Battle of Bi’r Ma‘oonah
And he [Ibn al-Qayyim] said:
“During this same month, namely Safar 4 AH, there occurred the battle of Bi’r Ma‘oonah. To sum up:
Abu Bara’ ‘Aamir ibn Maalik, who was known as Mala‘ib al-Asinnah [the Player with the Spears] came to the Messenger of Allah (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) in Madinah. He called him to Islam but he did not become Muslim, yet he was not far from it.
He said: O Messenger of Allah, if you were to send some of your companions to the people of Najd to invite them to your religion, I hope that they would respond to them.
He said to him: “I fear that the people of Najd may kill them.''
Abu Bara said: I will be their protector.
So he sent forty men with him, according to the report of Ibn Ishaaq.
In as-Saheeh it says that they were seventy; the report in as-Saheeh is the correct report.
He appointed as their leader al-Mundhir ibn ‘Amr, one of Banu Saa‘idah, who was known as “The Quick to Seek Death”. They were among the best of the Muslims, the most virtuous of them, their leaders, those who had knowledge of the Qur’an. They travelled until they halted in Bi’r Ma‘oonah, which is between the land of Banu ‘Aamir and the harrah of Banu Sulaym. They halted there, then they sent Haram ibn Milhan, the brother of Umm Sulaym, with the letter of the Messenger of Allah to the enemy of Allah 'Amir ibn at-Tufayl. He did not even look at it, and he ordered a man to stab him with a spear in his back.
When Haram ibn Milhan was stabbed and saw the blood, he said: I have attained a victory, by the Lord of the Ka‘bah! Then the enemy of Allah tried to mobilise Banu ‘Amir to fight the others, but they did not respond to him because of the protection of Abu Bara. Then he mobilised Banu Sulaym and [the tribes of] ‘Usayyah, Ri‘l and Dhakwan responded.
They came and surrounded the Companions of the Messenger of Allah, and they fought until they were all killed, except Ka‘b ibn Zayd ibn an-Najjar. He was wounded and was picked up from among the slain, and lived until he was killed on the Day of al-Khandaq. ‘Amr ibn Umayyah ad-Damri and al-Mundhir ibn ‘Uqbah ibn ‘Amir were with the camels of the Muslims out at pasture, and they saw the birds flying over the location of the battle.
Al-Mundhir ibn ‘Uqbah came and fought the polytheists until he was killed with his companions, and ‘Amr ibn Umayyah ad-Damri was taken captive, but when he told them that he was from Mudar, ‘Amir cur off his forelock and released him on behalf of his mother, who had taken an oath to release a slave. ‘Amr ibn Umayyah headed back [to Madinah] and when he came to al-Qarqarah at the beginning of Qanat [a place name], he stopped in the shade of a tree, and two men from Banu Kilab came and stopped with him.
When they fell asleep, ‘Amr killed them, thinking that he had taken revenge on them for the killing of his Companions, but they had a covenant with the Messenger of Allah of which he was not aware. When he came and told the Messenger of Allah about what he had done, he said: “You have killed two men whose diyah (blood money) I must pay.”
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