Sariyya of Bi'r Ma'una

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Sariyya of Bi'r Ma'una
Date4/625
PlaceBi'r Ma'una area
CoordinatesSouth east of Medina in Najd region
CauseBetrayal of Abu Bara' 'Amir b. Malik
ResultMartyrdom of Representatives of the Prophet (s)
Belligerents
Representatives of the Prophet (s)
Polytheists
Commanders
Mundhir b. Amr al-Sa'idi
Amir b. Tufayl
Casualties and losses
Martyrdom of seventy men from Ansar


Sariyya Biʾr Maʿūna (Arabic: سرية بئر معونة) refers to an event in which some people sent by the Prophet (s) to the tribes of Banu Salim and Banu Amir were attacked by polytheists in Bi'r Ma'una (Ma'una well). In this event, all representatives of the Prophet (s) were martyred except two of them. The Prophet (s) cursed the perpetrators of this killing in his fajr prayer several days.

Geographical Location

Bi'r Ma'una is in south east of Medina in Najd region[1]. This place is between the living places of Banu Amir and Banu Salim tribes[2], closer to Banu Salim's place[3].

Abu Bara's Request

In Safar 4/ July 625, thirty six months after immigration, four months after the Battle of Uhud, Abu Bara' Amir b. Malik, the chief of Banu Amir tribe who lived in Najd, went to the Prophet (s) in Medina, and offered some gifts; but the Prophet (s) said that he (s) would not accept any gift from polytheists and presented Islam to him. Abu Bara' expressed his tendency toward Islam and asked the Prophet (s) to send some of his companions to his tribe in order to invite them to Islam.

Representatives of the Prophet (s) in Bi'r Ma'una

The Prophet (s) was suspicious about people of Najd and considered it possible that they kill his representatives, but Abu Bara' promised to protect them[4]. The Prophet (s) sent some young men among the Helpers to Najd who were reciters of the Qur'an[5] led by Mundhir b. Amr al-Sa'idi known as "al-Mu'niaq li yamut" (lit. Rushing toward death)[6] . The exact number of people in this group is not known and they are recorded seventy, forty[7]or thirty people[8]. The names of these people are not known and only the names of some of them are recorded[9].

The Prophet's (s) representatives stayed near Bi'r Ma'una and one of them called Haram b. Milhan took the Prophet's (s) letter to Amir b. Tufayl, who was among the chiefs of Banu Amir and the nephew of Abu Bara'.

Killing of the Companions

Without reading the letter, Amir b. Tufayl ordered to kill Haram b. Milhan[10] and asked his tribesmen to fight the companions of the Prophet (s), but Abu Bara' prevented it and Banu Amir avoided breaking the promise of Abu Bara'[11]. Then, with the help of some people from Banu Salim, including Usayya, Raghil and Dhakwan[12], Amir b. Tufayl attacked Muslims at Bi'r Ma'una.

The fight ended with killing all the representatives of the Prophet (s) except one person. Polytheists decided to give Mundhir b. Amr safe conduct, but he fought until he was killed[13]. Only Ka'b b. Zayd from Banu Najjar tribe was wounded and hid among the killed ones and remained alive[14].

Two of Muslim representatives, al-Harith b. al-Simma and Amr b. Umayya b. Harith al-Damri who had taken camels for grazing arrived in Bi'r Ma'una. Harith b. Samih too was killed in fighting against polytheists, but since Amr b. Umayya was from Mudri tribes like Amir b. Tufayl, Amir released him[15]. On his return, Amr b. Umayya killed two people from Banu Amir tribe who were given safety by the Prophet (s). The Prophet (s) asked help from Banu Nadir who were allied with Banu Amir to pay the blood money. Banu Nadir too plotted against the Prophet (s) and this event led to the Battle of Banu Nadir[16].

The Prophet's Reaction

When the Prophet (s) was informed about the killing at Bi'r Ma'una, considered it the result of Abu Bara's request and for fifteen or forty days, cursed the perpetrators of this killing in his fajr prayer[17]. Also in a poem, Hassan b. Thabit considered Bi'r Ma'una event a trickery of Amir b. Tufayl[18].

Hadiths about the Body of Amir b. Fuhayra

In some sources, it is quoted from Amir b. Tufayl that he said, "one of the men among Muslims was killed, I saw his body raised from the ground and went up so high to the sky that he went above it." They said that it was the body of Amir b. Fuhayra[19]. But, researchers such as Ja'far Murtada al-Amili who studied the paradoxes in these reports, believe that this story was made-up for certain purposes[20].

Notes

  1. ↑ Haykāl, al-Jihād wa l-qitāl fī al-sīyāsa al-sharʿīyya, vol. 1, p. 489.
  2. ↑ Ibn Hishām, al-Sīra al-nabawīyya, vol. 3, p. 194; for other narrations concerning the location of Bi'r Ma'una, refere to: Ḥamawī, Muʿjam al-buldān, vol. 1, pp. 435-36; Bakrī, Muʿjam ma ustuʿjim min asmāʾ al-bilād wa l-mawāḍiʿ, vol. 4, p. 1246.
  3. ↑ Ibn Hishām, al-Sīra al-nabawīyya, vol. 3, pp. 193-94; Kahhala, Muʿjam Qabaʾil al-ʿArab, vol. 2, pp. 543, 708,
  4. ↑ Wāqidī, al-Maghāzī, vol. 1, p. 347; Ibn Saʿd, al-Ṭabaqāt al-kubrā, vol. 2, p. 52.
  5. ↑ Wāqidī, al-Maghāzī, vol. 1, p. 347; Ibn Saʿd, al-Ṭabaqāt al-kubrā, vol. 2, p. 52.
  6. ↑ Ibn Hishām, al-Sīra al-nabawīyya, vol. 3, p. 194; Wāqidī, al-Maghāzī, vol. 1, p. 347; Ibn Saʿd, al-Ṭabaqāt al-kubrā, vol. 2, p. 52; Abū Nuʿaym al-Iṣfahānī, Dalāʾil al-nubuwwa, p. 445.
  7. ↑ Ibn Hishām, al-Sīra al-nabawīyya, vol. 3, p. 194; Ṭabarī, Tārīkh al-Ṭabarī, vol. 2, p. 546.
  8. ↑ Bakrī, Muʿjam ma ustuʿjim min asmāʾ al-bilād wa l-mawāḍiʿ, vol. 4, p. 1245.
  9. ↑ Wāqidī, al-Maghāzī, vol. 1, pp. 352-53; Dhahabī, Siyar aʿlām al-nubalāʾ, vol. 1, pp. 241-42.
  10. ↑ Wāqidī, al-Maghāzī, vol. 1, p. 347; Ibn Hishām, al-Sīra al-nabawīyya, vol. 3, p.194; Ibn Saʿd, al-Ṭabaqāt al-kubrā, vol. 2, p. 52.
  11. ↑ Wāqidī, al-Maghāzī, vol. 1, p. 347; Ibn Hishām, al-Sīra al-nabawīyya, vol. 3, p.194.
  12. ↑ Wāqidī, al-Maghāzī, vol. 1, pp. 347-48; Ibn Hishām, al-Sīra al-nabawīyya, vol. 3, p.194; Ibn Saʿd, al-Ṭabaqāt al-kubrā, vol. 2, p. 52.
  13. ↑ Wāqidī, al-Maghāzī, vol. 1, p. 348.
  14. ↑ Wāqidī, al-Maghāzī, vol. 1, p. 353; Ṭabarī, Tārīkh al-Ṭabarī, vol. 2, p. 547;Ibn Kathīr, al-Bidāya wa l-nihāya, vol. 4, p. 75.
  15. ↑ Ibn Hishām, al-Sīra al-nabawīyya, vol. 3, pp. 194-95.
  16. ↑ Ibn Hishām, al-Sīra al-nabawīyya, vol. 3, p. 199; Ṭabarī, Tārīkh al-Ṭabarī, vol. 2, p. 551; Wāqidī, al-Maghāzī, vol. 1, p. 364.
  17. ↑ Wāqidī, al-Maghāzī, vol. 1, p. 349-50; Ibn Saʿd, al-Ṭabaqāt al-kubrā, vol. 2, p. 53.
  18. ↑ Ibn Athīr, al-Kāmil fī l-tārīkh, vol. 2, p. 118.
  19. ↑ Ibn Saʿd, al-Ṭabaqāt al-kubrā, vol. 2, p. 52; Ibn Kathīr, al-Bidāya wa l-nihāya, vol. 4, p. 74.
  20. ↑ See: al-Ṣaḥiḥ min sira al-nabī al-aʿẓam, vol. 3, pp. 334-36.

References

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  • Bakrī, ʿAbd Allāh b. ʿAbd al-ʿAzīm al-. Muʿjam ma ustuʿjim min asmāʾ al-bilād wa l-mawāḍiʿ. Edited by Muṣṭafā al-Saqā. Beirut: 1403 AH/1983.
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  • Ṭabarī, Muḥammad b. Jarīr al-. Tārīkh al-Ṭabarī. Edited by Muḥammad Abu l-faḍl Ibrāhīm. Beirut: Dar al-Turāth, 1387 AH.
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