© Shutterstock
Once the Holy Prophet Muhammad (sa) dispatched a group of seventy men, who had memorised the Holy Qur’an by heart, for preaching and teaching Islam at the request of some tribes. These men were martyred by Bani Salim and other tribes at a place called Bi’r-e-Ma‘unah. After killing the leader of the group, Amir Haram bin Milhan (ra), the enemy encircled the rest. At that time, they prayed, ‘O Allah, we have no means of informing the Holy Prophet Muhammad (sa), You somehow convey our salam to him, inform him about our martyrdom and convey to him that we are pleased with our Lord and our Lord is pleased with us.’
God informed the Holy Prophet Muhammad (sa) through Gabriel. The Holy Prophet (sa) was sitting in the company of his companions in Madinah. Suddenly, he said, ‘Peace be on them as well.’ Then he delivered a sermon and informed the companions of this incident that their brethren had an encounter with the nonbelievers, and they all had been martyred.
At the time of martyrdom, they had prayed to Allah to convey their salam to us and also the message that they were pleased with the Lord.
The Holy Prophet Muhammad (sa) was extremely grieved by the death of these seventy companions. Hazrat Anas (ra) relates that he had never seen the Holy Prophet Muhammad (sa) suffer so much grief at anyone’s death as he did for the martyrs of Bi’r-e-Ma‘unah. For thirty days, he would raise his hand in the last unit of prayer and pray for victory and support.
Muhammad (sa) – The Perfect Man (Qadian, India: Nazarat Isha’at, 2015) 304-305.