Biʾr Maʿūnah and the Seventy Reciters

Another event that occurred between the Battle of Uḥud and al-Khandaq is Biʾr Maʿūnah. One of the leaders of the tribes of Najd came to the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) and said: Islam is spreading among my people; I want you to send me preachers who would call to Islam, duʿāt. The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) sent over seventy men. These men were called al-Qurrāʾ, the reciters of Qur'an. They would work during the day by selling wood, and they would spend the night in qiyām al-layl, reciting Qur'an. This was their life. The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) sent them over to teach these people about Islam, so they are duʿāt fī sabīlillāh. They were given a guarantee of safety by this man, Abū Barāʾ, who is called Mulāʿib al-Asinnah. When they reached his territory, his nephew, ʿĀmir ibn al-Ṭufayl, invites the men of his tribe to fight against the seventy Qurrāʾ. His uncle refuses, but he is successful in bringing up a force sufficient to attack these seventy men.

Now, this ʿĀmir ibn al-Ṭufayl had already met with the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) previously, and he told him, "O Muḥammad, I give you three alternatives. Number one: you become king over the towns, and I become king over the Bedouin people", as if this issue is all about kingdom. "Number two: you make me a khalīfah after you; you announce that when you die, I become king after you. Third choice: if you refuse number one and two, I will attack you with an army of two thousand men." The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) refused; obviously he wouldn't even talk to him, wouldn't respond to such nonsense. So he was upset. This is one of the reasons why he wanted to attack and kill these seventy men. And they were massacred. The seventy men were massacred: a great disaster.

When the news reached the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him), and it was immediately conveyed, he was greatly affected by that news, and was very sad about what happened and the betrayal of these people. The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) started making Duʿāʾ al-Qunūt, and Duʿāʾ al-Qunūt was never done before. This was the first time the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) does Duʿāʾ al-Qunūt, and he would do it in Fajr, Ẓuhr, ʿAṣr, Maghrib and ʿIshāʾ, in every prayer, and he would make duʿāʾ against those people: against Riʿl and Dhakwān and Liḥyān, these tribes that betrayed the Muslims and killed them in such cold blood. The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) would make this duʿāʾ in his prayer, in every prayer.