Companions · The one-man stratagem of the Trench
نعيم بن مسعود
Nu'aym ibn Mas'ud
Converted in secret mid-siege and unstitched the Confederate alliance with words alone.
The account
A man of Ghatafan trusted by every faction, Nu'aym came to the Prophet ﷺ secretly during the Khandaq: my people do not know of my Islam, command me. The Prophet said: "You are among us one man; so divert from us what you can, for war is deception." Nu'aym went to Banu Qurayza and counseled them to demand hostages from Quraysh; then to Quraysh and Ghatafan, warning that Qurayza would hand them hostages to redeem their pact. When Quraysh tested Qurayza on the Sabbath and the hostage demand surfaced exactly as scripted, each side read betrayal, and the alliance came apart. Then Allah sent the wind. One believer's precision was worth ten thousand men.
The facts
- CoverIslam kept secret
- License“War is deception”
- ResultThe alliance unstitched
Read beside it
The words
On the Path