Al-Buruj 85:4–8 condemns "the companions of the ditch" (ashab al-ukhdud), who cast believers into trenches of fire and sat watching, and says they took revenge on the believers only because they believed in Allah. The Quran does not specify the place or time of the event.
Many commentators connect these verses with the massacre of the Christians of Najran by the Himyarite king Dhu Nuwas in the early 6th century, an event also recorded in Syriac sources. Other commentators relate reports about different communities.
The al-Ukhdud archaeological site in Najran is traditionally associated with the event; the marker shows this site.