Encyclopaedia of Islam, Second Edition

Get access
Search Results: | 44 of 696 |

Biʾr Maʿūna
(342 words)

, a well on the Mecca-Medina road, between the terri tories of ʿĀmir b. Ṣaʿṣaʿa and Sulaym, where a group of Muslims was killed in Ṣafar 4/625. The traditional account is that the chief of ʿĀmir, Abū Barāʾ (or Abū ’l-Barāʾ), invited Muḥammad to send a missionary group to his tribe, promising his personal protection for them. So a group of “Ḳurʾān-readers” ( ḳurrāʾ ) was sent from Medina. When they reached Biʾr Maʿūna, they were massacred by clans of Sulaym, led by ʿĀmir b. al-Ṭufayl, who had failed to induce his own tribe of ʿĀmir to violate their protectio…

Cite this page
Bosworth, C.E., “Biʾr Maʿūna”, in: Encyclopaedia of Islam, Second Edition, Edited by: P. Bearman, Th. Bianquis, C.E. Bosworth, E. van Donzel, W.P. Heinrichs. Consulted online on 19 March 2024 <http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/1573-3912_islam_SIM_1427>
First published online: 2012
First print edition: ISBN: 9789004161214, 1960-2007



▲   Back to top   ▲