at your service!” They and the idolaters closed in battle, while the rallying-cry echoed among the Anṣār: “O company of the Anṣār, O company of the Anṣār!” Presently the call was limited to Banū al-Ḥārith ibn al-Khazraj alone. The Messenger of Allah ﷺ—still mounted on his mule and leaning forward as though rising above it to watch them fight—remarked, “Now the furnace is ablaze!” He then took a few small pebbles, hurled them at the faces of the disbelievers, and declared, “Be routed, by the Lord of Muhammad!” I began to look, and the combat appeared to continue as before; yet by Allah, the moment he cast those pebbles I kept seeing their edge grow dull and their lines break and flee.

Narrated by Muslim.

al-Waṭīs means “furnace,” i.e., the battle had reached its fiercest point. His word ḥaddahum, with a plain ḥāʾ, refers to their might.