Muhammad: Seal of the Prophets — Page 269
MUHAMMAD : SEAL OF THE PROPHETS 269 the day in the forest and sold in Medina. They spent the greater part of the night in worship. When this party arrived at a well which was known as Be’r Ma’oona, one of them, Haram bin Milhan, maternal uncle of Ans bin Malik, went forward as an emissary of the Holy Prophet with the message of Islam to Aamir bin Tufail, nephew of Abu Braa, chief of the tribe Aamir. He was welcomed by Aamir bin Tufail and his companions, but when he sat down and felt at ease, and began to expound the teachings of Islam to tho se present, someone approached him from the back and killed him instantly with his spear. At the sudden attack, Haram bin Milhan cried out, ‘God is Great. By the Lord of the Ka’aba, I have achieved my purpose. ’ Then Aamir bin Tufail urged Banu Aamir to att ack the party of Muslims and kill them. But they refused to act in contravention of the guarantee of Abu Braa. He then took a party of Banu Ra’l and Banu Zakwan with him and advanced against the Muslims, who, when they saw them, said that they had no quarr el with them. They had only arrived to carry out the Holy Prophet’s directions, and had not come for the purpose of fighting. But their enemies paid no heed to what they said and proceeded, to massacre them. Out of the Muslims who were then present on the spot, only one, Kaab bin Zaid, who was attacked and had been left for dead but who had not actually died, escaped with his life. Two of the Muslims, Amr bin Umayya Dhamri and Mundhar bin Muhammad, had taken their camels for pasture and were not killed with the rest. When they returned, they apprehended from a distance what had happened, and consulted with each other what course they should adopt. Amr felt that they