At Quba...

At Quba, Muslims waylaid a caravan, arranged by Banu-Qurayzah, carrying dates and barely for the enemy and they confiscated it.[^216] Second, they spread terror in women’s’ shelters. As one of them entered the castle where women were sheltering, he was killed by safiyyah, the Holy Prophet’s aunt.[^217] One night, Banu-Qurayzah decided to attack the center of Medina. For this purpose, they sent Huyay ibn Akhtab to Mecca asking the chiefs of Quraysh for one thousand troops.

They also asked Ghatafan the same. Reports of these movements and proceedings reached the Holy Prophet, who, as a result, appointed five hundred warriors to protect the city, which was panic-stricken.

These warriors stayed overnight crying out ‘allahu-akbar (Allah is the Most Great) and protected the civil sections.[^218] Reasons of the failure of the Allies In addition to the digging of the ditch, several factors contributed to the failure of the troops of the Allies: (1) Disagreement between Banu-Qurayzah and the Allies Nu`aym ibn Mas`ud, a member of Ghatafan tribe, had recently accepted Islam.

Having acquired permission of the Holy Prophet to use deceptive tactics against the enemy,[^219] he met with Banu-Qurayzah and, pretending to be their friends, started reproaching them, saying, “Your position is different from Quraysh’s. If they lose the war, they will return home; but you have nowhere to go to if you lose. Muslims will then destroy you altogether.” He then suggested that they should take as hostages several chiefs of the Allies and keep them to the end of the war.

He then revealed this military secret made by Banu-Qurayzah to the chiefs of Quraysh and Ghatafan, saying, “Banu-Qurayzah have decided to surrender to Muhammad and give him these chiefs as a sign of goodwill. ” He then warned them not to accept such a proposal.

This plan worked well; differences developed between these two groups and the Allies were destroyed from within.[^220] (2) The killing of `Amr ibn `Abd-Wudd Quraysh had to bring the war to an end because they were pressure for three reasons: First: Because the war took a longer period than expected, there was shortage in supplies. Second: The weather became so cold that they could not bear staying inside tents.

Third: Dhu’l-Qa`dah, one of the sacred months in which fighting was forbidden, was approaching.