In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.
Mawaddah Association is pleased
to present to you vignettes from the lives of the Companions
by 'Abd al-Rahman Ra'fat al-Basha,
may Allah have mercy on him.
Nu'aym ibn Mas'ud, may Allah be pleased with him.
Nu'aym ibn Mas'ud possessed a sharp, vigilant heart,
brilliant intellect,
and exceptional resourcefulness—entering and exiting tricky situations with ease.
No dilemma could impede him, nor could any problem defeat him.
He exemplified the desert bedouin with all the sound intuition Allah had bestowed upon him,
alongside quick wit and deep cunning.
However, he was a man given to youthful indiscretions and a companion of pleasure,
both of which drew him most strongly to the Jews of Yathrib.
Whenever his soul yearned for a songstress or his ear craved the sound of a lute,
he would pack his saddlebags and set out from his people's dwellings in Najd,
heading straight toward Medina,
where he spent his wealth generously upon its Jewish inhabitants
so that they, in turn, would lavish pleasure upon him even more generously.
Consequently, Nu'aym frequented Yathrib often
and maintained close ties with its inhabitants,
particularly Banu Qurayzah.
When Allah honored humanity by sending His Messenger with the religion of guidance and truth,
and the mountain passes of Mecca shone with the light of Islam,
Nu'aym ibn Mas'ud was still giving free rein to his desires.
Thus, he turned away from the new faith with utter aversion,
fearing it would come between him and his pleasures and delights.
Soon, however, he found himself driven to join the fiercest enemies of Islam,
compelled to unsheathe his sword against it.
Yet Nu'aym ibn Mas'ud
opened a new chapter for himself in the history of the Islamic da'wah on the Day of the Trench (al-Ahzab).
Upon this page, he penned one of the most marvelous stories of stratagem in war—
a story that history continues to recount with immense awe at its tightly woven chapters
and admiration for its sharp, intelligent hero.
To grasp the full story of Nu'aym ibn Mas'ud,
you must step back a little in time.
Shortly before the Battle of the Trench,
a faction from the Jewish tribe of Banu al-Nadir in Yathrib rose up,
and their leaders began mobilizing the confederate factions to wage war against the Messenger, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, and eliminate his religion.
They came to Quraysh in Mecca,
inciting them to fight the Muslims
and pledging to join forces with them upon their arrival in Medina,
setting a firm, unalterable appointment for that purpose.
They then left them and set out for Ghatafan in Najd,
stirring them up against Islam and its Prophet
and calling on them to eradicate the new religion from its roots.
They disclosed to them what had been agreed upon between themselves and Quraysh,
pledged to them the same commitments,
and informed them of the agreed-upon date.
Quraysh thereupon marched out from Mecca in their entirety,
with all their cavalry and infantry,
led by their chieftain Abu Sufyan ibn Harb,
heading toward Medina.
Likewise, Ghatafan set forth from Najd with all their equipment and numbers,
led by 'Uyaynah ibn Hisn al-Ghatafani.
At the forefront of Ghatafan's men
was the hero of our story, Nu'aym ibn Mas'ud.
When the Messenger, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, received
news of their mobilization,
he gathered his Companions and consulted them on the matter.
Their decision settled upon digging a trench around Medina
to repel this massive invasion
which they lacked the strength to face head-on,
allowing the trench to stand against the dense invading army.
Scarcely had the two invading armies from Mecca and Najd
drawn near the outskirts of Medina
when the leaders of the Jewish tribe of Banu al-Nadir went
to the leaders of Banu Qurayzah residing inside Medina,
inciting them to enter the war against the Prophet
and urging them to support the two armies coming from Mecca and Najd.
The leaders of Banu Qurayzah said to them,
"You have called us to that which we love and desire,
but you know that between us and Muhammad
is a covenant to maintain peace and non-aggression with him,
in exchange for living in Medina safe and secure.
You know that the ink on our covenant with him has not yet dried,
and we fear that if Muhammad emerges victorious in this war,
he will strike us with a mighty blow
and eradicate us completely from Medina as punishment for our treachery toward him."
However, the leaders of Banu al-Nadir kept enticing them to break the pact,
embellishing for them the act of betraying Muhammad,
assuring them that the tide would inevitably turn against him this time,
and bolstering their resolve with the arrival of the two grand armies.
Before long, the Jews of Banu Qurayzah yielded to them,
broke their covenant with the Messenger, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him,
tore up the document that existed between them and him,
and declared their alignment with the Confederates in waging war against him.
The news fell upon the Muslims like a thunderbolt.
The armies of the Confederates besieged Medina,
cutting off supplies and provisions from its people.
The Messenger, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, felt
that he was caught between the jaws of the enemy:
Quraysh and Ghatafan were encamped opposite the Muslims outside Medina,
while Banu Qurayzah lay in wait, poised behind the Muslims inside Medina.
Furthermore, the hypocrites and those in whose hearts was a disease
began to reveal what was hidden in their souls, saying,
"Muhammad used to promise us that we would possess the treasures of Chosroes and Caesar,
yet today, not one of us feels secure enough
even to go relieve himself!"
Then they began defecting from the Prophet group after group,
under the pretext of fearing for their women, children, and homes
against an attack that Banu Qurayzah might launch upon them if fighting broke out,
until none remained with the Messenger except a few hundred sincere believers.
On one of the nights of the siege,
which lasted nearly twenty days,
the Messenger, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, turned to his Lord,
supplicating Him with the prayer of one in desperate distress,
repeating in his supplication the words:
"O Allah, I beseech You for Your covenant and Your promise!
O Allah, I beseech You for Your covenant and Your promise!"
On that very night, Nu'aym ibn Mas'ud
was tossing sleeplessly upon his bed,
as though his eyelids had been nailed open, unable to close for sleep.
He began gazing at the stars floating across the clear expanse of the sky,
lost in deep reflection.
Suddenly, he found his inner self questioning him, saying:
"Woe to you, O Nu'aym!
What brought you from those distant lands in Najd
to fight this man and those with him?
You are not fighting him to champion a stolen right,
nor out of honor for a violated sanctity;
you have only come to fight him for no known reason!
Is it fitting for a man endowed with a mind like yours
to fight and be killed, or kill, for no cause?
Woe to you, O Nu'aym!
What makes you unsheathe your sword against this righteous man
who commands his followers to observe justice, benevolence,
and charity to kinsfolk?
What drives you to plunge your spear into the blood of his companions,
who have merely followed the guidance and truth he brought them?"
This fierce inner dialogue within Nu'aym was resolved only
by a firm resolve that he immediately rose to execute.
Nu'aym ibn Mas'ud slipped out from his people's camp under the cover of darkness
and hastened his steps toward the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him.
When the Prophet, peace be upon him, saw him standing before him, he said,
"Nu'aym ibn Mas'ud?"
He replied, "Yes, O Messenger of Allah."
He asked,
"What brings you at this hour?"
He said,
"I have come to bear witness that there is no god but Allah,
that you are the servant of Allah and His Messenger,
and that what you have brought is the truth."
He then added, saying,
"I have embraced Islam, O Messenger of Allah,
and my people do not know of my Islam.
So command me as you wish."
The Prophet, peace be upon him, said,
"You are but a single man among us.
Go back to your people and undermine them if you can,
for war is deceit."
He replied, "Yes, O Messenger of Allah,
and you shall see what pleases you, Allah willing."
Nu'aym ibn Mas'ud went immediately to Banu Qurayzah,
having been an old friend and companion of theirs,
and said to them,
"O Banu Qurayzah,
you know my affection for you and the sincerity of my counsel to you."
They said, "Yes,
you are not suspected of any ill intent among us."
He said,
"Quraysh and Ghatafan have a position in this war different from yours."
They asked, "How so?"
He said,
"This town is your town,
wherein lie your property, your children, and your wives,
and you cannot abandon it for anywhere else.
As for Quraysh and Ghatafan,
their land, property, children, and wives are elsewhere.
They came to fight Muhammad
and called upon you to break his covenant and assist them against him,
and you complied.
If they achieve success in fighting him, they will seize the spoils;
but if they fail to overcome him,
they will return to their lands safely,
leaving you at his mercy,
and he will exact the worst vengeance upon you.
You know well that you have no power against him if you are left alone with him."
They said, "You have spoken the truth.
What, then, is your advice?"
He said,
"My advice to you
is not to fight alongside them until you take a group of their nobles
and hold them as hostages in your custody.
In doing so, you will compel them to fight Muhammad alongside you
until you prevail over him,
or until the last man among you and them perishes."
They said, "You have given sound counsel and advice."
He then departed from them
and went to Abu Sufyan ibn Harb, the leader of Quraysh,
and said to him and those with him,
"O people of Quraysh,
you know my affection for you and my enmity toward Muhammad.
A matter has reached my knowledge,
and I felt it my duty to disclose it to you
as sincere advice,
provided you keep it secret and do not attribute it to me."
They said, "You have our word on that."
So he said:
"Banu Qurayzah have repented for opposing Muhammad,
and they have sent word to him saying,
'We deeply regret what we have done,
and we are resolved to return to our treaty and peaceful relations with you.
Would it satisfy you if we were to seize for you from Quraysh,
and then from Ghatafan, many men from among their nobles,
and hand them over to you so that you may strike off their necks,
and then join forces with you to fight them until you annihilate them?'
So he sent back word to them saying,
'Yes.'
Therefore, if the Jews send word asking you for hostages from among your men,
do not hand over a single person to them!"
Abu Sufyan replied,
"What an excellent ally you are!
May you be rewarded with goodness."
Nu'aym then departed from Abu Sufyan
and proceeded until he reached his own people, Ghatafan.
He related to them the exact same thing he had told Abu Sufyan,
and warned them against the very thing he had warned him about.
Abu Sufyan wanted to test Banu Qurayzah,
so he sent his son to them, saying to them:
"My father sends you greetings of peace and says to you:
'Our siege of Muhammad and his companions has dragged on until we have grown weary,
and we are now determined to fight Muhammad and finish him off.
My father has sent me to invite you to engage him in battle tomorrow.'"
They said to him, "Today is the Sabbath,
and we do not engage in any work on it.
Furthermore, we will not fight alongside you
until you give us seventy of your nobles and the nobles of Ghatafan
to be held as hostages in our possession.
For we fear that if the fighting becomes fierce for you,
you will hasten back to your homelands and leave us alone to face Muhammad,
and you well know that we have no power to withstand him."
When the son of Abu Sufyan returned to his people
and informed them of what he had heard from Banu Qurayzah,
they all exclaimed with one voice:
"May the offspring of apes and swine be disgraced!
By Allah, even if they requested a single sheep as a hostage,
we would not hand it over to them!"
Thus Nu'aym ibn Mas'ud succeeded in shattering the ranks of the Confederates
and splintering their unity.
And Allah unleashed upon Quraysh and its allies
a howling, tempestuous wind
that began uprooting their tents,
overturning their cooking pots,
extinguishing their fires,
striking their faces,
and filling their eyes with dust.
Finding no alternative but to depart,
they retreated under the cover of darkness.
When morning came upon the Muslims
and they found that the enemies of Allah had turned back in retreat,
they began proclaiming:
"Praise be to Allah, Who aided His servant,
granted victory to His soldiers,
and routed the Confederates alone!"
Nu'aym ibn Mas'ud remained
after that day
a trusted confidant of the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him.
He entrusted him with important tasks,
charged him with heavy burdens,
and he carried the banners before him.
On the day of the Conquest of Mecca,
Abu Sufyan ibn Harb stood
reviewing the armies of the Muslims,
when he saw a man carrying the banner of Ghatafan.
He asked those with him, "Who is this?"
They replied, "Nu'aym ibn Mas'ud."
He said, "How terrible was what he did to us on the Day of the Trench!
By Allah, he used to be among the most severe of people
in enmity toward Muhammad,
yet here he is, carrying the banner of his people before him,
marching to wage war against us under his standard!"
Nu'aym ibn Mas'ud—
a man who understood that war is deceit.
He departed alongside his companions,
having laid firm foundations for a lofty edifice.
O poetry, assist me
in praising them—does it not adorn them?