Digging in Hunger and Cold

Every ten men were given forty feet^** of land to dig, and they split into groups and they started the work. It was very difficult. The Muslims were hungry, they were poor; there was lack of food, and there was lack of numbers too to dig this trench. Anas ibn Mālik (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "The Messenger of Allah went out to the trench and found that the Muhājirūn and the Anṣār were busy digging. It was a very cold morning, and they had no slaves to do that work for them. When he saw what they were suffering from, the hard labour and their hunger, he said, 'O Allah, their life is indeed that of the afterlife. Forgive the Anṣār and the Muhājirūn'" (al-Bukhārī 4099). They are having difficulty in dunyā, but their life doesn't belong to this world; it belongs to the afterlife.

The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) himself participated in the digging. Al-Barāʾ narrates in al-Bukhārī: "On the day of al-Aḥzāb, when the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) was digging the trench, I saw him carrying dirt until there was so much dirt on his stomach I couldn't see his skin any more" (al-Bukhārī 4106). The Messenger of Allah was right there with his followers in the field, working with them. This is the leadership example that the Messenger of Allah is giving us. He wasn't aloof from the people; he wouldn't treat himself specially. He was trying to be one of them, when the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) was the best of humanity.

The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) would get so hungry he would have to tie a stone to his stomach. To suppress the hunger, to alleviate the pain, he would tie this rock to his stomach. That was how difficult it was on him, and how hungry he (peace be upon him) was. But his spirit was high, and he would elevate the spirits of the Ṣaḥābah (may Allah be pleased with them), and he would chant with them: they would recite these lines of poetry, and the Messenger of Allah would go along with them and recite these words. They would say, "O Allah, without You we would not have been well guided, nor would we have been charitable, nor would we have prayed. So do send tranquillity upon us, and make us stand firm when we meet the foe. They have wronged us." If they want trouble, we will meet them. And the Messenger of Allah would stretch the final words.

There were guards around the clock, guarding the trench and guarding Madīnah, and the Ṣaḥābah (may Allah be pleased with them) would take turns in guarding.