(Friday Sermon - July 27, 2018 )
Background
Hazrat Munzir bin Muhammad(ra) belonged to the Banu Jahjabah tribe. Upon migrating to Medina, the Holy Prophet(sa) established a bond of brotherhood between Hazrat Munzir bin Muhammad(ra) and Hazrat Tufail bin Harith(ra). (At-Tabaqat Al-Kubra, Vol. 3, p. 248, Munzir bin Muhammad, Dar Ihya At-turath Al-Arabi, 1996, Beirut)
When Hazrat Zubair bin Al-Awwam(ra), Hazrat Hatib(ra) bin Abi Baltah and Hazrat Abu Sabrah(ra) bin Abi Ruham migrated to Medina, they stayed at the home of Hazrat Munzir bin Muhammad(ra). (At-Tabaqat Al-Kubra, Vol. 3, p. 55, Zubair bin Al-Awwam(ra), p. 61, Hatib bin Abi Baltah, p. 251, Abu Sabrah bin Abi Ruham, Dar Ihya At-turath Al-Arabi, 1996, Beirut)
Hazrat Munzir(ra) participated in the Battles of Badr and Uhud. He was martyred during the incident of Bi‘r-e-Ma‘unah. (At-Tabaqat Al-Kubra, Vol. 3, p. 248, Munzir bin Muhammad, Dar Ihya At-turath Al-Arabi, 1996, Beirut)
Incident of Bi‘r-e-Ma‘unah
The incident of Bi‘r-e-Ma‘unah has been mentioned before a number of times in relation to other Companions. I will briefly mention it once again. A detailed account of the martyrdom of Hazrat Munzir(ra) has been covered in Seerat Khataman Nabiyyeen [Seal of all the Prophets], written by Hazrat Mirza Bashir Ahmad Sahib(ra). In this book it is written, “The Holy Prophet(sa) dispatched a party of the Companions under the leadership of Munzir bin Amr Ansari in Safar 4 AH. These people were mostly from the Ansar and totalled seventy in number, and almost all of them were Qaris, i.e., were well-versed in the Holy Quran. They would collect wood from the jungle by day to make ends meet and would spend a better part of the night in worship. When these people reached a place known as Bi‘r-e-Ma‘unah, which was named due to a water well, an individual named Haram bin Milhan, who was the maternal uncle of Anas(ra) bin Malik, went forward with the message of Islam to Aamir bin Tufail, who was chief of the Aamir tribe and paternal nephew of Abu Bara Aamiri. The rest of the Companions remained behind. When Haram bin Milhan arrived to meet Aamir bin Tufail and his followers as an emissary of the Holy Prophet(sa), at first, they warmly welcomed him in their hypocrisy; but after he had been fully seated and made to feel at ease, and began to preach the message of Islam, a few evil ones from among them made a signal to someone, who struck this innocent emissary with a spear from behind and killed him instantly. At the time, the following words were on the tongue of Haram bin Milhan:
اَللّٰہُ اَکْبَرُ فُزْتُ وَرَبِّ الْکَعْبَۃِ
i.e., ‘Allah is the Greatest. By the Lord of the Ka‘bah, I have attained my objective.’ Aamir bin Tufail did not suffice upon the murder of this emissary of the Holy Prophet(sa) alone. As a matter of fact, after this, he incited the people of his tribe, the Banu Aamir, to attack the remaining party of Muslims as well, but they refused and said that they would not attack the Muslims due to the guarantee of Abu Bara. Upon this, Aamir collected the Banu Ri‘l, Dhakwan and Usayyah, etc. from the tribe of Sulaim”, the same tribes who, according to the narration of Bukharai, had come to the Holy Prophet(sa) as a delegation to request a party, to be sent so that they may preach to them, “and attacked this small and helpless community of Muslims. When the Muslims saw these bloodthirsty beasts racing towards them, they said, ‘We have no quarrel with you. We have only come with an assignment from the Holy Prophet(sa); we have not come to fight,’ but they did not listen to a word and murdered them all. Among the Companions who were present at the time, only one individual was spared, who had a limp, and had managed to climb to the top of a mountain. The name of this Companion was Ka‘b bin Zaid.” His account has already been given. “From various narrations it is ascertained that the disbelievers attacked him as well, due to which he was wounded. The disbelievers left him for dead, but in actuality there was still life in him and he survived.
“Two individuals from among this community of Companions had separated from the group at the time in order to graze their camels, etc., and their names were Amr bin Umayyah Damri and Munzir bin Muhammad. When they looked towards their camp, lo and behold, they sighted flocks of birds flying about overhead. They understood these desert signs…” When birds gather in such a manner, it means that there is some provision of food for them underneath. “They immediately deduced that a battle had taken place. When they returned, this atrocity of carnage and massacre perpetrated by the ruthless disbelievers lay before their eyes. Upon sighting this scene from afar, they consulted one another as to what they should do. One suggested that they should escape immediately and reach Medina in order to inform the Holy Prophet(sa). The other one, however, did not accept this proposal and said, ‘I shall not flee from where our Amir, Munzir bin Amr has been martyred.’ Hence, he proceeded forward and was martyred in battle.” (Seerat Khatam-un-Nabiyeen, Hazrat Mirza Bashir Ahmad Sahib(ra), pp. 518-519)
Hence, Munzir bin Muhammad(ra), who had gone away in order to graze the camels also confronted the enemies and attained martyrdom. This martyrdom took place on the 4 AH.