(19) …like one who is overtaken by death. Then, when the fear has passed, they lash you with razor-sharp tongues, begrudging you any share of good. Such people have never believed, so Allah has nullified their deeds—and that is easy for Allah.

(20) They think the confederate forces have not yet withdrawn; and if the Confederates were to return, they would wish they were out in the desert with the Bedouins, inquiring about you from a safe distance. Had they been among you, they would have fought only a little.

(21) In the Messenger of Allah you have a beautiful example for anyone who looks forward to Allah and the Last Day and remembers Allah often.

(22) When the believers saw the Confederates they said, “This is what Allah and His Messenger promised us; Allah and His Messenger have spoken the truth.” It only increased them in faith and submission.

(23) Among the believers are men who have been true to the covenant they made with Allah: some have fulfilled their vow with their lives, and others are waiting; they have never changed in the least,

(24) so that Allah may reward the truthful for their truthfulness and punish the hypocrites if He wills—or accept their repentance. Surely Allah is All-Forgiving, Merciful.

(25) Allah drove back those who disbelieved, in their rage, so that they gained nothing; and Allah spared the believers from fighting. Allah is All-Powerful, All-Mighty.

(26) He brought down from their strongholds those People of the Book who had supported them, casting terror into their hearts—some you killed, others you captured.

(27) And He made you heirs to their land, their homes, their wealth, and a territory you had never trodden. Truly, Allah is capable of all things. [Al-Aḥzāb 33:19–27]

We have already discussed each of these noble verses in the Tafsīr,(1) and to Allah belong all praise and favor. Here, God willing, we shall mention what relates to the historical episode itself; in Him we trust and upon Him we rely.

The Battle of the Trench took place in Shawwāl of the fifth year after the Hijrah. This was explicitly stated by Ibn Isḥāq, ʿUrwah ibn al-Zubayr, Qatādah, al-Bayhaqī, and many other scholars, both earlier and later.(2)

Mūsā ibn ʿUqbah transmitted from al-Zuhrī that he said: “Then the engagement of the Confederates occurred in Shawwāl of the fourth year.” The same was affirmed by Imām Mālik ibn Anas, according to the report of Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal from Mūsā ibn Dāwūd.(3)

Al-Bayhaqī remarked:(4) “In reality there is no contradiction between them, for their intent was that it happened after four full years had passed and before the fifth was completed.”

There is no doubt that after the idolaters withdrew from Uḥud they set an appointment with the Muslims for Badr in the following year. The Prophet ﷺ and his Companions therefore went out, as mentioned earlier, in Shaʿbān of the fourth year, while Abū Sufyān turned back with Quraysh because of that year’s drought. They would not have marched on Madinah two months later, so it necessarily follows that the Battle of the Trench occurred in Shawwāl of the fifth year—and Allah knows best.(5)

Al-Zuhrī explicitly stated(7) that the Trench took place two years after Uḥud, and there is no disagreement that Uḥud occurred in Shawwāl of the third year.