Web eBooks
PDF eBooks
Nuaym Ibn Masud
AbdulWahid Hamid
eBook: Companions of The Prophet
source:
... continued from Page 2
"What a good ally you are. May you be rewarded well," said Abu Sufyan gratefully.
Nuaym then went to his own people the Ghatafan, and spoke to them in a similar vein. He gave them the same warning against expected treachery from the Banu Qurayzah.
Abu Sufyan wanted to test the Banu Qurayzah so he sent his son to them. "My father sends greetings of peace to you," began Abu Sufyan's son. "He says that our siege of Muhammad and his companions has been a protracted affair and we have become weary...We are now determined to fight Muhammad and finish him off. My father has sent me to you to ask you to join battle with Muhammad tomorrow."
"But tomorrow is Saturday," said the Jews of Banu Qurayzah, "and we do not work at all on Saturdays. Moreover, we would not fight with you until you hand over to us seventy of your nobles and nobles from the Ghatafan as hostages. We fear that if the fighting becomes too intense for you would hasten back home and leave us alone to Muhammad. You know that we have no power to resist him..."
When Abu Sufyan's son returned to his people and told them what he had heard from the Banu Qurayzah, they shouted in unison!
"Damned be the sons of monkeys and swine! By God, if they were to demand from us a single sheep as a hostage, we would not give them."
And so it was that Nuaym was successful in causing disharmony among the confederates and splitting their ranks.
While the mighty alliance was in this state of disarray, God sent down on the Quraysh and their allies a fierce and bitterly cold wind which swept their tents and their vessels away, extinguished their fires, buffeted their faces and cast sand in their eves. In this terrible state of confusion the allies fled under cover of darkness.
That very night the Prophet had sent one his companions, Hudayfah ibn al-Yaman, to get information on the enemy's morale and intentions. He brought back the news that on the advice and initiative of Abu Sufyan, the enemy had turned on their heels and fled. The news quickly spread through the Muslims ranks and they shouted in joy and relief! "There is no god but Allah alone. To His promise He has been true. His servant He has helped. His forces He has strengthened. And Alone the confederates He has destroyed."
The Prophet, peace be upon him, praised and gave thanks to his Lord for His deliverance from the threat posed by the mighty alliance. Nuaym, as a result of his subtle but major role in the blasting of the alliance, gained the confidence of the Prophet who entrusted him thereafter with many a difficult task. He became the standard-bearer of the Prophet on several occasions.
Three years after the Battle of the Ditch, on the day the Muslims marched victoriously into Makkah, Abu Sufyan ibn Harb stood surveying the Muslim armies. He beheld a man carrying the Ghatafan flag and asked: "Who is this?"
"Nuaym ibn Masud," came the reply.
"He did a terrible thing to us at al-Khandaq," Abu Sufyan confessed. "By God, he was certainly one of the fiercest enemies of Muhammad and here he is now carrying his people's flag in the ranks of Muhammad and coming to wage war on us under his leadership."
Through the grace of God and the magnanimity of the noble Prophet, Abu Sufyan himself was soon to join the same ranks.