Quran Universe

Companions of the Ditch

Nation of the Quran

Nation of the Quran

Companions of the Ditchأصحاب الأخدود

Approximate dateNajran, Arabia

Believers who refused to give up their faith were thrown into a ditch of blazing fire while their persecutors sat watching (85:5-7). Their only crime was believing in Allah, the Mighty, the Praiseworthy (85:8). Historians link the story to Najran around 523, under the Himyarite king Dhu Nuwas.

What does the Quran say?

Cursed were the companions of the trench

Quran 85:4

85:1-10

How did they end?

The Quran curses the persecutors and promises them the punishment of Hell and of burning (85:4, 85:10).

What do historians say?

The ruins of al-Ukhdud at Najran preserve an ancient walled town. Syriac letters, the Book of the Himyarites and inscriptions of King Yusuf As'ar Yath'ar (Dhu Nuwas) record the killing of Najran's Christians around 523.

The lesson

Faith can be worth more than life itself.

Who else is linked?

Himyar (Yemen)Dhu NuwasNajranZafar

Everyone and everything in the timeline

People named in the Quran and the hadith, the Prophet's ﷺ family and Companions, scholars, rulers, the nations of the Quran, the world's empires and the places where it all happened. Where scholars differ, each entry says so.

Nations of the Quran