"they pleaded with Allah for Victory..."

Abu Abdullah (asws) regarding the Statement of Allah (azwj) Mighty and Majestic: “[2:89] and before that they used to pray for victory against those who disbelieve”. He (asws) said: ‘The Jews had found in their Book that Muhammad (saww) would emigrate between Ayr and Ohad, so they went out look for these places. They passed by a mountain called Hadaad, so they said, ‘Hadaad and Ohad are one and the same’. So they dispersed upon that. Some of them encamped at Tayma and some of them at Fadak, and some of them at Khyber’. The ones who were at Tayma longed to be with some of their brothers. A Bedouin from Qays, passed by them so they hired (a camel) from him and he said to them, ‘I shall pass with you in between Ayr and Ohad’. They said to him, ‘When you pass by these two, point these two places out to us. So when he was in the middle of the land of Al-Medina, he said to them, ‘That is Ayr and this is Ohad’. So they descended from the backs of his camels and said, ‘We have reached where we wanted to be, therefore we do not have any need for your camels, and so you can go to wherever you like’. And they wrote to their brothers who were at Fadak and Khyber, ‘We have got to the place so come to us’. They wrote back to them, ‘We have settled in the houses and acquired assets, and there is no one closer to us than you are. So when that event transpires, we would quickly come to you’. They acquired assets in the land of Al-Medina. When their wealth increased, it (news) reached Tubba and he attacked them. They fortified themselves from him, so he surrounded them. They felt sympathetic towards the weak ones of Tubba and they would throw the dates and the barley towards them at night. So (the news of) that reached Tubba, and he sympathised with them and granted them amnesty. They came down to him. He said to them, ‘I have come to like your city and would like to reside among you’. So they said to him, ‘It is not for you to dwell in that place, for a Prophet (saww) would be emigrating and that is not for anyone until that happens’. He said to them, ‘I will leave behind among you members of my family, so when that happens, they would support him (saww) and help him (saww)’. So he left behind two tribes, Al-Aws and Al-Khazraj. So when they multiplied, they used to take the wealth of the Jews and the Jews used to say to them, ‘But, when Muhammad (saww) is Sent, he (saww) would take you all out from our houses and our wealth’. So when Allah (azwj) Mighty and Majestic Sent Muhammad (saww), the Helpers believed in him (saww), but the Jews denied him (saww), and it is the Statement of Allah (azwj) Mighty and Majestic: “[2:89] and before that they used to pray for victory against those who disbelieve, but when there came to them (Prophet) that which they did not recognize, they disbelieved in him; so Allah’s curse is on the unbelievers.”