Abd al-Wahid al-Mulayhi reported to us; Ahmad ibn Abdullah al-Na'imi reported to us; Muhammad ibn Yusuf reported to us; Muhammad ibn Isma'il reported to us; Adam reported to us; Shu'bah reported to us, from al-Hakam, from Mujahid, from Ibn Abbas, may Allah be pleased with him, from the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, who said: “I was granted victory by the east wind, and 'Ad were destroyed by the west wind.” (1)

Allah’s saying, “And forces that you did not see,” refers to the angels. Yet the angels did not fight on that day. That night, Allah sent against them a cold wind which uprooted the tent-pegs, snapped the guy-ropes of the tents, extinguished the fires, overturned the cooking-pots, and caused the horses to rush wildly into one another. The angels’ proclamations of Allah’s greatness resounded throughout their camp, until the chief of every tribe would call, “O sons of so-and-so, come to me!” When they had gathered around him, he would say, “Escape! Escape!” Thus, because of the terror Allah sent upon them, they fled without any fighting.

“And Allah is All-Seeing of what you do.” Muhammad ibn Ishaq said: Yazid ibn Ruman, the client of the family of al-Zubayr, told me, from Urwah ibn al-Zubayr and others whose reliability I do not question, from Abdullah ibn Ka'b ibn Malik; and from al-Zuhri and Asim ibn Umar ibn Qatadah, from Abdullah ibn Abi Bakrah ibn Muhammad ibn Amr ibn Hazm; and from Muhammad ibn Ka'b al-Qurazi and other scholars of ours—the accounts of some of them having been combined with those of others—that a group of Jews, including Salam ibn Abi al-Huqayq, Huyayy ibn Akhtab, Kinana ibn al-Rabi ibn Abi al-Huqayq, Hawdhah ibn Qays, and Abu Ammar al-Wa'ili, together with a group from Banu al-Nadir and a group from Banu Wa'il—the ones who assembled the Confederates against the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace—set out and came to Quraysh in Mecca. They called them to wage war against the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, saying, “We shall stand with you against him until we wipe him out.”

Quraysh said to them, “O assembly of Jews, you are the people of the earlier Scripture and possess knowledge concerning the matter over which Muhammad and we differ. Is our religion better, or his religion?” They replied, “Rather, your religion is better than his, and you are nearer to the truth than they are.” He said: They are the ones concerning whom Allah revealed: “Have you not seen those who were given a share of the Scripture, yet believe in superstition and false objects of worship ... and Hell is sufficient as a blazing Fire.” (al-Nisa 51–55)

When they said this to Quraysh, Quraysh were pleased by what they had said and eagerly accepted their call to wage war against the Messenger of Allah. They resolved upon it. Then those Jews set out until they came to Ghatafan, of Qays Ghaylan. They called them to this and informed them that they would stand with them against him, and that Quraysh had pledged themselves to it. So they responded to them.

Quraysh marched out under the command of Abu Sufyan ibn Harb. Ghatafan also marched out, under the command of Uyaynah ibn Hisn ibn Hudhayfah ibn Badr among Fazara, al-Harith ibn Awf ibn Abi Harithah al-Murri among Banu Murrah, and Mas'ud ibn