Battle of the Trench ( khandaq ): An attack by the Meccan Quraysh and their "confederates" ( al-azhaab ) on the Prophet's Muslim forces at Medina was foiled by a combination of ruse and technology. The latter involved the construction of a trench around the city of Medina, a method suggested to the Prophet by a Persian ally named Salman al-Farisi. Among the "confederates" whom the Prophet defeated was a Jewish tribe called the "Banu Qurayzah." Having dealt mercifully with these Jewish allies of the Meccan Quraysh on two previous occasions, Muhammad decided this time to submit their fate to a hakam, a traditional Arabian judge. The hakam decreed that the men of the clan should be executed. All six hundred men of the tribe were beheaded. (Qur'an, s.33:25-27).