The Incident of Bir Ma'una

The worst massacre of the entire seerah — some 70 of the best Companions, mostly Ahl al-Suffa, sent as teachers to Najd under a chieftain’s guarantee of safety, were surrounded and slaughtered at the Well of Ma’una. It occurred, per al-Waqidi, the same night as al-Raji.

Date

Safar 4 AH (c. 625 CE) — news of it and of al-Raji reached the Prophet ﷺ on the same night, ~80 Companions martyred across the two events.

Background

Abu Bara Amir ibn Malik, a senior chieftain of Najd (northern Arabia), came to Madinah, was impressed by Islam though he did not embrace it, and invited the Prophet ﷺ to send Companions to preach to his people — “I guarantee their protection.” By the tribal custom of halif (alliance), the protection of a senior chieftain was meant to bind all allied tribes. Najd being larger than the Hejaz, the potential for conversions was enormous, so the Prophet ﷺ agreed. Abu Bara was honest — but he did not reckon with one allied chieftain’s hatred of Islam.

What happened

The Prophet ﷺ chose ~70 of the best qurra (reciters) and preachers, the majority Ahl al-Suffa — men “known for their Quran, their tahajjud, and filling the Ansar’s water-buckets at night.” At the Well of Ma’una they sent Haram ibn Milhan (ra) ahead with a letter of introduction to Amir ibn al-Tufayl, a local chieftain who had earlier tried to bargain conditional Islam with the Prophet ﷺ.

Amir signalled a henchman to spear Haram from behind — a triple treachery: killing a messenger (inviolable by universal custom), violating a senior chieftain’s protection he had no right to break, and doing it by stealth. As the spear ran him through, Haram cried out his last words: “I have won — by the Lord of the Ka’bah!” — one witness later embraced Islam over that phrase.

Having killed a messenger, Amir rallied three sub-tribes — Asiya, Ra’l, and Dhakwan — after many refused, honouring Abu Bara’s protection. Some 400–500 surrounded the 70, who had come to teach, not fight, and had no armour. All were killed except three:

• Ka’b ibn Zayd (ra) — wounded, buried unconscious beneath piling bodies; survived, later martyred at Khandaq (5 AH).
• Amr ibn Umayyah (ra) — a Muhajir, away on an errand.
• al-Mundhir ibn Muhammad (ra) — an Ansari; returning, he refused to abandon the field of his martyred companions and was killed; Amr was spared (as a messenger, or to free a slave). The one who counselled retreat lived; the one who sought shahada attained it.

Amr’s mistake and the blood money. On his way back, Amr killed two men of Amir’s tribe as they slept — only to find on them a letter of protection from the Prophet ﷺ. Devastated, he carried the terrible news to Madinah, and the Prophet ﷺ took responsibility and paid their blood money — the very debt whose collection later triggered the expulsion of Banu Nadir.

Participants

The ~70 qurra (mostly Ahl al-Suffa); Haram ibn Milhan; Ka’b ibn Zayd; Amr ibn Umayyah; al-Mundhir ibn Muhammad (Muslims). Amir ibn al-Tufayl; the tribes Asiya, Ra’l, Dhakwan, and Banu Lahyan (opponents). Abu Bara Amir ibn Malik (the protecting chieftain).

Outcome & significance

Around 10% of Madinah’s fighting strength — the cream of its worshippers and teachers — was annihilated. The Prophet ﷺ, greatly grieved, prayed qunut al-nazila in all five daily prayers for a whole month: du’a for the shuhada and against the four tribes. Allah revealed Quranic verses about the martyrs (e.g. “Who will tell our brothers that we are alive in Paradise?”) that were later abrogated in wording — Naskh al-Tilawah — with remnants preserved in Sunan Abi Dawud (no. 2158).

Lessons

• Islam is not spread without bitter loss and sacrifice.
• The heart of iman vs. the heart of kufr: contrast Khubayb‘s mercy to a child with Amir’s slaughter of a protected messenger and 70 men.
• Qunut al-nazila: made at times of communal calamity, in the last rak’ah after rising from ruku’ (Yasir Qadhi’s view: not tied to Fajr or witr).
• The Prophet ﷺ did not possess unconditional ilm al-ghayb — he sent these Companions not knowing they would die (Q 2:255; Q 27:65).
• No collective guilt — the Prophet ﷺ paid blood money for two innocent men of a guilty tribe: “No soul burdened with sin will bear the burden of another” (Q 35:18).

Cross-references

Muhammad ﷺ · Madinah (Yathrib) · Ahl al-Suffa (The People of the Suffa) · The Incident of al-Raji · Amir ibn al-Tufayl · Khubayb ibn Adi (ra) · The Expulsion of Banu Nadir · The Battle of Khandaq (al-Ahzab) · The Battle of Uhud · Seerah Timeline

Sources

• S008 — Yasir Qadhi Seerah EP 051–060 (EP 051). Draws on al-Waqidi (Maghazi, the same-night report), the narration of Anas ibn Malik on the qurra and the month of qunut, and Sunan Abi Dawud (no. 2158) for the abrogated verse.