Ustadh al-Zahrani said: al-Baraʾ ibn ʿĀzib narrated to me: “When the Messenger of Allah ﷺ instructed us to dig the trench, we came upon a huge, solid rock in part of the ditch and our pick-axes could make no impression on it. The Companions reported this to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ. When he saw it, he took the pick-axe, said, ‘In the name of Allah,’ and struck it once, breaking a third of it. He then said, ‘Allah is most great! I have been given the keys of Syria; by Allah, I can already see its red palaces, if Allah so wills.’ He struck it a second time and broke off another third, saying, ‘Allah is most great! I have been given the keys of Persia; by Allah, I can see the white palace of al-Madāʾin.’ Then he struck it a third time, saying, ‘In the name of Allah,’ and split the remainder of the rock. He said, ‘Allah is most great! I have been given the keys of Yemen; by Allah, I can see the gates of Ṣanʿā from where I stand at this very moment.’
Al-Thawri said: Ibn al-Munkadir narrated to us; I heard Jābir say: On the Day of the Confederates the Messenger of Allah ﷺ asked, ‘Who will bring us news of the enemy?’ Al-Zubayr replied, ‘I will.’ He asked again, ‘Who will bring us news of the enemy?’ and al-Zubayr replied, ‘I will.’ He then said, ‘Every prophet has a close disciple (ḥawārī), and my disciple is al-Zubayr.’ Al-Bukhārī recorded this.
Al-Ḥasan ibn al-Ḥasan ibn ʿAṭiyyah al-ʿAwfī said: My father narrated to me, from his father, from Ibn ʿAbbās concerning the verse, ‘O you who believe, remember Allah’s blessing upon you when armies came against you and We sent against them a wind and forces you did not see’ (33:9). He said: ‘That was on the day of Abū Sufyān, the Day of the Confederates.’
Regarding the verse, ‘And a group of them asked the Prophet for leave, saying, “Our houses are exposed”’ (33:13), he said: ‘They were the clan of Ḥārithah; they said, “Our houses are deserted and we fear they will be robbed.”’
His statement, the Exalted, ‘And when the believers saw the confederated forces…’ (33:22), he said: because—