(Continued)
4- Fulfillment of the promise: ‘Amr bin Umayyah Adh-Dhamri, may Allah be pleased with him, was taken captive during the Battle of Bi’r Ma‘oonah. When ‘Aamir bin At-Tufayl knew that ‘Amr was from Mudhar, he released him and shaved his forelock. He released him in return for a slave, whom he claimed that his mother should have released. When ‘Amr, may Allah be pleased with him, left for Madeenah, he took a rest in the shade. There he met two men from the Banu ‘Aamir, who had a contract of peace and protection with the Prophet, , that ‘Amr, may Allah be pleased with him, did not know about. When he knew that they were from the Banu ‘Aamir, he left them until they slept, and then killed them thinking that he had thereby taken revenge from the Banu ‘Aamir, who killed about seventy Companions of the Prophet, . When ‘Amr, may Allah be pleased with him, reached the Prophet, , and told him about the killing of the two men, the Messenger of Allah, , said: “You killed two men whose Diyah [blood money] I will now pay.”
This was a noble gesture of the Prophet, , paying the Diyah of the two men from the Banu ‘Aamir and not holding them accountable for the heinous crime that some people of their tribe had committed. He did so because these men had a contract of protection from him, and did not make them responsible for what some men of their tribe did. This is considered the highest degree of the fulfillment of promises.
The Prophet, , could have considered the act of ‘Amr bin Umayyah as retaliation against the criminals; however, why should those innocent men have been held guilty for the aggression of some of their people?
Sublime Islamic directions drove the Prophet, sallallaahu‘alayhi wa sallam, and his Companions towards an unmatchable level of moral nobility.
5- The great Companion, ‘Aamir bin Fuhayrah, may Allah be pleased with him: When the Companions were killed in Bi’r Ma‘oonah and ‘Amr bin Umayyah Adh-Dhamri, may Allah be pleased with him, was captured; ‘Aamir bin At-Tufayl pointed to a killed person and asked, “Who is this?” ‘Amr bin Umayyah, may Allah be pleased with him, said to him, “He is ‘Aamir bin Fuhayrah.”‘Aamir bin At-Tufayl said, “I saw him lifted to the sky after he was killed, such that I saw the sky between him and the earth; then he was brought down upon the earth again.”[Al-Bukhari]
6- Hassaan bin Thaabit, may Allah be pleased with him, inciting the killing of ‘Aamir bin At-Tufayl: Hassaan bin Thaabit, may Allah be pleased with him, was one of the media moguls [according to the terms of the modern age] who would launch psychological wars against the enemies alongside Ka‘b bin Maalik and ‘Abdullaah bin Rawaahah, may Allah be pleased with them. They did not leave a single incident of the prophetic life without composing poetry regarding it. They would respond and retort to the poems of the disbelievers by their poetry. The poetry of Hassaan, may Allah be pleased with him, was the cause behind the expulsion of Ka‘b bin Al-Ashraf, the Jew. The Prophet, , would take care of the poets of the Islamic state and encourage them to pursue this type of Jihaad. Hence, the contemporary Muslims: leaders, scholars, scholars of Fiqh (jurisprudence) and organizations should take care of their poets and encourage them to pursue this great type of Jihaad.
When Hassaan, may Allah be pleased with him, came to know about the killing of the Companions in Bi’r Ma‘oonah, he composed a poem that was circulated by traveling people, in which he incited Rabbee‘ah bin ‘Aamir and Mulaa‘ib Al-Asinnah, to kill ‘Aamir bin At-Tufayl as a reward for his breaching the covenant that Mulaa‘ib Al-Asinnah made with the Prophet, .
When this poem reached Rabee‘ah, it deeply affected him because poetry had a more painful effect on them than the shooting of arrows and the smiting of swords and stabbing of spears. Consequently, Rabee‘ah headed for ‘Aamir bin At-Tufayl to take revenge for his father and struck him with his sword, but the strike did not kill him and badly wounded him instead. The people of ‘Aamir bin At-Tufayl caught Rabee‘ah and said to ‘Aamir, “Take your revenge.” ‘Aamir bin At-Tufayl said, “I pardon him. If I remain alive, I will see what I do [with him].”
7- The end of ‘Aamir bin At-Tufayl: Allah The Almighty answered the supplication of His Prophet, , as he would supplicate to Him against ‘Aamir bin At-Tufayl saying: “O Allah, save me from ‘Aamir [and what he wants to do].” He was infected by a fatal disease, about which the Prophet, , said: “[It is] a [disease of the] gland as in the gland of a she-camel.” The Prophet, , called this disease “the plague” and it was an accurate description for the bubonic plague, which is characterized by fever, swelling of the lymphatic glands in the area of the groin and under the armpit and the swelling of the spleen.
‘Aamir bin At-Tufayl, thereby, became confined in the house of a woman from his people. He was infected with this fatal disease and his dreams of sovereignty over the Arabs disappeared. His armies, which he used as a means for threatening the Prophet, , became a source of grief which confined him in the house of a woman. His men left him and escaped, fearing infection. Consequently, he lost his mind and shouted at the remaining people around him, “Shall I stay in the house of a lady from the family of so-and-so after having a [swollen] gland like that of a she-camel? Get me my horse!” So, he died on the back of his horse.
This mad, stubborn tyrant died after the people around him had fled from him fearing infection.
The Greed of ‘Aamir bin At-Tufayl and the Calamity of Bi’r Ma‘oonah-I