Following the news of the movement of the Confederate armies...

Following the news of the movement of the Confederate armies, panic spread throughout Medina, with the difference that the faithful ones, knowing that they had a difficult test ahead of them, were afraid of whether they would be able to handle the test well or not. But the weak-minded and hypocritical people were afraid of their fate, wives, children, and their property and possessions.

Digging of the Ditch The digging of the ditch took six days to complete and the main reason for this speed of action and the progress of the work was that the noble Prophet of Allah (PBUHH) himself worked like an ordinary person. The Muslims who saw their noble leader struggling with all the troubles and problems and carrying stones and dirt on his shoulders were encouraged to work and act quickly.

Amr ibn Auf says: My portion and that of Salman, Huzayfa, Nu’man and six other members of the Ansar had reached forty cubits and we were digging that part when suddenly we came across a hard rock piece which could not be broken by a pickaxe but it had even damaged some pickaxes.

When we noticed this, we said to Salman: “Go to the Messenger of Allah and tell him about this rock, so that if he permits, we can dig behind it and bend the path of the ditch.” Salman approached the Prophet (PBUHH) and explained the situation to him.

While all those nine men were standing by the ditch waiting for Salman to bring an order, the Prophet got up and came to them and took Salman’s pickaxe, entered the ditch and hit the rock with it and a part of it broke and stunning lightning which illuminated a large radius was produced and it looked like a lamp that illuminates the atmosphere of Medina in the middle of the night. The Prophet said Allahu Akbar loudly and the other Muslims did the same.

Thereafter, the Messenger of Allah (PBUHH) hit the rock with the pickaxe for the second time and another part of it broke and there was a lot of lightning like the first one, the Prophet said Allahu Akbar again and the Muslims also did the same. Then he hit the rock for the third time with the pickaxe and the light was illuminated and they all said Allahu Akbar . Salman asked the Holy Prophet (PBUHH) about those several dazzling flashes of lightning and the saying of Allahu Akbar .