Life-of-Muhammad

94Life of Muhammad saarchery. This continued throughout the day; and, as thearmy of Mahomed sa was but just sufficient to guard thelong line, there could be no relief. Even at night Khalid ra ,with a strong party of horses, kept up the alarm, and stillthreatening the line of defence, rendered outposts atfrequent intervals necessary. But all the endeavours of theenemy were without effect. The trench was not crossed.The battle had gone on for two days. Still there hadbeen no hand-to-hand fighting, no great bloodshed.Twenty-four hours of fighting had resulted in only threedeaths on the enemy side and five on the Muslim side.Sa‘d bin Mu‘adh ra , a chief of the Aus tribe and a devoteeof the Prophet sa , was wounded. Repeated attacks on theditch, however, resulted in some damage, and this madefurther attack easier. Great scenes of valour and ofloyalty were witnessed. It was a cold night, perhaps thecoldest in Arabia. We have on the authority of ‘A’isha ra ,the Prophet's sa holy consort, that the Prophet sa rose fromhis sleep again and again to guard the damaged part ofthe ditch. He became exhausted. He returned to bed butthen, having warmed himself a little, went again toguard the ditch. One day he was so exhausted that heseemed quite unable to move. Then he said he wishedsome devoted Muslim would come and relieve him of thephysical labour of guarding the ditch in the cold of thenight. Soon he heard a voice. It was Sa‘d bin Waqqas ra .The Prophet sa asked him why he had come."To guard your person," said Sa‘d ra ."There is no need to guard my person," said theProphet sa "A part of the ditch is damaged. Go and guardit that Muslims may be safe." Sa‘d ra went, and theProphet sa was able to sleep. (There was somecoincidence. For when the Prophet sa arrived at Medinaand danger to his person was very great, even then itwas Sa‘d ra who offered himself for a guard.) On anotheroccasion during these difficult days, the Prophet sa heardthe sound of arms. "Who is it?" asked the Prophet sa . "‘Ibad bin Bishr ra ," was the reply.