Muhammad a Prophet For all Humanity
5. Lessons of the Prophet’s Life
~ 99 ~
outside the city. ‘Abdullah ibn Ubayy, however,
concurred, with the opinion of the leading
companions.
7
There were good grounds for the view that the
attack should be met from within the city. The
geography of Madinah had all the makings of a
natural defence system. To the south were
orchards of date-palms, so thickly clustered as to
make an attack impossible from that side. To the
east and west high mountains provided a natural
barrier to any invader. There was only one front,
then, from which Madinah could be attacked. The
city itself was a natural fortress. To leave it
amounted to exposing oneself to enemy attack on
all four sides, whereas from within the city there
was only one front that would have to be
defended. And indeed Madinah’s favourable
location was subsequently taken advantage of in
the battle which later came to be known as the
Battle of the Trench, in which the entire city was
protected by the simple expedient of digging a
trench on the open front to the north-west of the
town.
