While the war was continuing with exchanges of arrows and stones, God’s Messenger did not neglect to make diplomatic attempts to disunite the Allies. He contacted the leaders of Ghatafan and, offering them peace, urged them to withdraw with their people from the war. Nu‘aym ibn Mas‘ud was one of the leaders of the Allies, who before the battle, had come to Madina to sow discord; instead, he then began to incline towards Islam. During the battle, he secretly entered Islam and, ordered by God’s Messenger, proceeded to stir up Banu Qurayza. Nu‘aym set Banu Qurayza against the Quraysh by telling them that they would be abandoned by the Makkans and should refuse to help unless they were given hostages from the Quraysh. To the Quraysh, on the other hand, he said that Banu Qurayza would not fulfil their promise to help and would attempt to stall by asking for Qurayshi hostages to share their plight in the case of defeat. This stratagem succeeded. Dissension among the Allies grew. (5)

God’s Messenger, supported by the mountain Sal behind, had ordered a point in the trench to be made narrower. He had expected that leading horsemen of the Quraysh would try to cross the trench through that narrow spot. It happened as he had expected, and some of the most renowned warriors of the Quraysh attempted to cross the trench and volunteered for single combat with Muslim fighters. Among them were ‘Amr ibn ‘Abd Wudd, Ikrima ibn Abi Jahl, Hubayra ibn Abi Wahb, Durar ibn al-Khattab and Nawfal ibn ‘Abd Allah ibn al-Mughira.

Boasting of his strength and fighting ability, ‘Amr ibn ‘Abd Wudd dismounted from his horse in the face of ‘Ali, who was ordered by the Messenger to fight against ‘Amr. ‘Amr advanced towards ‘Ali with his sword drawn. He brought his sword quickly against him but he got his sword caught in the shield of ‘Ali. ‘Ali, in return, struck a fierce blow against ‘Amr and the dust rose up around them. Then the words, Allahu akbar – God is the Greatest - were heard: Ali had killed his opponent. (6)

Dirar, Hubayra and Nawfal were also killed by ‘Ali. (7) The attempts of other horsemen or generals of the Quraysh to cross the trench were all brought to naught.

The siege lasted 27 days. It caused the Muslims much suffering, from hunger, cold, an unceasing shower of arrows and stones, and attempts and concentrated assaults to cross the trench, and betrayals and intrigues within the city. The Qur’an describes this situation as follows:

When they come against you from above you and from below you, and when your eyes swerved and your hearts reached your throats, while you thought thoughts about God; there it was that the believers were tried, and shaken most mightily. And when the hypocrites, and those in whose hearts is sickness, said, ‘God and His Messenger promised us only delusion.’ And when a party of them said, ‘O people of Yathrib, there is no abiding here for you, therefore return!’ And a party of them were asking leave of the Prophet, saying, ‘Our houses are exposed’; yet they were not exposed; they desired only to flee. (al-Ahzab, 33. 10-13)

After a close investment of four weeks, during which the enemy were disheartened by their ill success and the believers proved their steadfastness and loyalty, there was a piercing blast of the cold east wind. The enemy’s tents were torn up, their fires were extinguished, the sand and rain beat in their faces, and they were terrified by the portents against them. They had already well nigh fallen out among themselves. Hudayfa al-Yamani, who was sent by God’s Messenger to spy on the movements of the enemy, heard Abu Sufyan’s shouting: ‘Come on, we are returning!’ (8) The Muslims were victorious by God’s help; there were hidden forces – the Angels – that helped them:

O believers, remember God’s blessing upon you when hosts came against you, and we loosed against them a wind, and hosts you saw not; and God sees the things you do. (al-Ahzab, 33.9)