THE BATTLE OF THE TRENCH

The enemies and hypocrites had been plotting all this while. Finally, they managed to bring together all the opponents of Islam. They were able to assemble a mighty force of 24,000. In the fifth year of Hijrah, this large army started marching towards Madinah. The Prophet consulted his companions. One of them, Salman Farsi, a Persian, suggested that a trench be dug around Madinah to stop the enemy’s advance. The Sassanids had already used this strategy on similar occasions. It took three thousand men working for twenty days to dig the trench.

The allied forces of 10,000 marched to Madinah under the command of Abu Sufyan. The Madinans numbered only 3,000. The trench stopped the Makkan cavalry. However, they had plenty of food supplies, so they decided to lay siege to the city.

On the 27th day of the siege, a cyclone hit Madinah. The storm continued for three days and nights, bringing very heavy rain. All the tents were blown away, and the provisions became unusable due to the rain.

The soldiers began to voice their grievances. Discouraged, the Quraysh abandoned the siege.