ʿAthmah narrated from Kathīr ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAmr ibn ʿAwf al-Muzanī, from his father, from his grandfather. He related a report stating that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ marked out the trench, assigning forty cubits to every ten men.

He continued: The Emigrants and the Helpers began competing over Salmān, so the Messenger of Allah ﷺ declared, “Salman is one of us—of the People of the Household.” ʿAmr ibn ʿAwf said: I, Salmān, Ḥudhayfah, al-Nuʿmān ibn Muqarrin, and six men from the Anṣār were responsible for forty cubits. We dug until we reached moist ground and there appeared before us a white flinty boulder that shattered our tools and proved too hard for us. Salmān went to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ—who was in a Turkish pavilion—and told him about it. The Prophet came, took the pickaxe from Salmān, and struck the rock. It split, and a flash of light shot forth, illuminating everything between the two lava plains of Madinah as though a lamp had been lit in the depth of a dark night. The Messenger of Allah ﷺ proclaimed the takbīr of victory, and the Muslims did likewise. He struck it a second time, and the same occurred, then a third time, and again the same.

Salmān and the other Muslims then asked the Messenger of Allah ﷺ about the light. He said,

“At the first blow the palaces of al-Ḥīrah and the cities of Chosroes were shown to me, looking like the fangs of dogs, and Gabriel informed me that my community will conquer them. At the second, the red palaces in the land of Byzantium flashed before me, again like the fangs of dogs, and Gabriel informed me that my community will conquer them. At the third, the palaces of Ṣanʿāʾ shone before me, like the fangs of dogs, and Gabriel informed me that my community will conquer them. So rejoice!”

The Muslims rejoiced and said, “Praise be to Allah, the promise is true.” When the Confederates came into view, the believers said, “This is what Allah and His Messenger promised us; Allah and His Messenger have spoken the truth,” and it only increased them in faith and submission (Qurʾān 33:22). But the hypocrites scoffed, saying, “He tells you that from Yathrib he can see the palaces of al-Ḥīrah and the cities of Chosroes, and that they will be opened for you, while you are digging the trench and cannot even relieve yourselves!” Concerning them Allah revealed: “And when the hypocrites and those in whose hearts is a disease said, ‘Allah and His Messenger promised us nothing but delusion’” (Qurʾān 33:12). This is an uncommon report.

Al-Ḥāfiẓ Abū al-Qāsim al-Ṭabarānī also said: Ḥārūn ibn Malūl related to us, Abū ʿAbd al-Raḥmān related to us, ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Ziyād from ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Yazīd, from ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAmr, who said: When the Prophet ﷺ ordered the trench to be dug around Madinah, we said, “O Messenger of Allah, we have come upon a solid rock we cannot break.” The Prophet ﷺ rose, and we rose with him. When he reached the spot he took the pickaxe, struck it once, and said the takbīr; I heard a crash unlike anything I had ever heard before, and he said, “Persia is conquered.” He struck it again, said the takbīr, and I heard a crash unlike anything I had ever heard before, and he said, “Rome is conquered.” Then he struck a third time, said the takbīr, and again I heard a crash unlike anything I had ever heard before, and he said, “Allah has brought Ḥimyar as helpers and supporters.”

This report too is uncommon, and ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Ziyād ibn Anʿum al-Ifriqī is weak. Allah knows best.