People of the Ditch (ar|أصحاب الأخدود|ʿaṣ'ḥābu l-ʿukhdūdi) is a story mentioned in Surah Al-Burooj of the Qur'an. It is about people who were thrown into a ditch and set afire, due to their belief in Allah.[1]
The narrative was telling about a story of Malik (ar|مَـلِـك, King) that had a sahir (ar|سَـاحِـر, magician) in the days before Muhammad. As the magician grew old and his lifetime was nearly over, he asked the King to choose a smart boy to learn sihr (ar|سِـحْـر, magic) from him. However, as the boy was training in magic, he met a monk everyday on the way to the magic class, and finally became a true believer in God. As a result, he could save people and treat sick people in unusual ways. When the King learned of this, he commanded the boy to abandon his faith in God. The boy rejected the King's command, so he was killed. The King also burned those who followed the boy's deen (ar|ديـن, religion), in one or more ditches
The verses 4 to 7 are the story of a group of devout people, who were burned in a ditch. The main text and English translation of the verses are in the following table:
| Verse | Arabic text | English translation | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 4 | قُتِلَ أَصْحَابُ الْأُخْدُودِ | Woe to the makers of the pit (of fire), | |
| 5 | النَّارِ ذَاتِ الْوَقُودِ | Fire supplied (abundantly) with fuel: | |
| 6 | إِذْ هُمْ عَلَيْهَا قُعُودٌ | Behold! they sat over against the (fire), | |
| 7 | وَهُمْ عَلَىٰ مَا يَفْعَلُونَ بِالْمُؤْمِنِينَ شُهُودٌ[2] | And they witnessed (all) that they were doing against the Believers.[3] |
Then the Qur'an adds that they were killed in this way only because they believed in Allah. Then it mentioned the fate of torturers in verses 8 to 10:
| Verse | Arabic text | English translation | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 8 | وَمَا نَقَمُوا مِنْهُمْ إِلَّا أَن يُؤْمِنُوا بِاللَّـهِ الْعَزِيزِ الْحَمِيدِ | And they ill-treated them for no other reason than that they believed in Allah, Exalted in Power, Worthy of all Praise! | |
| 9 | الَّذِي لَهُ مُلْكُ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضِ ۚ وَاللَّـهُ عَلَىٰ كُلِّ شَيْءٍ شَهِيدٌ | Him to Whom belongs the dominion of the heavens and the earth! And Allah is Witness to all things. | |
| 10 | إِنَّ الَّذِينَ فَتَنُوا الْمُؤْمِنِينَ وَالْمُؤْمِنَاتِ ثُمَّ لَمْ يَتُوبُوا فَلَهُمْ عَذَابُ جَهَنَّمَ وَلَهُمْ عَذَابُ الْحَرِيقِ | Those who persecute (or draw into temptation) the Believers, men and women, and do not turn in repentance, will have the Penalty of Hell: They will have the Penalty of the Burning Fire. |
The full detailed story of the Islamic narrative about the burning of the devout peoples in the trench were found in a long Hadith transmitted by Ṣuhayb ibn Sinan and on the authority of Sahih Muslim record as following:[4] [5] [6] [7]
This narrative was told in several later era chronicles, such as Al-Sirah al-Nabawiyyah by Ibn Hisham.[8] [9] [10]
Ibn Ishaq chronicle, which was translated to English language by Alfred Guillaume, interpreted this passage to be an allusion to the killing of the Christians of Najran by order of the King Dhu Nuwas. According to Christian sources, this event took place around 523 C.E. Dhu Nuwas converted to Judaism and chose Joseph as his new name. He went to Najran to force the Christian people there to convert to Judaism. When they refused, the King threw them alive into one or more burning ditches.[11]
There is also a hadith that God chose a Nabi (ar|نَـبِي, Prophet) in Abyssinia, but the people of Abyssinia denied him. At last the prophet and his companions (ar|أصـحـاب) were burned in a ditch.[12]
In Shia Islam tradition, It was reported by Shaykh Tabarsi in Majma' al-Bayan; that companions of Daniyal (Daniel) were burned in a ditch.[13]
Outside of Qur'anic and Hadith, Abdulrahman al-Ansary has mentioned that two 6th AD Christian chronicle s Risalat Shami'un al'arshami al-Thaniya (The Second Epistle of Simeon of Beth Arsham) and Kitab Istishad al-Harith (The Book of Martyrdom of Al-Harith) has mentioned the occurrence of the burning.
According to the Al-Mufradat fi Gharib al-Quran, "Ukhdud" (ar|أخـدود) is basically derived from "Khadd" (ar|خـد), and it means "wide and deep ditch spread on the land."[14] It is called this because it is believed to be where the burning took place. It was also known as Martyrs of the trench, or alternatively dubbed as Martyrs of Najran by Irfan Shahid.[15] The Ashab al-Ukhdud were considered as Shahid, or martyrs in Islam, due to their sacrifice to keep their faith despite being threatened to be thrown in a ditch of which lit with fire by Dhu Nuwas, a king of Himyarite Kingdom which embrace Judaism.[16]
It was popularly believed the event occurred in modern day Al-Ukhdud, a historical place located 5km (03miles) south of Najran city in Saudi Arabia. The event of Al-Ukhdud occurred in 520 or 523 ACE, in the time of Dhu Nuwas, the last Himyarite King.[17]
However, there are several versions about the place of the genocide. Abu Ishaq al-Tha'labi recorded some chronicles that it happened several times in several places such as Yemen, Constantinople, Babylon, Iraq, and Al-Sham; and that this story is not about just one such event.[18]
Meanwhile, modern researcher and archaeologist Abdulrahman al-Ansary from King Saud University cast doubt that the burning of the Christians by the Yemen king occurred in Najran. He explained that some contemporary local chronicles suggested the notion that it happened in Najran. However, Yemeni inscriptions which believed belongs to King Yusuf Asar (517-527 AD), which was suspected as the legendary Dhu Nuwas who ordered the massacre, did not indicate that he burned Christians in Najran for several reasons:[19]
The animated film, The Boy and the King, is a movie about people of the ditch.
The Saudi football club Al-Okhdood are named for the People of the Ditch.