The well of Ma’ouna: the seventy readers of the Quran

There took place also in Safar of this year the expedition of the well of Ma’ouna: Makhoul places it most strangely after the Trench. The Boukhari reports through Anas ibn Malik: the Messenger of Allah sent out seventy men on an errand; they were called the readers of the Quran. Two clans of the Banu Sulaym, Ri’l and Dhakwan, came upon them near a well called the well of Ma’ouna. The men said: by Allah, we had no design against you: we are only travellers on an errand for the Prophet.

They killed them. The Prophet invoked Allah against them for a month in the dawn prayer: that was the beginning of the qounout, which we did not formerly observe. Mouslim reports it likewise. He also reports, through Qatada, from Anas: Ri’l, Dhakwan, Ousayya and the Banu Lihyan had asked the Messenger of Allah for reinforcements against an enemy, and he reinforced them with seventy Ansar whom we called in their time the readers: they cut firewood by day and prayed by night, until at the well of Ma’ouna they were killed, betrayed.

When the news reached the Prophet he performed the qounout for a month, supplicating in the dawn prayer against those clans of Arabs: against Ri’l, Dhakwan, Ousayya and the Banu Lihyan. Anas said: we used to recite against them a passage of the Quran, then that was abrogated: convey to our people that we met our Lord, and He is pleased with us and we are pleased with Him.

The Boukhari also reports, from Ishaq ibn Abdallah ibn Abi Talha, from Anas: the Prophet sent his maternal uncle, the brother of Oum Soulaym, at the head of seventy horsemen. The chief of the polytheists was Amir ibn at-Toufayl, who had offered the Messenger of Allah the choice between three things: that the people of the plain be yours and the people of the barren lands mine; or that I be your successor; or that I make war upon you with ten thousand riders of Ghatafan. Amir, struck by an ailment in the house of a certain woman, said in the morning: like the morning of a young camel in the house of a woman of so-and-so’s family: bring me my horse! And he died upon his horse. Haram, the brother of Oum Soulaym, a lame man, set out with a man of his people, and said: remain close to me until I reach them:

if they trust me, stay close; if they kill me, you will rejoin your companions. On arriving he said: will you grant me safe conduct, that I may deliver the message of the Messenger of Allah? One man said to another: stab him! And one came from behind him and stabbed him, with what is thought to have been a spear, thrusting it through. He said: Allah is greater! By the Lord of the Kaaba, I have triumphed! The other man joined him, and all of them were killed except the lame man, who was on the summit of the mountain: Allah sent down upon us the passage, now abrogated: we met our Lord, and He is pleased with us and we are pleased with Him. The Prophet invoked against them for thirty mornings: against Ri’l, Dhakwan, the Banu Lihyan and Ousayya, who had disobeyed Allah and His messenger.

Thoumama ibn Abdallah ibn Anas reports from his grandfather: when Haram ibn Milhan was stabbed on the day of the well of Ma’ouna, he said with his blood, wiping it thus upon his face and head: by the Lord of the Kaaba, I have triumphed! It is also related in the Boukhari, from Hicham ibn Urwa: when the men of the well of Ma’ouna were killed and Amr ibn Oumayya ad-Damri taken captive, Amir ibn at-Toufayl said to him: who is this? Amr pointed to a slain man: this is Amir ibn Fouhayra. Amir said: I saw him, after he was killed, raised toward the sky, until I looked at the sky between him and the earth, and then he was laid down.

The news came to the Prophet, who mourned them and said: your companions have been smitten, and they asked their Lord: Lord, inform our brothers that we are pleased with You and You are pleased with us. And He informed them of it. Urwa ibn Asma ibn as-Salt was smitten among them that day, and it is from him that Urwa was named; and al-Moundir ibn Amr was named after another Moundir. The Waqidi reports, from Urwa, the whole story and the raising of Amir ibn Fouhayra toward the sky: his killer was Jabbar ibn Sulma al-Kilabi.

When he thrust him with the lance, Amir said: by the Lord of the Kaaba, I have triumphed! Jabbar asked afterward: what did he mean by: I have triumphed? They said: he meant Paradise. He said: he spoke truly, by Allah!

And Jabbar embraced Islam after that for that reason. In the campaigns of Moussa ibn Oqba, Urwa says: the body of Amir ibn Fouhayra was never found: they thought the angels had carried him off.

Younous reports from Ibn Ishaq: after Ouhoud the Messenger of Allah remained the rest of Shawwal, Dhoul-Qi’da, Dhoul-Hijja and Mouharram, then sent the men of the well of Ma’ouna out in Safar, at the head of the fourth month after Ouhoud. Abou Bara Amir ibn Malik, called Mala’ib al-Asinna, the player of lances, came to the Messenger of Allah in Medina. He offered him Islam and invited him to it: he did not convert, nor did he refuse outright, and said: O Mohamed, if you sent men of your companions to the people of Najd to call them to your cause, I hope they would answer. He said: "I fear for them the people of Najd."

Abou Bara said: I am their protector. The Messenger of Allah therefore sent al-Moundir ibn Amr, brother of the Banu Sa’ida, called al-Mou’niqi Limate, over forty men, among the best of the Muslims: among them al-Harith ibn as-Simma, Haram ibn Milhan, brother of the Banu Adi ibn an-Najjar, Urwa ibn Asma ibn as-Salt as-Soulami, Nafi’ ibn Boudayl ibn Warqa al-Khouza’i, and Amir ibn Fouhayra, freedman of Abou Bakr, with men among the best. They marched until they encamped at the well of Ma’ouna, which lies between the land of the Banu Amir and the harra of the Banu Sulaym. Upon descending they sent Haram ibn Milhan with the letter of the Messenger of Allah to the enemy of Allah, Amir ibn at-Toufayl: when he reached him, the latter did not look at the letter but fell upon the man and killed him.

Then he called on the Banu Amir to attack them: they refused, saying: never will we betray Abou Bara, who gave them his protection. He then called upon clans of the Banu Sulaym: Ousayya, Ri’l, Dhakwan and al-Qarra, who answered, went out, and enveloped the men in their camps. Seeing them, the Muslims took up their swords and fought until they were slain to the last man, except Ka’b ibn Zayd, brother of the Banu Dinar ibn an-Najjar: they left him with a remnant of life, he was pulled from among the slain, and he lived until the day of the Trench, when he was killed. Amr ibn Oumayya ad-Damri and a man of the Ansar of the Banu Amr ibn Awf were away from the party: nothing informed them of the calamity but the birds circling over the camp.

They said: by Allah, these birds mean something! They came near to look: the men lay in their blood, and the horses of the attackers still stood there. The Ansari said to Amr: what do you think? He said: I think we should rejoin the Messenger of Allah and inform him.

The Ansari said: I shall never be one to leave the place where al-Moundir ibn Amr was slain, nor one to tell it to men. He fought until he was killed. Amr was taken prisoner: when he told them he was of Moudar, Amir ibn at-Toufayl released him, cut off his forelock, and freed him from the price of a slave owed by his mother, as is claimed.

Amr ibn Oumayya went out, and when he was at al-Qarqara, above Qana, two men of the Banu Amir came and alighted in the shade where he was. Now the two Amirites had a covenant of protection from the Messenger of Allah which Amr did not know: he asked them whence they were, and they said: of the Banu Amir. He left them until they slept, then fell upon them and killed them both, thinking to exact from the Banu Amir vengeance for what they had done to the companions of the Messenger of Allah. When Amr came to the Prophet and reported it, the Messenger of Allah said: "You have killed two men: I shall pay their blood-price."

And he said: "This is the doing of Abou Bara: I had always dreaded this and been averse to it." When it reached Abou Bara, the disgrace of Amir toward him weighed upon him, as did the death of the Messenger of Allah’s companions because of him and his protection. Hassan ibn Thabit then composed a poem blaming Amir for betraying Abou Bara and urging the Banu Abi Bara against him; and Rabi’a ibn Amir ibn Malik, cousin of Abou Bara, fell upon Amir ibn at-Toufayl and stabbed him in the thigh: he cried out, fell from his horse, and said: this is the doing of Abou Bara! If I die, let my blood spilt for my uncle not be avenged; if I live, I shall see my own counsel.

Moussa ibn Oqba reports from az-Zouhri an account like that of Ibn Ishaq, saying the commander of the party was al-Moundir ibn Amr; it is also said Marthad ibn Abi Marthad. Hassan wept for the slain of Ma’ouna in famous verses, and Allah is most knowing.