“…stand for your leader — or, in another wording, for the best among you.”
He then said, “These people have submitted to your ruling.” Saʿd pronounced his verdict: “Their fighting men are to be killed and their children taken as captives.” The Messenger of Allah ﷺ thereupon declared, “You have judged according to Allah’s decree,” and on another occasion, “You have judged by the decree of the Sovereign.” In yet another wording it reads, “by the decree of the angel.” Al-Bukhārī and Muslim both record the incident in their two Ṣaḥīḥs through several chains from Shuʿbah.
Imām Aḥmad also relates: Ḥujayn and Yūnus told us, saying: al-Layth ibn Saʿd narrated to us from Abū al-Zubayr, from Jābir ibn ʿAbd Allah, who said: On the Day of the Confederates Saʿd ibn Muʿādh was struck, severing his median vein. The Messenger of Allah ﷺ cauterised the wound with fire, whereupon his arm swelled; he cauterised it a second time and it swelled again and began to bleed profusely. When Saʿd saw this he prayed, “O Allah, do not take my soul until my eyes are cooled with regard to Banū Qurayẓah.” His vein then constricted and not a single drop of blood fell until they consented to Saʿd’s judgment. The Prophet sent for him, and Saʿd ruled that their men be killed and their women and children taken captive, so that the Muslims might benefit from them. The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, “You have reached Allah’s judgment concerning them.” They numbered about four hundred. When the execution was completed, Saʿd’s vein reopened and he died.
Al-Tirmidhī and al-Nasāʾī have both transmitted this report through Qutaybah from al-Layth, and al-Tirmidhī graded it ḥasan ṣaḥīḥ.
Imām Aḥmad further reports: Ibn Numayr narrated to us from Hishām, who said: my father informed me, from ʿĀʾishah, that when the Messenger of Allah ﷺ returned from the Trench, he laid down his weapons and bathed. Gabriel then came to him with dust still upon his head and said, “You have laid aside your arms, but by Allah I have not laid mine aside; go out against them.” The Messenger of Allah ﷺ asked, “Against whom?” He replied, “Over there,” pointing toward Banū Qurayzah. The Messenger of Allah ﷺ marched out to them. Hishām said: My father told me that they surrendered to the Prophet’s verdict, whereupon he referred the decision to Saʿd, who proclaimed, “My judgment is that the combatants be killed, their women and children enslaved, and their property divided.” Hishām added, quoting his father, “I was informed that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, ‘You have judged among them with Allah’s judgment.’”
Al-Bukhārī likewise reports: Zakariyyā ibn Yaḥyā narrated to us, ʿAbd Allah ibn Numayr narrated to us, Hishām narrated to us from his father, from ʿĀʾishah, who said: Saʿd was struck on the Day of the Trench by a man of Quraysh named Ḥibbān ibn al-ʿAriqah, who hit him in the median vein. The Prophet ﷺ pitched a tent for him in the mosque so that he could visit him at close quarters. When the Messenger of Allah ﷺ returned from the Trench he laid down his weapons and bathed. Gabriel then came to him, shaking the dust from his head, and said, “You have laid down your arms, but by Allah I have not; proceed …”