alongside the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, in the year of the Trench. This was the Battle of the Confederates, concerning which Allah revealed Surah al-Ahzāb. This surah recounts that campaign, in which Allah granted victory to His servant, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, strengthened His believing army, and single-handedly defeated the confederates who had allied against him, without fighting; rather, the believers stood firm against their enemy. In it, Allah mentioned the distinctive privileges of His Messenger, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, his rights, the inviolability of his person, and that of his household, for he was the central figure whom Allah granted victory in that campaign without fighting. Exactly the same happened in this campaign of ours. The secret of the support granted to the religion became clear in it, just as it had in the Battle of the Trench. People also divided into groups just as they had in the year of the Trench.

For since Allah Most High sent Muhammad, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, and strengthened him through the emigration and the support he received, people have fallen into three groups:

Believers: those who believed in him both outwardly and inwardly.

Disbelievers: those who openly declared their disbelief in him.

Hypocrites: those who believed outwardly but not inwardly.

For this reason, Allah opened Surah al-Baqarah with four verses describing the believers, two verses describing the disbelievers, and thirteen verses describing the hypocrites. Faith, disbelief, and hypocrisy each have pillars and branches, as