The tragedy of Biʾr Maʿuna

ʿAmir ibn al-Tufayl and those with him treacherously killed seventy of the Companion Qur'an-reciters whom the Prophet ﷺ had sent to teach the people of Najd the Qur'an. All were slain but one, and the Prophet ﷺ grieved deeply and made qunut for a month against their killers.

Abu Baraʾ ʿAmir ibn Malik came to the Prophet ﷺ and asked that he send men to call the people of Najd to Islam, guaranteeing them his protection. So he ﷺ sent seventy of the best of his Companions — reciters who would gather firewood by day and study the Qur'an by night.

When they camped at Biʾr Maʿuna, ʿAmir ibn al-Tufayl incited against them tribes of Sulaym — ʿUsayya, Riʿl and Dhakwan — who surrounded the reciters and killed them to the last, save Kaʿb ibn Zayd, wounded and left among the slain, and ʿAmr ibn Umayya, who was released.

When the news reached the Prophet ﷺ he grieved over them a grief he had never felt over any expedition, and made qunut for a full month in the Fajr prayer against Riʿl, Dhakwan and ʿUsayya who disobeyed Allah and His Messenger, as is affirmed in the two Sahihs.