The Same Word to Quraysh and to Ghaṭafān

Now Nuʿaym leaves the Jews and he goes to Quraysh. And he tells them, "You know how close our friendship is, and you understand that I would be sincere in my advice to you, and I would only tell you the truth. And I've come here because I have something to disclose to you, and I want you to keep this information classified." They said, "Yes, Nuʿaym, we trust you, and we know that. Go ahead." He said, "The Jews have regretted the fact that they have abrogated their agreement with Muḥammad (peace be upon him), and now they are involved in negotiations with him to bring back the agreement. And they have offered Muḥammad to hand over some of your men to him to be executed, as a sign of their sincerity and repentance of their deed."

So Nuʿaym is here telling Quraysh that the Jews are sorry that they have broken their agreement with Muḥammad (peace be upon him), and they are willing to make that up by handing over some of your men to him. "So if the Jews come to you asking for hostages, don't give them any." And then he goes to Ghaṭafān and tells them the exact same thing.

Now, the siege was taking a long time, and Quraysh are getting fed up. It should be remembered that Quraysh didn't come to Madīnah to lay siege to it. They came in to fight, and they were surprised to find this moat in front of them, the trench. So they didn't come in with supplies to last for a siege. They came in for a fast battle: get it over with, and leave. So they weren't prepared to wait for a long time.

So ʿIkrimah ibn Abī Jahl was sent to head a delegation to go and meet with the Jews of Banū Qurayẓah. He went to them and said, "We're getting tired of this long siege; our camels and horses are dying. And we want to wage an all-out war on Muḥammad, so get yourselves ready, and we shall attack today." The Jews said, "No, you know that we don't fight on the Sabbath, and some of our people who did fight on the Sabbath, this and this happened to them." They went on talking about the history of staying away from fighting on the Sabbath, and then they said, "Plus, we're worried that you might not stay the course, and to ensure that you are willing to fight until the end, we want you to hand over some of your men as a guarantee."

ʿIkrimah goes back and conveys this information to Abū Sufyān. Abū Sufyān said, "This is it. This is what Nuʿaym told us: that the Jews have betrayed us, and they want to hand over our men to Muḥammad (peace be upon him)." So Abū Sufyān answers back and said, "We're not going to hand over even one man, not one single person." The Jews said, "This is exactly what Nuʿaym told us. These men aren't serious, and they're going to leave us alone to suffer the attacks of Muḥammad (peace be upon him)." And the same thing happened with Ghaṭafān.