Editing Muhammad (section)

===Battle of the Trench===
{{Main|Battle of the Trench}}
With the help of the exiled [[Banu Nadir]], the Quraysh military leader [[Abu Sufyan]] mustered a force of 10,000 men. Muhammad prepared a force of about 3,000 men and adopted a form of defense unknown in Arabia at that time; the Muslims dug a trench wherever Medina lay open to cavalry attack. The idea is credited to a Persian convert to Islam, [[Salman the Persian]]. The siege of Medina began on 31 March 627 and lasted two weeks.{{sfn|Watt|1956|pp=36–37}} Abu Sufyan's troops were unprepared for the fortifications, and after an ineffectual siege, the coalition decided to return home.<ref>See:
* {{harvnb|Rodinson|2002|pp=209–211}}
* {{harvnb|Watt|1961|p=169}}</ref> The Quran discusses this battle in sura Al-Ahzab, in verses 33:9–27.<ref name="Rubin">Uri Rubin, ''Quraysh'', [[Encyclopaedia of the Quran]].</ref>
During the battle, the Jewish tribe of [[Banu Qurayza]], located to the south of Medina, entered into negotiations with Meccan forces to revolt against Muhammad. Although the Meccan forces were swayed by suggestions that Muhammad was sure to be overwhelmed, they desired reassurance in case the confederacy was unable to destroy him. No agreement was reached after prolonged negotiations, partly due to sabotage attempts by Muhammad's scouts.{{sfn|Watt|1961|pp=170–172}} After the coalition's retreat, the Muslims accused the Banu Qurayza of treachery and besieged them in their forts for 25 days. The Banu Qurayza eventually surrendered; according to [[Ibn Ishaq]], all the men apart from a few converts to Islam were beheaded, while the women and children were enslaved.{{sfn|Peterson|2007|p=126}}{{sfn|Ramadan|2007|p=141}} Walid N. Arafat and [[Barakat Ahmad]] have disputed the accuracy of Ibn Ishaq's narrative.<ref>Meri, ''Medieval Islamic Civilization: An Encyclopedia'', p. 754.</ref> Arafat believes that Ibn Ishaq's Jewish sources, speaking over 100 years after the event, conflated this account with memories of earlier massacres in Jewish history; he notes that Ibn Ishaq was considered an unreliable historian by his contemporary [[Malik ibn Anas]], and a transmitter of "odd tales" by the later [[Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani|Ibn Hajar]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Arafat |title=New Light on the Story of Banu Qurayza and the Jews of Medina |journal=Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland |volume=1976 |pages=100–107}}</ref> Ahmad argues that only some of the tribe were killed, while some of the fighters were merely enslaved.<ref>Ahmad, pp. 85–94.</ref><ref>Nemoy, "Barakat Ahmad's "Muhammad and the Jews", p. 325. Nemoy is sourcing Ahmad's ''Muhammad and the Jews''.</ref> Watt finds Arafat's arguments "not entirely convincing", while [[Meir J. Kister]] has refuted the arguments of Arafat and Ahmad.<ref>{{citation|first=Meir J.|last=Kister|author-link=Meir J. Kister|title=The Massacre of the Banu Quraiza: A Re-Examination of a Tradition|url=http://www.kister.huji.ac.il/sites/default/files/banu_qurayza.pdf|pages=64–66}}</ref>

In the siege of Medina, the Meccans exerted the available strength to destroy the Muslim community. The failure resulted in a significant loss of prestige; their trade with Syria vanished.{{sfn|Watt|1956|p=39}} Following the Battle of the Trench, Muhammad made two expeditions to the north, both ended without any fighting.{{sfn|Buhl|Welch|1993}} While returning from one of these journeys (or some years earlier according to other early accounts), an [[Aisha#Accusation of adultery|accusation of adultery]] was made against [[Aisha]], Muhammad's wife. Aisha was exonerated from accusations when Muhammad announced he had received a revelation confirming Aisha's innocence and directing that charges of adultery be supported by four eyewitnesses (sura 24, [[An-Nur]]).<ref name="Watt" />