Page:The Meaning of the Glorious Koran (1930).pdf/23

 had gone over to the enemy. The case seemed desperate. But the delay caused by the trench had damped the ardour of the clans, and one who was secretly a Muslim managed to sow distrust between Qureysh and their Jewish allies, so that both hesitated to act. Then came a bitter wind from the sea, which blew for three days and nights so terribly that not a tent could be kept standing, not a fire lighted, not a pot boiled. The tribesmen were in utter misery. At length, one night the leader of Qureysh decided that the torment could be borne no longer and gave the order to retire. When Ghatafân awoke next morning they found Qureysh had gone and they too took up their baggage and retreated.

On the day of the return from the trench the Prophet ordered war on the treacherous Banî Qureyẓah, who, conscious of their guilt, had already taken to their towers of refuge. After a siege of nearly a month they had to surrender unconditionally. They only begged that they might be judged by a member of the Arab tribe of which they were adherents. The Prophet granted their request. But the judge, upon whose favour they had counted, condemned their men to death, their women and children to slavery.

Early in the sixth year of the Hijrah the Prophet led a campaign against the Banî'l-Mustaliq, a tribe who were preparing to attack the Muslims. It was during the return from that campaign that Ayeshah, his young wife, was left behind and brought back to camp by a young soldier, an incident which gave rise to the scandal denounced in sûrah XXIV. It was on this campaign also that Abdullah ibn Ubeyy, the "Hypocrite" chief, said: "When we return to the city the mightier will soon expel the weaker" at sight of a quarrel between Muhâjirîn (immigrants from Mecca) and Ansâr (natives of Yathrib).

In the same year the Prophet had a vision in which he found himself entering the holy place at Mecca unopposed; therefore he determined to attempt the pilgrimage. Besides a number of Muslims from Yathrib (which we shall henceforth call Al-Madînah) he called upon the friendly Arabs, whose numbers had increased since the miraculous (as it was considered) discomfiture of the clans, to accompany him, but most of them did not respond. Attired as pilgrims,