The Muslims themselves were also tested by this, so that those who would remain steadfast under Allah’s command and His decree (1) might be distinguished from those who would flee from obedience and from striving against His enemy.
The first indication of Ghazan’s withdrawal—he and the forces with him—from the land of al-Sham and the districts (2) of Aleppo came on Monday, the eleventh of Jumada al-Ula. It was the very day I entered Egypt (3) and met with the Sultan and the Muslim commanders, and Allah placed in their hearts a deep concern for jihad. Once Allah steadied the believers’ hearts, He turned the enemy away in recompense and as a bounty (4), making clear that with a pure intention and a truthful resolve Allah grants victory, even when no battle is actually fought and even when the lands are far apart.
It is related that Allah split the ranks of these Mongols and Georgians, casting between them mutual hatred and enmity, just as He did in the Year of the Confederates between Quraysh, Ghatafan, and the Jews, as the scholars of the military campaigns have recorded (5). This is not the place (6) to narrate the entire story of the Trench, yet whoever studies it will recognize the truth of this, as (7) reported by the historians of the campaigns—such as ʿUrwah ibn al-Zubayr, al-Zuhri, Musa ibn ʿUqbah, Saʿid ibn Yahya al-Umawi, Muhammad ibn ʿAidh, Muhammad ibn Ishaq, al-Waqidi, and others.