﴿ إِذْ جَآءُوكُم مِّن فَوْقِكُمْ وَمِنْ أَسْفَلَ مِنكُمْ وَإِذْ زَاغَتِ ٱلْأَبْصَٰرُ وَبَلَغَتِ ٱلْقُلُوبُ ٱلْحَنَاجِرَ وَتَظُنُّونَ بِٱللَّهِ ٱلظُّنُونَا۠ ﴾

“[Remember what you felt] when they came upon you from above you and from below you, and when [your] eyes became dim and [your] hearts came up to [your] throats, and [when] most conflicting thoughts about God passed through your minds:”

At the battle of Ahzab (in the fifth year of Hijrah) there was a combined attack by Arab tribes and Jews on Madinah. The number of attackers in this battle was about thirteen thousand and the Muslims were not capable of fighting this huge army. But, Almighty God, by His special devices, caused Islam’s enemies to become so terror-stricken that they themselves abandoned the siege of Madinah and retreated. Such difficulties befall the Islamic mission firstly in order to separate the sincere from the insincere and secondly to show to the enemy forces that God Himself is a supporter of His religion. He will not allow it to be vanquished.