, mainly Ibn Ishaq as transmitted by Ibn Hisham, are used only for details not found in the hadith, and these are marked as “recorded in the sirah books.” Dates in the Christian era are approximate, and hadith numbers follow the hadith library of this website.
Hadith numbers follow the hadith library on this site, and each source opens its hadith there. Details that are not in the hadith collections are marked as coming from the sirah books.
General information for learning, not a fatwa. For your own situation, ask a qualified scholar.