When the envoys brought back this reply, the Jews said, “What Nuʿaym ibn Masʿūd told you is indeed the truth. All those people want is for you to fight; if they find an opening, they will seize it, but if not they will hurry back to their own lands and leave you face-to-face with that man in your own city.”
They therefore sent word to Quraysh and Ghatafān: “By Allah, we will not fight alongside you until you place hostages in our hands.” Quraysh and Ghatafān refused, Allah cast mutual distrust among them, and He sent a biting, wintry wind on a freezing night that overturned their cooking pots and tore up their tents.
The version Ibn Isḥāq records about Nuʿaym ibn Masʿūd is better than what Mūsā ibn ʿUqbah related. Al-Bayhaqī cites it from him in “Dalāʾil al-Nubuwwah.” His summary is that Nuʿaym used to repeat whatever news reached him. One evening he happened to pass by the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, who beckoned him, and when he came the Prophet asked, “What news do you have?” He answered, “Quraysh and Ghatafān have sent to Banū Qurayẓah, asking them to come out so together they can confront you. Banū Qurayẓah agreed and said, ‘Send us hostages.’” Nuʿaym added, as already mentioned, that they had only broken the pact at the instigation of Ḥuyayy ibn Akhṭab on the condition that he would provide them with hostages as a guarantee.
The Prophet ﷺ then said to him, “I am going to confide something to you; do not disclose it.” Nuʿaym said, “They have sent to me proposing reconciliation on condition that I restore Banū al-Naḍīr to their homes and property.” Nuʿaym thereupon set off for Ghatafān, and the Messenger of Allah ﷺ remarked, “War is deception; perhaps Allah will work something out for us.” Nuʿaym went to Ghatafān and Quraysh and informed them of this. They promptly sent ʿIkrimah with a group to Banū Qurayẓah on the night of Saturday, asking them to come out and fight with them. The Jews pleaded the Sabbath and again demanded hostages, so Allah set them at odds with one another and they fell into dispute.
I [the author] say: It is also possible that when Qurayẓah despaired of coordinating their plans with Quraysh and Ghatafān, they sent to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, seeking peace on the condition that he allow Banū al-Naḍīr to return to Madinah—Allah knows best.
Ibn Isḥāq said: When news reached the Messenger of Allah ﷺ of their division and how Allah had broken up their alliance, he summoned Ḥudhayfah ibn al-Yamān and dispatched him to the enemy camp to see what they were doing that night.
Ibn Isḥāq also said: Yazīd ibn Ziyād related to me from Muḥammad ibn Kaʿb al-Quraẓī that a man from Kūfah once said to Ḥudhayfah ibn al-Yamān, “Abū ʿAbd Allāh, did you actually see the Messenger of Allah ﷺ and keep his company?” “Indeed I did, my nephew,” he replied. The man asked, “How did you conduct yourselves?” Ḥudhayfah answered, “By Allah, we strove with every effort.” The man said, “By Allah, had we been there, we would never have let him walk upon the earth; we would have carried him on our shoulders!” Ḥudhayfah replied, “My nephew, by Allah, I saw us with the Messenger of Allah ﷺ at the Trench. The Messenger of Allah ﷺ prayed for a part of the night, then he turned to us and said, ‘Who will rise and see for us what the…’”