Concerning Dhū Nuwās and his troops, Allah revealed to His Messenger — peace and blessings be upon him —​ the words: “Perished were the people of the trench, the fire abounding in fuel …” and the following verses (Sūrat al-Burūj, 85:4–5). This shows that the episode just related is other than the incident cited in the report collected by Muslim.

Some scholars have maintained that events of “the trench” occurred many times in different parts of the world. Ibn Abī Ḥātim said:

“My father narrated to us; Abū al-Yamān narrated to us; Ṣafwān informed us, from ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Jubayr, who said:

‘There was a trench in Yemen during the era of Tubbaʿ; another in Constantinople in the days of Constantine, when he turned the Christians away from the religion of Christ and pure monotheism. He constructed a great furnace and hurled into it those Christians who remained upon the religion of Christ and tawḥīd. A third was in Iraq, in the land of Babylon, during the reign of Nebuchadnezzar. When he fashioned an idol and ordered the people to prostrate before it, Daniel and his two companions, Azariah and Mishael, refused. He kindled a furnace, piling it high with wood and fire, then cast them into it; Allah made it coolness and safety for them and delivered them. He then threw into it the nine men who had oppressed them, and the fire consumed them.’

Asbāṭ reported from al-Suddi on the verse, “Perished were the people of the trench” (85:4), that the trenches were three: one in Syria, one in Iraq, and one in Yemen. Ibn Abī Ḥātim recorded this.

I have discussed the People of the Trench and their exegesis in full under Sūrat al-Burūj; all praise and favor belong to Allah.