40 or 70 Unknown | 40-70 Muslims killed 2 | |
Results Muhammad sends missionaries to preach islam, Missionaries were set up and killed People also search for Expedition of Al Raji, Expedition of Qatan | ||
The Expedition of Bir Maona (also spelt Ma'una), took place four months after the Battle of Uhud in the year 4 A.H of the Islamic calendar. Muhammad sent missionaries to preach Islam, at the request of Abu Bara. Forty (as per Ibn Ishaq) or seventy (as per Sahih Bukhari) of the Muslim missionaries sent by Muhammed were killed.
Contents
Background
Four months after the Uhud battle, a delegation of Banu Amir came to Muhammad and presented him with a gift. Abu Bara stayed in Medina. Muhammad declined to accept that gift because it was from a polytheist and asked Abu Bara to embrace Islam. He requested Muhammad to send some Muslims to the people of Najd to call them to Islam. At first, Muhammad was quite apprehensive of this, as he feared that some harm might befall on these Muslim missionaries. On Muhammad’s hesitation, Abu Bara guaranteed the safety of the emissaries of Muhammad.
The Muslim scholar Tabari describes the event as follows:
Ibn Ishaq's Biography claims that forty men were sent to them; but Sahih al-Bukhari states that there were 70— Al-Mundhir bin ‘Amr, one of Banu Sa‘ida, nicknamed ‘Freed to die’ — commanded that group, who were the best and most learned in the Qur'an and jurisprudence.
Attack on Muslims
At Bir Maunah, the Muslims sent a messenger(Haram bin Milhan) with a letter of Muhammad to Amir bin Tufayl, the cousin of Abu Bara and the chief of Banu Amir. Amir did not read the Message but rather ordered a man to spear Haram bin Milhan in the back. Amir bin Tufayl then requested the Banu Amir people to help him fight the Muslims. They refused to his request, as they were reluctant to betray the promise of safety by Abu Bara to the Muslims. So, Amir bin Tufayl took the help of Banu Sulaym against the Muslims. Together, they attacked the Muslims. The Muslims fought back, but in the end, all of them were killed except for Ka‘b bin Zaid bin An-Najjar who was carried wounded from among the dead. He later died in the Battle of the Trench.
When the news of this massacre reached Muhammad, he was greatly grieved and sent Amr bin Umayyah al-Damri and an Ansar to investigate the whole matter. On his way back to Qarqara, Amr bin Umayyah rested in the shade of a tree, and there two men of Banu Kilab joined him. When they slept, Amr killed them both, thinking that by doing that he would avenge some of his killed companions.
Then he found out that they had been given a pledge of protection by Muhammad. He told Muhammad what he had done. Then Muhammad said to ‘Amr, that he (Muhammad) must pay a debt for the killing of those he pledged protection to (the Dhimmi's)
Muhammad was so deeply moved by this tragedy that he used to invoke God's wrath against those people and tribes who killed his Companions. Anas reported that for thirty days Muhammad supplicated God against those who killed his Companions at Ma‘una Well.
Every dawn prayer he would invoke God's wrath against Ri‘l, Dhakwan, Lihyan and ‘Usaiyah tribes. He would say,
Usaiyah disobeyed Allâh and His Messenger. [Sahih Al-Bukhari 2/586-588]
A new Qur’ânic verse was revealed that he kept on reciting till it was abrogated later on:"Inform our folk that we have encountered our Lord and He is satisfied with us and we are satisfied with Him" (Quran 3:169-173).
Motives for attacking Muslims
According to William Montgomery Watt, the motives of the Banu Lahyan for attacking Muslims, was that the Banu Lahyan wanted to get revenge for the assassination of their chief at Muhammad's instigation.