We will move on to the next two major incidents both of which involve massacres — large groups of sahaba being brutally killed; and these are called the Incident of al-Raji (الرجيع) and the Incident of Bir Ma'una (بئر معونة).
It appears the 'apparent loss' of Uhud made some of the Bedouin tribes around Madinah greedy (that they will be able to attack Madinah now). Recall the Bedouins by and large earned their income by raiding and stealing.
Also, there appears to be religious animosity now — we have seen this a little bit at Uhud, and now it's going to go more and more where ultimately it will become an all-out war between Islam and shirk (whereas before it was a war between the Muslims and the Quraysh).
A number of small skirmishes took place. Of them, the Prophet PBUH sent 150 Muslims to attack and conquer a small tribe of the Banu Asad (بنو أسد). Their leader was Tulayha al-Asadi (طليحة الأسدي) — and he was one of those who proclaimed prophethood after the Prophet PBUH had passed away; he was one of those 30 dajjals.
The main two stories that we will discuss today, as we said, are the Incident of al-Raji & the Incident of Bir Ma'una. Al-Raji & Ma'una are both the names of the wells around which the massacres took place.
The Expedition of Abdullah ibn Unays occurred in Muharram of the 4th year of the Hijrah — he killed the chieftain. How did the tribe of Hudhayl respond? They resorted to a very evil tactic in order to get revenge. They contacted two other tribes: Udal (عضل) and al-Qara (القارة), and they paid them some money to set up a blatant, dastardly trap. It was a simple plot: Pretend to accept Islam, go to Madinah, and then beg the Prophet PBUH to send teachers to teach you the religion — they knew that the sahaba loved to go and teach, and that the Prophet PBUH would send teachers (Quran teachers, salah teachers, etc.) to the people. So Udal and al-Qara did this, and they insisted on getting as many of the teachers the Prophet PBUH could afford to send. So 7-10 sahaba (most likely 10) volunteered under the leadership of Asim ibn Thabit (عاصم بن ثابت). When these sahaba got to the Well of al-Raji, 100 warriors ambushed them, so they realized this was a trap, a setup, not an actual, sincere conversion. When they saw the 100 coming in the distance, the sahaba managed to take shelter at the top of a hill, and they pulled out their bows and arrows. But in the end, when you have 10 people surrounded by 100, eventually what is going to happen? And the plot thickens because, in the Battle of Uhud, Asim had killed the husband of a certain pagan lady by the name of Sulafa bint Sa'd (سلافة بنت سعد). She had promised she would drink wine from the skull of Asim, "I am not going to die until I drink wine from the skull of Asim!" and in her vengeance, she had said, "Anyone who brings me the skull of Asim, I will give 100 camels!" Asim knew this, so he cried out and made a du'a to Allah SWT, "I will not surrender to them, because I know what they will do to my body. I will fight to the death. O Allah, inform our Prophet PBUH about us that we were sincere; that we didn't die cowards." And he said, "O Allah, as I protected Your religion in the daytime (when I was alive), now protect my body at night (when I die)," i.e., "Protect my skull from being used as a wine glass for the lady." And he fought with his bows and arrows until the arrows ran out, and he fought with his spear until it broke, and he fought with his sword until it became dull — he fought a brave battle. But eventually, what is going to happen when you are surrounded by 10:1? Eventually, he died.
When Asim died, everybody rushed to get his body to get the 100 camel reward, but out of nowhere, a swarm of wasps came and they stung anyone who came close. So they said, "What do we do?" One said, "Just wait until the sun sets. Wasps don't hang around at night." And so they waited until the sunset, but then subhan'Allah, out of nowhere a river just came — it had not rained and there was no river, and Asim's body was on top of a hill, yet the river just came gushing out, and it went straight to his body, picked his body up, and carried it off into the distance. And no one knows where his body is buried — Allah took care of his burial. This is Asim ibn Thabit; he died a shaheed.
Back to the battle: The pagans killed the sahaba down to the last three, and they said, "Just surrender now." Why did they want the three to surrender? For ransom; for money. And they promised, "If you surrender, we will protect you and give you safety." And so the three decided to surrender; they were Khubayb ibn Adi (خبيب بن عدي), Zayd ibn al-Dathinah (زيد بن الدثنة), and Abdullah ibn Tariq (عبد الله بن طارق) — they came down from the hill. But immediately, the pagans jumped on them and tied them up like animals. Abdullah ibn Tariq said, "This is the first sign of treachery," and so he refused to become a prisoner of war, he refused to walk and march, he refused every commandment — so they just killed him there and then and left him at the side of the road. As for the other two, they found out who wanted to purchase them — Khubayb was purchased by the tribe of Banu al-Harith (بنو الحارث) as he had killed someone from this tribe during the Battle of Badr; and as for Zayd ibn al-Dathinah, he had been one of those who had attacked Umayyah ibn Khalaf the master of Bilal (recall the story of Bilal after the Battle of Badr where he said, "I am not going to live if Umayyah lives" — and Zayd was one of those who surrounded and killed Umayyah), so Safwan ibn Umayyah purchased him for a large sum in order to kill him for having been one of the people who killed his father.
From this incident, we learn many things:
1. In such situations, should you surrender or fight on? We see that permissibility has been given for both. Whichever one a person chooses, insha'Allah there is precedent in that, and all of them are rewarded for what they have done.
2. We learn from the action of Abdullah ibn Tariq that it is not considered suicide to do something that you know will cause your death as long as it is at the hands of somebody else.
3. The concept of karamat (كرامات) — mini-miracles given to the non-prophets. Karamat are things that Allah blesses the believers of a prophet with. We see many in the seerah — and in this incident, we see two: (i) out of nowhere wasps come and then out of nowhere a river comes; and (ii) Khubayb eating grapes appearing out of nowhere.
4. We see the love the sahaba had for not just the Prophet PBUH but even for following the sunnah up until the time of their death. Khubayb was about to die but he wanted to purify himself.
What made this especially traumatic was that this second incident occurred at the exact same time as the Incident of al-Raji, so much so —according to one report— the Prophet PBUH got the news of both of them on the same night. And it was a tragedy —in terms of quantity— much worse than al-Raji, and that is the Incident of Bir Ma'una (بئر معونة) (also spelled Bi'r Ma'una). And in actual fact, it was the worst massacre to occur in the seerah. A cold-blooded massacre of Muslims. And the story is as follows: Around this time, one of the famous chieftains of Najd (نجد, i.e., northern Arabia) by the name of Abu Bara Amir ibn Malik (أبو براء عامر بن مالك) came down to Madinah. (Side note: The people of Najd were known for many things, of them is that they weren't as civilized as the Hejazis — this was the perception at the time.) Abu Bara stayed in Madinah for a while and he was very impressed with Islam. The Prophet PBUH gave dawah to him, but he was hesitant and said, "O Muhammad, if only you were to send a group of your Companions to the people of Najd and call them to this matter (Islam), I am sure a lot of them will respond to your call. So send us your people and we will go and spread your Message." So Abu Bara guaranteed protection for du'at (دعاة - preachers) in the Najd region. He opens up the doors for Muslims to give dawah. He didn't accept Islam, but he said, "You have my word," and as we will see, he was an honest man — he was not lying.
Amr on his way back met two people from the tribe of Amir ibn al-Tufayl walking back towards Amir ibn al-Tufayl from Madinah. These two men that he meets have no idea what has happened with the 70 sahaba, but Amr does not know that they have no idea. And apparently, both of them had sought protection from the Prophet PBUH, and the Prophet PBUH had given it to them — but Amr didn't know this; and from his perspective, these were people from the tribe that had killed all 70 of his companions — so he tricked them and killed both of them while they slept. Then he discovered a letter of protection from the Prophet PBUH in their possession. And so he felt extremely bad, he went back to the Prophet PBUH and broke the news of what had happened. So Amr was the one who brought back the terrible news of the Incident of Bir Ma'una to the Prophet PBUH. And as we said, al-Waqidi mentions that the Prophet PBUH received the news of al-Raji and Bir Ma'una on the same night. 80 sahaba, both groups of them have been massacred to death. They were people of the Suffa, and we know how close the Prophet PBUH was to them. So the Prophet PBUH was greatly grieved, and he prayed every single one of the 5 daily salahs with a special qunut (قنوت) for all of the shuhada for one whole month. He prayed for the shuhada, and he asked Allah AWJ to 'take care' and punish the four tribes who killed the sahaba (i.e., Asiya, Ra'l, Dhakwan, and Banu Lahyan [بنو لحيان]).
A number of benefits to derive:
1. We can say that the religion of Islam is not going to be spread without loss and sacrifice, and that loss is going to be bitter and difficult to bear. If this was the case for the Prophet PBUH and the sahaba, then how about in our times?
2. Compare the characters of Khubayb ibn Adi and Amir ibn al-Tufayl: Khubayb had in his hands the baby and he could exact vengeance if he wanted to but he didn't; whereas Amir ibn al-Tufayl was so filthy and evil-minded he killed a messenger who already had protection, and then massacred 70 others. Such is the heart of Iman with the heart of kufr. The heart of Iman is a heart of morality; the heart of kufr has no morality whatsoever.
3. Of the fiqh points we derive: The concept of qunut is something that the fuqaha (فقهاء - Islamic jurists) greatly differed over. When does one make qunut? As we know, each madhhab has its position — and now is not the time to get into this, but the Shafi'is say in Salat al-Fajr; Hanafis say in the witr, and others have their positions as well. Allahu a'lam, but the strongest position is that qunut is not linked to any prayer, rather, it is only done at times of general calamity — when something afflicts the ummah. Everybody should make du'a for those afflictions. And frankly, this is a sunnah that has been neglected by many many people. Anas ibn Malik narrated that the Prophet PBUH, after the Incident of Bir Ma'una took place, he would stand up after ruku' (ركوع) in the last rak'ah and he would make du'a qunut for the shuhada and against the tribes that had killed them. So when is qunut done? It is done in the very last rak'ah. At what particular time? When you stand up from ruku'. So when you say, "ربنا ولك الحمد (rabbana wa laka al-hamd)," then after that, you raise your hands and you make du'a qunut. And qunut should be done for any distress or calamity that the ummah is suffering from. And this is something that we should teach our congregations; the Muslim ummah should know. For example, what's happening in Syria and Palestine. Anything that might happen in the world, we should make qunut like our Prophet PBUH did. And in Sh. YQ's opinion, qunut should not be done on a daily individual basis; it's not something that is linked to Fajr or to witr. You just make qunut when the situation arises for the ummah. This is what we see here from the ahadith. But of course, this is fiqh, and there are different madhhabs as we know.
4. The Prophet PBUH clearly did not know ilm al-ghayb (علم الغيب - knowledge of the unseen). He sent 70 here and 10 there and he did not know they would die, even though he could describe the chieftain etc. What Allah wants to tell him, Allah will tell him — but our Prophet PBUH does not know unconditional ilm al-ghayb. There's no question he knew more than any of us, and there is no question Allah taught him things about this dunya and the akhira that would be ghayb for us (recall the incident of al-Isra wal-Mi'raj), and Allah says in the Quran, "No one can grasp any of His knowledge except what He wills" [Quran, 2:255]; but unconditional ghayb, no one knows other than Allah AWJ. "Say, [O Prophet,] 'None in the heavens and the earth has knowledge of the unseen except Allah'" [Quran, 27:65]. The incidents of al-Raji and Bir Ma'una are clear evidence for this. The Prophet PBUH himself sent these 80 sahaba out, and he did not know what would happen to them.
5. The two people who Amr had killed on the way back, the Prophet PBUH took responsibility for their death and gave blood money to their relatives. This shows us a very profound lesson: Don't blame a person for the crimes and sins of his tribe or people. The issue of collective guilt — very relevant to our political situation and those who are angry at particular back-and-forth that are going on. The two men were from the tribe of Amir ibn al-Tufayl, but they were completely innocent; so the Prophet PBUH bears responsibility, pays the blood money, and deals with the matter. And this clearly shows that, "No soul burdened with sin will bear the burden of another" [Quran, 35:18] — You are not held accountable for what your tribe or nation has done if you are not a part of that, if you don't participate, if you have nothing to do with that.
6. As for Amir ibn al-Tufayl, he died a very miserable and pathetic death. He was inflicted with a type of leprosy that spread over his whole skin (it started from under the arm). So his own people left him — he became a pariah. And it caused him to become delusional. And he died an extremely painful and miserable death alone in the desert. Indeed, for someone whom even the Prophet PBUH made du'a against, how can he be saved. This is indeed the punishment of Allah.
A number of small skirmishes took place. Of them, the Prophet PBUH sent 150 Muslims to attack and conquer a small tribe of the Banu Asad (بنو أسد). Their leader was Tulayha al-Asadi (طليحة الأسدي) — and he was one of those who proclaimed prophethood after the Prophet PBUH had passed away; he was one of those 30 dajjals.
The main two stories that we will discuss today, as we said, are the Incident of al-Raji & the Incident of Bir Ma'una. Al-Raji & Ma'una are both the names of the wells around which the massacres took place.
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The Expedition of Abdullah ibn Unays
Regarding al-Raji (الرجيع) — the beginnings of the incident actually go back a little bit; we need to discuss the Expedition of Abdullah ibn Unays first:
The tribe of Hudhayl (هذيل), a large Bedouin tribe in the north, had started planning an attack on Madinah. Their chieftain Khalid ibn Sufyan al-Hudhali (خالد بن سفيان الهذلي) began gathering a small army to surprise attack Madinah. Upon hearing this, the Prophet PBUH decided to preemptively attack him and execute him, so he PBUH chose Abdullah ibn Unays al-Juhani (عبد الله بن أنيس الجهني), just one man, to get rid of the chieftain. The Prophet PBUH said to Abdullah ibn Unays, "You will find him in the Valley of Arana (عرنة)." — [And we assume Allah SWT had told the Prophet PBUH the location of Khalid ibn Sufyan.] Abdullah asked, "What does he look like?" The Prophet PBUH said, "When you see him, you shall feel more terrified than you have ever been at anybody's appearance." [The Prophet PBUH had never seen him, so we assume Allah told him.] And Abdullah said he took his sword and headed towards the valley, and, "When I saw him (Khalid ibn Sufyan) in the distance, I had never been as terrified of anybody's shakl (شكل - appearance) as this man's. So I said, 'Allah and His Messenger have spoken the truth.'" It was Zuhr when he saw him in the distance, and because he was worried the time of Zuhr would go away, he prayed as he was walking — he just made gestures with his head. Therefore, he prayed for the first time in Islamic history a type of salah that was later called one version of Salat al-Khawf (صلاة الخوف), where if you cannot stop and face the qibla, you just pray as you are.
He got close to Khalid ibn Sufyan and he asked him if he was actually gathering an army, and then said, "Let me also join your army" — it's a ruse. And then when the time was right, he got rid of him. Khalid only had a few people with him at the time, so it was relatively easy for Abdullah to do it. So he went back and as soon as the Prophet PBUH saw him, he made du'a for him and gifted him a staff and said, "This shall be the sign between me and you on the Day of Judgment." So Abdullah ibn Unays never ever from then on let the staff out of his sight. And when he died, he was buried with the staff in his grave.
This incident will lead to the Massacre of al-Raji; but before we get there, let us mention three quick lessons from the Expedition of Abdullah ibn Unays.
He got close to Khalid ibn Sufyan and he asked him if he was actually gathering an army, and then said, "Let me also join your army" — it's a ruse. And then when the time was right, he got rid of him. Khalid only had a few people with him at the time, so it was relatively easy for Abdullah to do it. So he went back and as soon as the Prophet PBUH saw him, he made du'a for him and gifted him a staff and said, "This shall be the sign between me and you on the Day of Judgment." So Abdullah ibn Unays never ever from then on let the staff out of his sight. And when he died, he was buried with the staff in his grave.
This incident will lead to the Massacre of al-Raji; but before we get there, let us mention three quick lessons from the Expedition of Abdullah ibn Unays.
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Lessons From the Expedition of Abdullah ibn Unays
1. Again and again we see the miracle of the Prophet PBUH — he knew the right location, physical details, etc., of Khalid ibn Sufyan, even though he had never seen him.
2. The Prophet PBUH chose the right person for the job.
3. The sahaba made ijtihad about fiqh even during the lifetime of the Prophet PBUH. This is a clear evidence about the legal permissibility of making ijtihad — even when the Prophet PBUH was alive, ijtihad was done. And there are many instances to show this. And sometimes the Prophet PBUH would affirm the ijtihad that was made, and sometimes he would fine-tune it, e.g., it is said Ammar ibn Yasir, when he fell junub in the desert and he did not have any water, he made ijtihad that, "If we do tayammum (تيمم) for wudu, I guess we must do tayammum for ghusl as well." So he took his clothes off and rolled around in the sand. When he told the Prophet PBUH this, the Prophet PBUH laughed and said, "All you needed to do was this"—and he PBUH showed him the proper way to do tayammum for ghusl. This shows us the legal permissibility of extrapolating from the Quran and sunnah to cater to situations that the Quran and sunnah don't explicitly tell us about. And therefore, this shows us the basis of our religion being applicable in all times and places through the medium of ijtihad.
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The Incident of al-Raji
The Expedition of Abdullah ibn Unays occurred in Muharram of the 4th year of the Hijrah — he killed the chieftain. How did the tribe of Hudhayl respond? They resorted to a very evil tactic in order to get revenge. They contacted two other tribes: Udal (عضل) and al-Qara (القارة), and they paid them some money to set up a blatant, dastardly trap. It was a simple plot: Pretend to accept Islam, go to Madinah, and then beg the Prophet PBUH to send teachers to teach you the religion — they knew that the sahaba loved to go and teach, and that the Prophet PBUH would send teachers (Quran teachers, salah teachers, etc.) to the people. So Udal and al-Qara did this, and they insisted on getting as many of the teachers the Prophet PBUH could afford to send. So 7-10 sahaba (most likely 10) volunteered under the leadership of Asim ibn Thabit (عاصم بن ثابت). When these sahaba got to the Well of al-Raji, 100 warriors ambushed them, so they realized this was a trap, a setup, not an actual, sincere conversion. When they saw the 100 coming in the distance, the sahaba managed to take shelter at the top of a hill, and they pulled out their bows and arrows. But in the end, when you have 10 people surrounded by 100, eventually what is going to happen? And the plot thickens because, in the Battle of Uhud, Asim had killed the husband of a certain pagan lady by the name of Sulafa bint Sa'd (سلافة بنت سعد). She had promised she would drink wine from the skull of Asim, "I am not going to die until I drink wine from the skull of Asim!" and in her vengeance, she had said, "Anyone who brings me the skull of Asim, I will give 100 camels!" Asim knew this, so he cried out and made a du'a to Allah SWT, "I will not surrender to them, because I know what they will do to my body. I will fight to the death. O Allah, inform our Prophet PBUH about us that we were sincere; that we didn't die cowards." And he said, "O Allah, as I protected Your religion in the daytime (when I was alive), now protect my body at night (when I die)," i.e., "Protect my skull from being used as a wine glass for the lady." And he fought with his bows and arrows until the arrows ran out, and he fought with his spear until it broke, and he fought with his sword until it became dull — he fought a brave battle. But eventually, what is going to happen when you are surrounded by 10:1? Eventually, he died.
When Asim died, everybody rushed to get his body to get the 100 camel reward, but out of nowhere, a swarm of wasps came and they stung anyone who came close. So they said, "What do we do?" One said, "Just wait until the sun sets. Wasps don't hang around at night." And so they waited until the sunset, but then subhan'Allah, out of nowhere a river just came — it had not rained and there was no river, and Asim's body was on top of a hill, yet the river just came gushing out, and it went straight to his body, picked his body up, and carried it off into the distance. And no one knows where his body is buried — Allah took care of his burial. This is Asim ibn Thabit; he died a shaheed.
Back to the battle: The pagans killed the sahaba down to the last three, and they said, "Just surrender now." Why did they want the three to surrender? For ransom; for money. And they promised, "If you surrender, we will protect you and give you safety." And so the three decided to surrender; they were Khubayb ibn Adi (خبيب بن عدي), Zayd ibn al-Dathinah (زيد بن الدثنة), and Abdullah ibn Tariq (عبد الله بن طارق) — they came down from the hill. But immediately, the pagans jumped on them and tied them up like animals. Abdullah ibn Tariq said, "This is the first sign of treachery," and so he refused to become a prisoner of war, he refused to walk and march, he refused every commandment — so they just killed him there and then and left him at the side of the road. As for the other two, they found out who wanted to purchase them — Khubayb was purchased by the tribe of Banu al-Harith (بنو الحارث) as he had killed someone from this tribe during the Battle of Badr; and as for Zayd ibn al-Dathinah, he had been one of those who had attacked Umayyah ibn Khalaf the master of Bilal (recall the story of Bilal after the Battle of Badr where he said, "I am not going to live if Umayyah lives" — and Zayd was one of those who surrounded and killed Umayyah), so Safwan ibn Umayyah purchased him for a large sum in order to kill him for having been one of the people who killed his father.
So both Khubayb and Zayd became prisoners only to be executed in a short period of time.
Khubayb remained a prisoner amongst the Banu al-Harith until they announced they would kill him. So he asked for a shower, and a razor to get rid of pubic hair etc. to basically meet Allah clean; and they allowed him this. As he was sitting there with the razor in his hand, a baby came up to him. The mother, when she saw this from the distance, she cried out in fear that Zayd might kill her child. Khubayb said, "Are you scared that I will kill this child? Wallahi, I will never do something like this." And the same mother later on said, "I have never seen any prisoner more noble than him in his akhlaq and manners. And I used to see him tied up, eating from a bunch of grapes — and wallahi, there was no bunch of grapes in Makkah at the time"—it was sustenance that Allah SWT had given him; a miracle.
When they brought him on to be killed, he said, "Allow me to pray two rak'at." And when he finished, he said, "Were it not for the fact that you would think that I am being cowardly, I would have prayed a longer two rak'at. But I don't want you to think I am scared of death," and so it was a short two rak'at. And Khubayb was the one who started this sunnah of praying two rak'at before being executed. This is also ijtihad from the sahaba that later on was accepted and approved by the Prophet PBUH.
As for Zayd, he is back with the Quraysh. They really made a big festival out of killing him — the whole people of Makkah took a day off to torture and kill him. And this is when that famous incident that we all know took place: Abu Sufyan said when Zayd was tied up and was about to be lanced to death, "I ask you by Allah, tell me the honest truth! Don't you wish right now that Muhammad was in your place, and you were with your family and children?" And Zayd gave that fully honest response with that Iman that only a Muslim can have: "Wallahi, I would rather die like this than the Prophet PBUH get a thorn prick right now where he is sitting." And Abu Sufyan later on said, "I have never seen any leader that is more beloved to his people than Muhammad is with his Companions." (And he was not the only one to say this; indeed, every single non-Muslim who witnessed the respect that the sahaba gave to the Prophet PBUH used to say this.)
As for Zayd, he is back with the Quraysh. They really made a big festival out of killing him — the whole people of Makkah took a day off to torture and kill him. And this is when that famous incident that we all know took place: Abu Sufyan said when Zayd was tied up and was about to be lanced to death, "I ask you by Allah, tell me the honest truth! Don't you wish right now that Muhammad was in your place, and you were with your family and children?" And Zayd gave that fully honest response with that Iman that only a Muslim can have: "Wallahi, I would rather die like this than the Prophet PBUH get a thorn prick right now where he is sitting." And Abu Sufyan later on said, "I have never seen any leader that is more beloved to his people than Muhammad is with his Companions." (And he was not the only one to say this; indeed, every single non-Muslim who witnessed the respect that the sahaba gave to the Prophet PBUH used to say this.)
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Lessons From the Incident of al-Raji
From this incident, we learn many things:
1. In such situations, should you surrender or fight on? We see that permissibility has been given for both. Whichever one a person chooses, insha'Allah there is precedent in that, and all of them are rewarded for what they have done.
2. We learn from the action of Abdullah ibn Tariq that it is not considered suicide to do something that you know will cause your death as long as it is at the hands of somebody else.
3. The concept of karamat (كرامات) — mini-miracles given to the non-prophets. Karamat are things that Allah blesses the believers of a prophet with. We see many in the seerah — and in this incident, we see two: (i) out of nowhere wasps come and then out of nowhere a river comes; and (ii) Khubayb eating grapes appearing out of nowhere.
4. We see the love the sahaba had for not just the Prophet PBUH but even for following the sunnah up until the time of their death. Khubayb was about to die but he wanted to purify himself.
5. The sunnah of praying two rak'at before execution.
6. Treachery and killing children and women is never something that our religion allows. On the verge of execution, many people would say, "Let me just kill people along with me," but this is completely wrong. Khubayb was shocked when the mother screamed; and he couldn't believe that the mother would think he would do something to her child, so he asked a rhetorical question. It's as if he was insulted —even though he was the prisoner— that the mother thought he would do such a dastardly deed. Our shariah is very explicit about the complete impermissibility of the killing of innocents, especially women and children.
6. Treachery and killing children and women is never something that our religion allows. On the verge of execution, many people would say, "Let me just kill people along with me," but this is completely wrong. Khubayb was shocked when the mother screamed; and he couldn't believe that the mother would think he would do something to her child, so he asked a rhetorical question. It's as if he was insulted —even though he was the prisoner— that the mother thought he would do such a dastardly deed. Our shariah is very explicit about the complete impermissibility of the killing of innocents, especially women and children.
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The Incident of Bir Ma'una
What made this especially traumatic was that this second incident occurred at the exact same time as the Incident of al-Raji, so much so —according to one report— the Prophet PBUH got the news of both of them on the same night. And it was a tragedy —in terms of quantity— much worse than al-Raji, and that is the Incident of Bir Ma'una (بئر معونة) (also spelled Bi'r Ma'una). And in actual fact, it was the worst massacre to occur in the seerah. A cold-blooded massacre of Muslims. And the story is as follows: Around this time, one of the famous chieftains of Najd (نجد, i.e., northern Arabia) by the name of Abu Bara Amir ibn Malik (أبو براء عامر بن مالك) came down to Madinah. (Side note: The people of Najd were known for many things, of them is that they weren't as civilized as the Hejazis — this was the perception at the time.) Abu Bara stayed in Madinah for a while and he was very impressed with Islam. The Prophet PBUH gave dawah to him, but he was hesitant and said, "O Muhammad, if only you were to send a group of your Companions to the people of Najd and call them to this matter (Islam), I am sure a lot of them will respond to your call. So send us your people and we will go and spread your Message." So Abu Bara guaranteed protection for du'at (دعاة - preachers) in the Najd region. He opens up the doors for Muslims to give dawah. He didn't accept Islam, but he said, "You have my word," and as we will see, he was an honest man — he was not lying.
And how does the system work back then? Everybody who is allied with a tribe, if one of the tribes gives protection, all of the joined tribes automatically must also give protection. This is called halif (حليف), or plural: hulafa (حلفاء). Let's say X and Y have a treaty (i.e., they are allies), and if X extends protection to Z, then Y also has to protect Z. So Abu Bara is saying he has an alliance with all of the people of Najd, and his protection should be good enough, because he is a senior chieftain. But he did not realize at the time that one of the other chieftains hated Islam so much that he was basically willing to invoke a civil war, as we will see.
Nonetheless, this protection from Abu Bara was big news for the Muslims. Why? Because the province of Najd is bigger than the province of Hejaz; and the number of potential converts is so much it will make the entire Islamic dynamics change.
The Prophet PBUH chooses *70* of the best of the qurra (قراء - reciters [of the Quran]) and du'at, because the potential is so much. The majority of them are Ahl al-Suffa — these are indeed the cream of the crop. Anas ibn Malik narrates that the people who went there were "known for their Quran, known for their tahajjud, known for filling up the buckets of the Ansar at night." They were the best of the best, involved in charity in the day and ibadah in the night. And for the small city of Madinah, 70 was a huge amount, and the Prophet PBUH chose them. Imagine, in Uhud Muslims had 700 fighting men, so 70 means 10% of them!
When the 70 of them got to the Well of Ma'una, they sent a letter through Haram ibn Milhan (حرام بن ملحان - a sahabi) to Amir ibn al-Tufayl (عامر بن الطفيل) the chieftain of one of the local tribes of the region. Amir ibn al-Tufayl was one of those arrogant chieftains who only wanted to accept Islam on condition. It's said he had attempted to negotiate with the Prophet PBUH —either directly or indirectly—, "I will accept Islam either if you take charge of the cities and leave all of the Bedouin lands to me OR make me your chieftain after you die." Obviously, the Prophet PBUH refused to accept, and this only made Amir ibn al-Tufayl more arrogant.
Nonetheless, this protection from Abu Bara was big news for the Muslims. Why? Because the province of Najd is bigger than the province of Hejaz; and the number of potential converts is so much it will make the entire Islamic dynamics change.
When the 70 of them got to the Well of Ma'una, they sent a letter through Haram ibn Milhan (حرام بن ملحان - a sahabi) to Amir ibn al-Tufayl (عامر بن الطفيل) the chieftain of one of the local tribes of the region. Amir ibn al-Tufayl was one of those arrogant chieftains who only wanted to accept Islam on condition. It's said he had attempted to negotiate with the Prophet PBUH —either directly or indirectly—, "I will accept Islam either if you take charge of the cities and leave all of the Bedouin lands to me OR make me your chieftain after you die." Obviously, the Prophet PBUH refused to accept, and this only made Amir ibn al-Tufayl more arrogant.
Everyone knew the Muslims had been given protection. But when Amir met Haram ibn Milhan RA who came with a letter of introduction —a letter informing that the Muslims would be here just for a while etc.— and he found out that these sahaba had come from Madinah, he made an eye motion to one of his henchmen to kill Haram ibn Milhan. Now, this is a triple sin:
i) Haram ibn Milhan is a messenger; and by unanimous conventions of the world, messengers are never harmed. (And to this day, as we know, ambassadors are never harmed.)
ii) Even if he weren't a messenger, he has protection from a more senior chieftain; and it is not Amir's duty to interfere with that treaty. He knows that killing Haram ibn Milhan would break an agreement that he doesn't have the right to break. (Side note: In one book, it even says that the one who gave the protection [Abu Bara] was in fact one of the uncles of Amir.)
iii) Amir killed Haram ibn Milhan surreptitiously/secretly (by giving the motion) and Haram ibn Milhan had no clue.
i) Haram ibn Milhan is a messenger; and by unanimous conventions of the world, messengers are never harmed. (And to this day, as we know, ambassadors are never harmed.)
ii) Even if he weren't a messenger, he has protection from a more senior chieftain; and it is not Amir's duty to interfere with that treaty. He knows that killing Haram ibn Milhan would break an agreement that he doesn't have the right to break. (Side note: In one book, it even says that the one who gave the protection [Abu Bara] was in fact one of the uncles of Amir.)
iii) Amir killed Haram ibn Milhan surreptitiously/secretly (by giving the motion) and Haram ibn Milhan had no clue.
So as Haram ibn Milhan is standing, basically waiting for the audience to be granted to him, from behind, one of the Bedouins comes running with a spear, and he thrusts it in between Haram's shoulder blades, and it comes right out in front of him. As soon as Haram sees this, he instantly says, "I won (I am a shaheed)! By the Lord of the Ka'bah!" Look at his reaction. That was the first thing that came to his mind. This means it was always on his mind to become a shaheed, and he had been making du'a to Allah SWT that he wanted to die a shaheed; so as soon as he sees the spear coming through his body, he is so excited he cries out, "I won! By the Lord of the Ka'bah!"—and those were his last words. And it is said that one of the people who were there who heard this phrase, it caused him to go asking the other Muslims about the phrase, and eventually, he accepted Islam. Indeed, what type of religion is this that someone is happy at dying.
Amir ibn al-Tufayl knows he is in trouble now — he has killed a messenger. And there are 70 people still there, and he needs to do something. So what does he do? He sends out messages to any tribe that is willing to join forces with him to kill all 70 of this. And quite a number of them refused because they knew Abu Bara had given protection; but three of the subtribes agreed: Asiya (عصية), Ra'l (رعل), and Dhakwan (ذكوان). They agreed to join forces with Amir ibn al-Tufayl and attack the 70 sahaba at Bir Ma'una. Around 400-500 of them marched to Bir Ma'una and they surrounded the 70 sahaba. The Muslims tried to defend themselves, but they hadn't come for a battle, they hadn't come with weapons and armor, so eventually, each and every one of them was killed, except for three people:
1. Ka'b ibn Zayd (كعب بن زيد) — they wounded him and he fell down unconscious, all the while the bodies of the shuhada continued to collapse and pile up on him, so the enemy didn't even know there was a person under all of these piles of bodies who was still alive. (We will come back to his story — he eventually went back to Madinah and died a shaheed in the Battle of Khandaq [5 AH].)
2. Amr ibn Umayyah (عمرو بن أمية) — a Muhajir.
3. Al-Mundhir ibn Muhammad (المنذر بن محمد) — an Ansari.
Amr and Mundhir had gone for an errand for a few hours (maybe to get some water, or maybe for some other issue that the camp had sent them), and as they came back, they saw the vultures in the air circling in front of where the sahaba had camped. They said, "Something is wrong"—you are not going to have vultures coming unless there is a feast to be had. So they began discussing, "What do you think we should do? Clearly, there is danger. We don't know what's happening. Should we walk in, or should we go back to the Prophet PBUH?" Amr the Muhajir says, "I think we should go back to the Prophet PBUH in order to tell him that some calamity has happened. Let's go back and get reinforcements." Al-Mundhir the Ansari says, "As for me, I will not give up being in the place where my companions have been killed (i.e., they were lucky enough to get shahada/martyrdom; I'm not going to give that up and just walk away from that position), neither do I want other men telling about my story (i.e., I'm not going to be a messenger that lives to tell their story while they got the actual blessing of getting shahada/martyrdom)." And he in fact encouraged the Muhajir to come with him. So the both of them walked in, and they were both caught. Eventually, Mundhir was in fact killed, and for some reason, Amr was allowed to go back. It's said that Amir ibn al-Tufayl (the evil chieftain) either wanted a messenger to go back OR he had to free a slave anyway, so he chose Amr to free. The point being: Subhan'Allah, the one who said, "Perhaps we should go back," Allah allowed him to go back; and the one who said, "I want to become a shaheed," Allah AWJ made him shaheed.
Amir ibn al-Tufayl knows he is in trouble now — he has killed a messenger. And there are 70 people still there, and he needs to do something. So what does he do? He sends out messages to any tribe that is willing to join forces with him to kill all 70 of this. And quite a number of them refused because they knew Abu Bara had given protection; but three of the subtribes agreed: Asiya (عصية), Ra'l (رعل), and Dhakwan (ذكوان). They agreed to join forces with Amir ibn al-Tufayl and attack the 70 sahaba at Bir Ma'una. Around 400-500 of them marched to Bir Ma'una and they surrounded the 70 sahaba. The Muslims tried to defend themselves, but they hadn't come for a battle, they hadn't come with weapons and armor, so eventually, each and every one of them was killed, except for three people:
1. Ka'b ibn Zayd (كعب بن زيد) — they wounded him and he fell down unconscious, all the while the bodies of the shuhada continued to collapse and pile up on him, so the enemy didn't even know there was a person under all of these piles of bodies who was still alive. (We will come back to his story — he eventually went back to Madinah and died a shaheed in the Battle of Khandaq [5 AH].)
2. Amr ibn Umayyah (عمرو بن أمية) — a Muhajir.
3. Al-Mundhir ibn Muhammad (المنذر بن محمد) — an Ansari.
Amr and Mundhir had gone for an errand for a few hours (maybe to get some water, or maybe for some other issue that the camp had sent them), and as they came back, they saw the vultures in the air circling in front of where the sahaba had camped. They said, "Something is wrong"—you are not going to have vultures coming unless there is a feast to be had. So they began discussing, "What do you think we should do? Clearly, there is danger. We don't know what's happening. Should we walk in, or should we go back to the Prophet PBUH?" Amr the Muhajir says, "I think we should go back to the Prophet PBUH in order to tell him that some calamity has happened. Let's go back and get reinforcements." Al-Mundhir the Ansari says, "As for me, I will not give up being in the place where my companions have been killed (i.e., they were lucky enough to get shahada/martyrdom; I'm not going to give that up and just walk away from that position), neither do I want other men telling about my story (i.e., I'm not going to be a messenger that lives to tell their story while they got the actual blessing of getting shahada/martyrdom)." And he in fact encouraged the Muhajir to come with him. So the both of them walked in, and they were both caught. Eventually, Mundhir was in fact killed, and for some reason, Amr was allowed to go back. It's said that Amir ibn al-Tufayl (the evil chieftain) either wanted a messenger to go back OR he had to free a slave anyway, so he chose Amr to free. The point being: Subhan'Allah, the one who said, "Perhaps we should go back," Allah allowed him to go back; and the one who said, "I want to become a shaheed," Allah AWJ made him shaheed.
Amr on his way back met two people from the tribe of Amir ibn al-Tufayl walking back towards Amir ibn al-Tufayl from Madinah. These two men that he meets have no idea what has happened with the 70 sahaba, but Amr does not know that they have no idea. And apparently, both of them had sought protection from the Prophet PBUH, and the Prophet PBUH had given it to them — but Amr didn't know this; and from his perspective, these were people from the tribe that had killed all 70 of his companions — so he tricked them and killed both of them while they slept. Then he discovered a letter of protection from the Prophet PBUH in their possession. And so he felt extremely bad, he went back to the Prophet PBUH and broke the news of what had happened. So Amr was the one who brought back the terrible news of the Incident of Bir Ma'una to the Prophet PBUH. And as we said, al-Waqidi mentions that the Prophet PBUH received the news of al-Raji and Bir Ma'una on the same night. 80 sahaba, both groups of them have been massacred to death. They were people of the Suffa, and we know how close the Prophet PBUH was to them. So the Prophet PBUH was greatly grieved, and he prayed every single one of the 5 daily salahs with a special qunut (قنوت) for all of the shuhada for one whole month. He prayed for the shuhada, and he asked Allah AWJ to 'take care' and punish the four tribes who killed the sahaba (i.e., Asiya, Ra'l, Dhakwan, and Banu Lahyan [بنو لحيان]).
And this is one of those incidents where Allah AWJ revealed many verses in the Quran about but for a wisdom known to Him He then abrogated. It's called Naskh al-Tilawah (نسخ التلاوة - Abrogation of Quranic Text). We still have remnants of those verses in Sunan Abi Dawud. E.g., hadith No. 2158: "مَنْ يُبلِّغُ إِخْوانَنا عنا أنَّا أحْياءٌ في الجنَّةِ (Who will go and tell our brothers that we are [safe and] alive in Paradise?)"—so Allah SWT told the Prophet PBUH about the martyrs. The verses were recited at the time, but then abrogated for a wisdom known to Him.
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Lessons From the Incident of Bir Ma'una
A number of benefits to derive:
1. We can say that the religion of Islam is not going to be spread without loss and sacrifice, and that loss is going to be bitter and difficult to bear. If this was the case for the Prophet PBUH and the sahaba, then how about in our times?
2. Compare the characters of Khubayb ibn Adi and Amir ibn al-Tufayl: Khubayb had in his hands the baby and he could exact vengeance if he wanted to but he didn't; whereas Amir ibn al-Tufayl was so filthy and evil-minded he killed a messenger who already had protection, and then massacred 70 others. Such is the heart of Iman with the heart of kufr. The heart of Iman is a heart of morality; the heart of kufr has no morality whatsoever.
3. Of the fiqh points we derive: The concept of qunut is something that the fuqaha (فقهاء - Islamic jurists) greatly differed over. When does one make qunut? As we know, each madhhab has its position — and now is not the time to get into this, but the Shafi'is say in Salat al-Fajr; Hanafis say in the witr, and others have their positions as well. Allahu a'lam, but the strongest position is that qunut is not linked to any prayer, rather, it is only done at times of general calamity — when something afflicts the ummah. Everybody should make du'a for those afflictions. And frankly, this is a sunnah that has been neglected by many many people. Anas ibn Malik narrated that the Prophet PBUH, after the Incident of Bir Ma'una took place, he would stand up after ruku' (ركوع) in the last rak'ah and he would make du'a qunut for the shuhada and against the tribes that had killed them. So when is qunut done? It is done in the very last rak'ah. At what particular time? When you stand up from ruku'. So when you say, "ربنا ولك الحمد (rabbana wa laka al-hamd)," then after that, you raise your hands and you make du'a qunut. And qunut should be done for any distress or calamity that the ummah is suffering from. And this is something that we should teach our congregations; the Muslim ummah should know. For example, what's happening in Syria and Palestine. Anything that might happen in the world, we should make qunut like our Prophet PBUH did. And in Sh. YQ's opinion, qunut should not be done on a daily individual basis; it's not something that is linked to Fajr or to witr. You just make qunut when the situation arises for the ummah. This is what we see here from the ahadith. But of course, this is fiqh, and there are different madhhabs as we know.
4. The Prophet PBUH clearly did not know ilm al-ghayb (علم الغيب - knowledge of the unseen). He sent 70 here and 10 there and he did not know they would die, even though he could describe the chieftain etc. What Allah wants to tell him, Allah will tell him — but our Prophet PBUH does not know unconditional ilm al-ghayb. There's no question he knew more than any of us, and there is no question Allah taught him things about this dunya and the akhira that would be ghayb for us (recall the incident of al-Isra wal-Mi'raj), and Allah says in the Quran, "No one can grasp any of His knowledge except what He wills" [Quran, 2:255]; but unconditional ghayb, no one knows other than Allah AWJ. "Say, [O Prophet,] 'None in the heavens and the earth has knowledge of the unseen except Allah'" [Quran, 27:65]. The incidents of al-Raji and Bir Ma'una are clear evidence for this. The Prophet PBUH himself sent these 80 sahaba out, and he did not know what would happen to them.
5. The two people who Amr had killed on the way back, the Prophet PBUH took responsibility for their death and gave blood money to their relatives. This shows us a very profound lesson: Don't blame a person for the crimes and sins of his tribe or people. The issue of collective guilt — very relevant to our political situation and those who are angry at particular back-and-forth that are going on. The two men were from the tribe of Amir ibn al-Tufayl, but they were completely innocent; so the Prophet PBUH bears responsibility, pays the blood money, and deals with the matter. And this clearly shows that, "No soul burdened with sin will bear the burden of another" [Quran, 35:18] — You are not held accountable for what your tribe or nation has done if you are not a part of that, if you don't participate, if you have nothing to do with that.
6. As for Amir ibn al-Tufayl, he died a very miserable and pathetic death. He was inflicted with a type of leprosy that spread over his whole skin (it started from under the arm). So his own people left him — he became a pariah. And it caused him to become delusional. And he died an extremely painful and miserable death alone in the desert. Indeed, for someone whom even the Prophet PBUH made du'a against, how can he be saved. This is indeed the punishment of Allah.
[Transcribed by Br. Safwan Khan & Faizan]
safwan-khan@hotmail.com
[Revised by Br. Syed Haq & MAR, March 2021]
safwan-khan@hotmail.com
[Revised by Br. Syed Haq & MAR, March 2021]
