The Story of the People of the Trench

Allah the Exalted says:
“By the sky with its constellations,
by the promised Day,
and by the witness and the witnessed,
perish the people of the trench,
the fire well supplied with fuel,
when they sat around it,
watching what they were doing to the believers.
They took vengeance on them for no reason other than that they believed in Allah, the All-Mighty, the Praiseworthy,
To whom belongs the dominion of the heavens and the earth; and Allah is Witness over all things.
Indeed, those who persecute the believing men and believing women and then do not repent will have the punishment of Hell, and the punishment of the blazing fire.”
(al-Burūj 85:1–10)

We have already discussed these verses in detail in the commentary on this sūrah—praise be to Allah.

Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq maintained that the event took place after the mission of the Messiah, while others held that it occurred before his time.

More than one scholar has observed that this kind of atrocity has been repeated many times throughout history, with tyrannical disbelievers targeting the believers. Concerning the group mentioned in the Qur’an in particular, both a Prophetic ḥadīth and a report transmitted by Ibn Isḥāq have reached us, and the two accounts diverge. We shall cite them both so that they may be examined.

Imām Aḥmad reported: ʿAffān narrated to us; Ḥammād ibn Salamah narrated to us, from Thābit, from ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Abī Laylā, from Ṣuhayb, that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said:

“There was a king among those who came before you who had a sorcerer. When the sorcerer grew old he said to the king, ‘My age has advanced and my end is near; send me a boy so that I may teach him sorcery.’ The king sent him a boy, and the sorcerer began teaching him.

“Between the sorcerer and the king there lived a monk. The boy passed by the monk, listened to his words, and was impressed by his manner and speech. Whenever he went to the sorcerer, the sorcerer would beat him and say, ‘Why are you late?’ And when he returned home, his family would beat him and say, ‘Why are you late?’ He complained about this to the monk, who said, ‘When you fear the sorcerer’s beating, say, “My family detained me,” and when you fear your family’s beating, say, “The sorcerer detained me.”’

“One day, as he was on his way, he came upon a huge, fearsome beast that had blocked the road so that the people could not pass. He said, ‘Today I will know whether the affair of the sorcerer is dearer to Allah or the affair of the monk.’ He picked up a stone and said, ‘O Allah, if the affair of the monk is dearer to You and more pleasing than that of the sorcerer, kill this beast so that the people may pass.’ He threw the stone, killed the beast, and the people went on. He then went to the monk and told him what had happened. The monk said, ‘My son, you have surpassed me, and you…’