till  they arrived at Ma‘una Well — which was a well in between Bani ‘Amir, Harrah and Bani Saleem. They  stayed there and sent the Message of the Prophet (Peace be upon him) with Haram bin Milhan, the  brother of Umm Sulaim to the enemy of Allâh ‘Amir bin At-Tufail. ‘Amir did not heed the Message but  rather ordered a man to spear Haram in the back. When the spear penetrated Haram’s body, he saw  the blood and said: “Allâhu Akbar! (i.e. Allâh is the Greatest) By Lord of Al-Ka‘bah I have won!”
Then the enemy of Allâh, promptly, called out Bani ‘Amir to fight the rest. Bani ‘Amir refused because  they were under the protection of Abu Bara’. Therefore he turned to Bani Saleem for help. The people  of ‘Usaiyah, Ri‘al and Dhakwan, who were folks of Bani Saleem, responded to his call. The Companions  of the Prophet (Peace be upon him), who were encompassed by idolaters, kept on fighting till they  were  all killed. The only survivor was Ka‘b bin Zaid bin An-Najjar who was carried wounded from among the  dead. It was in Al-Khandaq (the trench) Battle that he was killed.
‘Amr bin Omaiyah Ad-Damari and Al-Mundhir bin ‘Uqbah bin ‘Amir, who were entrusted with the
Muslims’ animals far from them, saw the birds circling in the air over the battleground. Al-Mundhir  rushed to share in the fight till he was killed. But ‘Amr bin Omaiyah was captured. ‘Amir set him free  when he knew that he was of Mudar tribe but that was after he had cut his hair. He did that to fulfil a  pledge of his mother’s to set a slave free.
Returning to the Prophet (Peace be upon him) ‘Amr bin Omaiyah conveyed the news of the painful  disaster, which resulted in the murder of seventy of the best believers, and recalled the tragedy of
Uhud but with the difference that those of Uhud were killed in a clear war but those of Ma‘una were  killed in a disgraceful treachery. On his way back to Qarqara, ‘Amr bin Omaiyah rested in the shade of  a  tree, and there two men of Bani 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 the Prophet (Peace be upon him). He told the Messenger of Allâh
(Peace  be upon him) what he had done. The Messenger of Allâh (Peace be upon him) said to ‘Amr: “You have  killed two people; their blood-money shall be a debt I have to discharge.” He then engaged himself  collecting their blood-money from the Muslims and their allies, the Jews. This very act was later to  trigger the invasion of Bani An-Nadeer.
The Prophet (Peace be upon him) was so deeply moved by this tragedy and that of Ar-Raji‘ that he  used to invoke Allâh’s wrath against those people and tribes who killed his Companions. Anas reported  that for thirty days the Prophet (Peace be upon him) supplicated Allâh against those who killed his
Companions at Ma‘una Well. Every dawn prayer he would invoke Allâh’s wrath against Ri‘l, Dhakwan,
Lihyan and ‘Usaiyah. He would say, “ ‘Usaiyah disobeyed Allâh and His Messenger.” Therefore Allâh زﻋ
لﺟو, sent down unto His Messenger a Qur’ânic verse that we 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.’ So the Messenger of Allâh (Peace be upon him) stopped his invocation.
BANI AN-NADEER INVASION:
We have already spoken about the disgraceful behaviour of the Jews and how they were always  thirsting to shed the blood of the Muslims and undermine the cause of Islam despite all the covenants  and pledges they had given to the Prophet (Peace be upon him). Their behaviour fluctuated between  resignation and slackness after the Banu Qainuqa‘ event and the murder of Ka‘b bin Al-Ashraf, and  rebellion coupled with treacherous clandestine contacts with Quraish and the hypocrites in order to  establish an alliance against the Muslims after the battle of Uhud. Being inexperienced in war tactics,  they resorted to conspiracy and intrigue hatching. They first of all declared open hatred and enmity,  and chose to play all sorts of tricks that might harm the Muslims, but were very careful not to initiate  any sort of hostilities that might involve them in open war.
The Prophet (Peace be upon him), on his part, exercised the highest degree of patience with them but  they went too far in their provocative deeds, especially after Ar-Raji‘ and Ma‘una Well events; they  even  made an attempt on his life.
Once the Prophet (Peace be upon him) with some of his Companions set out to see Banu Nadeer and  seek their help in raising the blood-money he had to pay to Bani Kalb for the two men that ‘Amr bin
Omaiyah Ad-Damari had killed by mistake. All of that was in accordance with the clauses of the treaty  that both parties had already signed. On hearing his story they said they would share in paying the