Nuaym ibn Masud was from Najd in the north highlands of Arabia. He belonged to the strong Ghatafan tribe. As a youthful man, he was adroit and alert. He was full of enterprise and toured widely. He was resourceful, every geared up to take up a contest and not organised to sanction any obstacle to get the better of him.
This teenager of the desolate was endowed with phenomenal existence of psyche and extraordinary subtlety. He was even so a person who likeable to savour himself and granted himself over to the pursuit of youthful passions. He loved tunes and took enjoyment in the financial gathering of songstresses. Often when he sensed the recommend to perceive to the twine of a tuneful tool or to savour the financial gathering of a songster, he would move out the hearths of his population in the Najd and make his way to Yathrib and in actual to the Jewish community which was extensively famous for its piece of music and music.
While in Yathrib, Nuaym was famous to spend lavishly and he in turn would be lavishly entertained. In this way Nuaym came to deduce tough bonds amid the Jews of the habitation and in actual with the Banu Qurayzah.
At the time when God privileged mankind by conveying His Prophet with the faith of guidance and certainty and the valleys of Makkah shone with the light-weight of Islam, Nuaym ibn Masud was still bestowed over to the pursuit of sensual satisfaction. He finished substantially resisted to the faith to some extent out of dread that he would be obliged to change and cease his pursuit of pleasure. And it was not long before he encountered himself being drawn into uniting the ferious resistance to Islam and pursuing combat in resistance to the Prophet and his companions.
The time of certainty for Nuaym came as long as the many siege of Madinah which took position in the fifth year of the Prophet's stay in the city. We want to depart back a little to select up the ideas of the story. Two years before the siege, the Prophet was compelled to banish a gathering of Jews belonging to the tribe of Banu an-Nadir from Madinah because of their collaboration with the Quraysh enemy. The Banu Nadir migrated to the north and reconciled in Khaybar and other oases along the trade road to Syria. They at one time commenced to incite the tribes both close to and far in resistance to the Muslims. Caravans going to Madinah were harassed to some extent to put monetary insist on the city.
But this was not enough. Leaders of the Banu an-Nadir got concurrently and resolved to configuration a powerful association or confederacy of as more tribes as probable to pay combat on the Prophet, and to put an end one time and for all to his mission. The Nadirites went to the Quraysh in Makkah and recommended them to carry on the conflict in resistance to the Muslims. They made a pact with the Quraysh to assault Madinah at a individual time. After Makkah, the Nadirite chiefs set out northwards on a trip of some one 1000 kilometers to get concurrently the Ghatafan. They agreed the Ghatafan the every part of per annum day of the year yield of Khaybar for pursuing combat in resistance to Islam and its Prophet. They announced the Ghatafan of the pact they had deduced with the Quraysh and argued them to make a comparable agreement.
Other tribes were in addition argued to unite the powerful alliance. From the north came the Banu Asad and the Fazar. From the south the Ahabish, friends of the Quraysh, the Banu Sulaym and others. At the selected time, the Quraysh set out from Makkah in large figures on cavalry and on leg under the Leadership of Abu Sufyan ibn Harb. The Ghatafan too set out from Najd in large figures under the command of Ubaynah ibn Hisn. In the vanguard of the Ghatafan military forces was Nuaym ibn Masud.
News of the approaching assault on Madinah arrived at the Prophet while he was half-way on a long expedition to Dumat al-Jandal on the Syrian perimeter some fifteen days trip from Madinah. The tribe at Dumat al-Jandal was molesting caravans locked-in for Madinah and their achievement was possibly encouraged by the Banu an-Nadir to persuade the Prophet away from Madinah. With the Prophet away, they reasoned, it would be less difficult for the aggregated tribal forces from the north and the south to assault Madinah and deal a mortal hard bang to the Muslim community with the aid of disaffected people from in the habitation itself. The Prophet Muhammad, serenity be upon him, dashed back to Madinah and discussed with the Muslims.
The forces of the Ahzab or the confederate opponent tribes amounted to over 10 1000 men while the Muslims conflicting were just three 1000 men. It was unanimously resolved to vindicate the habitation from in and to organise for a siege as an alternative conflict in the open. The Muslims were in dire straits.
"When they came upon you from atop and from under you, and when eyes developed uncultivated and hearts arrived at to the throats. and you were supposing vain concepts in view to God. Then were the believers sorely attempted and stunned with a powerful shock." (The Quran, Surah al-Ahzab, 33:1O)
To look after the habitation, the Muslims resolved to delve a ditch or khandaq. It is said that the ditch was about three and a half miles long and some 10 courtyards large and five courtyards deep. The three 1000 Muslims were pulled apart into gatherings of 10 and each gathering was bestowed a fastened number of cubits to dig. The delving of the ditch took numerous weeks to complete.
The ditch was just concluded when the powerful opponent forces from the north and the south converged on Madinah. While they were in a short way from the habitation the Nadirire conspirators drew close to their person Jews of the Banu Qur~yzah who inhabited in Madinah and attempted to argue them to unite the combat in resistance to the Prophet by aiding the two military forces close to from Makkah and the north. The reply of the Qurayzah Jews to the Nadirite chiefs was: "You have in certainty called us to join in a thing which we like and wish for to have accomplished. But you recognise there is a treaty between us and Muhammad binding us to retain the serenity with him so long as we inhabit sheltered and content in Madinah.
You perform understand that our pact with him is still valid. We are petrified that if Muhammad is victorious in this combat he would then reprimand us brutally and that he would expel us from Madinah as a effect of our betrayal to him."
The Nadirire chiefs even so carried on to pressurize the Banu Qurayzah to renege on their treaty. Treachery to Muhammad, they affirmed, was a good and needed act. They promised the Banu Qurayzah that there was no suspect this time that the Muslims would be fully completed routed and Muhammad would be closed one time and for all.
The advance of the two powerful military forces fortified the tenacity of the Banu Qurayzah to disavow their treaty with Muhammad. They slashed up the pact and resolved their support for the confederates. The journal plunged on the Muslims ears with the force of a thunderbolt.
The confederate military forces were now compressing in resistance to Madinah. They effectually slice off the habitation and averted sustenance and provisions and any configuration of exterior aid or reinforcement from arriving at the inhabitants of the city. After the appalling exhaustions of the past months the Prophet now sensed as if they had plunged between the jaws of the enemy. The Quraysh and [he Ghatafan were besieging the habitation from without. The Banu Qurayzah were laying in hold back behind the Muslims, geared up to pounce from in the city. Added to this. the hypocrites of Madinah, those who had blatantly professed Islam but waited in secret resisted to the Prophet and his task, commenced to draw close out blatantly and cast suspect and deride on the Prophet.
"Muhammad agreed us." they said, "that we would gain tenure of the treasures of Chosroes and Caesar and here we are today with not d solitary one of us being competent to warranty that he could depart to the restroom carefully to alleviate himself!"
Thereafter, gathering after gathering of the inhabitants of Madinah commenced to disassociate themselves from the Prophet expressing dread for their women and offspring and for their households should the Banu Qurayzah assault one time the conflicting began. The opponent forces though greatly advanced in figures were confounded by the very large ditch. They had not ever observed or discovered of such a soldiers stratagem amid the Arabs.
Nonetheless they tensioned their siege of the city. At the matching time they endeavoured to contravene the ditch at some tapered points but were repulsed by the vigilant Muslims. So hard-pressed were the Muslims that the Prophet Muhammad and his companions one time did not even have time for Salat and the Zuhr, Asr, Maghrib and Isha prayers had to be played as long as the night.
As the siege was clothed in on and the circumstances became more critical for the Muslims. Muhammad turned ardently to his Lord for succour and support.
"O Allah," he requested, "I beseech you to give Your agree of victory. O Allah I beseech You to give your agree of victory."
On that after dark, as the Prophet requested, Nuaym lay tossing in his bivouac. He could not sleep. He kept staring at the stars in the enormous firmament above. He reflected hard and long and unexpectedly he encountered himself exclaiming and asking: "Woe to you, Nuaym! What is it truly that has fetched you from those far off positions in Najd to conflict this man and those with him? Certainly you are not conflicting him for the triumph of right or for the security of some award violated. Really you have only draw close here to conflict for some unfamiliar reason. Is it rational that a person with a psyche for instance yours should conflict and put to death or be murdered for no source whatsoever? Woe to you, Nuaym. What is it that has produced you to draw your sword in resistance to this righteous man who exhorts his followers to righteousness, good activities and aiding relatives? And what is it that has moved ahead you to descend your spear into the bodies of his followers who chase the communication of guidance and certainty that he brought?"
Nuaym hence strived with his conscience and discussed with himself. Then he came to a decision. Suddenly he stood upright, determined. The uncertainties were gone. Under the cover of darkness, he slid away from the housing in collapsible shelters of his tribe and made his way to the Prophet of God, serenity and blessings of Allah be on him.
When the Prophet beheld him, standing erect in his existence, he shouted, "Nuaym ibn Masud?"
"Yes, O Messenger of God," resolved Nuaym. "What has fetched you here at this hour?"
"I came", said Nuaym, "to resolve that there is no god but Allah and that you are the worker of God and His Messenger and that the communication you have fetched is He went on: "I have resolved my suggestion to God, O Messenger of God, but my population perform not recognise of my submission. Command me consequently to perform no matter what you desire."
"You are only one someone amid us," saw the Prophet. "So depart to your population and play-act as if you have none to perform with us for in certainty combat is treachery."
"Yes, O Messenger of God," responded Nuaym. And if God wills, you will onlooker what pleases you."
Without suffer forfeit any time, Nuaym went to the Banu Qurayzah. He was, as was referred beforehand, a close acquaintance of the tribe. "O Bani Qurayzah," he said. "You have famous my love for you and my honesty in recommending you."
"Yes ," they accepted, "but what are you mistrustful of so far as we are concerned?" Nuaym continued: "The Quraysh and the Ghatafan have their own welfare in this combat which are divergent from your interests." "How so?" they queried.
"This is your city," Nuaym asserted. "You have your affluence, your offspring and your womenfolk here and it is not in your power to leave and take refuge in another city. On the other hand, the Quraysh and the Ghatafan have their land, their affluence, their offspring and their womenfolk away from this city. They came to conflict Muhammad. They recommended you to smash the treaty you had with him and to aid them in resistance to him. So you replied positively to them. If they were to be victorious in their find with him, they would reap the booty. But if they bungle to subdue him, they would revisit to their nation secure and sound and they would move out you to him and he would be in a location to correct the most unpleasant savour revenge on you. You recognise very well that you would have no power to face up to him."
"You are right," they said. "But what idea perform you have?" "My opinion," Nuaym put forward, "is that you should not unite forces with them until you take a gathering of their well-known men as hostages. In that way you could bear on the conflict in resistance to Muhammad either till win or till the last of your men or theirs perish. (They would not be competent to move out you in the lurch)." "You have recommended well," they replied and accepted to take up his suggestion.
Nuaym then left and went to Abu Sufyan ibn Harb, the Quraysh chief and chatted to him and other Quraysh leaders. "O Quraysh," said Nuaym, "You recognise my devotion for you and my enmity to Muhammad. I have discovered some journal and I reflected it my responsibility to divulge it to you but you should retain it private and perform not assign it to me"
"You ought report us of this matter," implored the Quraysh.
Nuaym continued: "The Banu Qurayzah now deplore that they have accepted to join in the hostilities in resistance to Muhammad. They dread that you would turn back and leave behind them to him. So they have conveyed a communication to Muhammad saying: 'We are apologetic for what we have wrapped up and we are ascertained to revisit to the treaty and a state of serenity with you. Would it satisfy you then if we take numerous Quraysh and Ghatafan nobles and yield them to you? We will then unite you in conflicting them - the Quraysh and the Ghatafan - until you close them off.' The Prophet has conveyed back a response to them saying he agrees. If consequently the Jews convey a delegation to you calling for hostages from amid your men perform not hand over a solitary someone to them. And perform not mention a remark of what I said to you."
"What a good friend you are. May you be compensated well ," said Abu Sufyan gratefully.
Nuaym then went to his own population the Ghatafan, and chatted to them in a comparable vein. He granted them the matching caution in resistance to looked frontwards to betrayal from the Banu Qurayzah.
Abu Sufyan desired to investigate the Banu Qurayzah so he conveyed his teenager to them. "My male parent propels greetings of serenity to you," commenced Abu Sufyan's son. "He declares that our siege of Muhammad and his companions has been a protracted action and we have become weary...We are now ascertained to conflict Muhammad and close him off. My male parent has conveyed me to you to request you to unite engagement with Muhammad tomorrow."
"But tomorrow is Saturday," said the Jews of Banu Qurayzah, "and we perform not work at all on Saturdays. Moreover, we would not conflict with you until you hand over to us seventy of your nobles and nobles from the Ghatafan as hostages. We dread that if the conflicting becomes too forceful for you would hasten back household and move out us only to Muhammad. You recognise that we have no power to defy him..."
When Abu Sufyan's teenager returned to his population and advised them what he had discovered from the Banu Qurayzah, they screamed in unison!
"Damned be the teenagers of monkeys and swine! By God, if they were to demand from us a solitary sheep as a hostage, we would not give them".
And so it was that Nuaym was winning in producing disharmony amid the confederates and separating their ranks.
While the powerful association was in this state of disarray, God conveyed down on the Quraysh and their friends a ferious and bitterly chilled airstream which removed their collapsible shelters and their vessels away, doused their blasts, buffeted their faces and cast sand in their eves. In this appalling state of bewildering the friends left under cover of darkness.
That very after dark the Prophet had conveyed one his companions, Hudayfah ibn al-Yaman, to get knowledge on the enemy's morale and intentions. He fetched back the journal that on the suggestions and opening of Abu Sufyan, the opponent had turned on their heels and fled... The journal promptly distribute through the Muslims ranks and they screamed in pleasure and relief!
La ilaha ilia Allahu wahdah
Sadaqa wadah
Wa nasara abdah
Wa a azza jundah
Wa hazama-l ahzaba wahdah.
There is no god but Allah alone
To His agree He has been accurate His worker He has helped
His forces He has strengthened
And Alone the confederates He has destroyed.
The Prophet, serenity be upon him, congratulated and granted thanks to his Lord for His deliverance from the danger faked by the powerful alliance. Nuaym, as a effect of his subtle but greatest job in the discharging of the association, advanced the self-confidence of the Prophet who entrusted him afterward with more a arduous task. He became the standard-bearer of the Prophet on numerous occasions.
Three years after the Battle of the Ditch, on the day the Muslims marched victoriously into Makkah, Abu Sufyan ibn Harb stood studying the Muslim armies. He beheld a man conveying the Ghatafan flag and asked: "Who is this?" "Nuaym ibn Masud," came the reply.
"He did a appalling thing to us at al-Khandaq," Abu Sufyan confessed. "By God, he was surely one of the fiercest opposition of Muhammad and here he is now conveying his people's flag in the ranks of Muhammad and drawing close to pay combat on us under his leadership."
Through the grace of God and the magnanimity of the noble Prophet, Abu Sufyan himself was before long to unite the matching ranks. |
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