Amir ibn al-Tufayl

Amir ibn al-Tufayl was the chief of Banu Amir ibn Sa'sa'a. He betrayed the people of Bi'r Ma'una, then plotted with Arbad ibn Qays to assassinate the Prophet during a delegation in 9 AH. He died of a swelling in his neck ¹.

Amir ibn al-Tufayl was among the chiefs of Banu Amir, "their devils," as al-Mubarakpuri describes them, and he was the one who betrayed the people of Bi'r Ma'una ¹. When the delegation of Banu Amir meant to come to Medina in 9 AH, Amir and Arbad plotted to assassinate the Prophet. Amir kept speaking to the Prophet while Arbad circled behind him and drew his sword a span, but God held back his hand ¹. In Sahih al-Bukhari, Amir came to the Prophet and offered him a choice of three things: that the people of the plains be his and the people of the towns be the Prophet's; or that he be the Prophet's successor after him; or that he attack him with Ghatafan, with a thousand chestnut horses and a thousand chestnut mares ². The Prophet prayed against the two of them. Amir lodged at the house of a woman of Banu Salul. He was struck by a swelling in his neck and died saying: "A swelling like a camel's swelling, and death in the house of a Saluli woman!" ¹.

Ibn Ishaq names him in the delegation of Banu Amir with Arbad ibn Qays and Jabbar ibn Salma, and says that the three were the chiefs of the people. He describes Amir in harsh terms, which is the narrator's own description ³. Amir came intending treachery against the Prophet. His people had told him, "The people have embraced Islam, so embrace it too." He answered that he had sworn not to stop until the Arabs followed in his footsteps: "Shall I follow the heels of this young man of Quraysh?" ³ He and Arbad planned to occupy the Prophet with talk, so that Arbad could strike him with the sword. Amir asked the Prophet for a private audience of three (days), and the Prophet refused until he believed in God alone. Arbad did nothing, so Amir threatened to fill Medina against him with horsemen and men, and the Prophet prayed: "O God, suffice me against Amir ibn al-Tufayl" ⁴. He died on the road, of a plague in his neck, in the house of a woman of Banu Salul. See the death of Amir ibn al-Tufayl ⁴.

The Encyclopaedia of Islam (2nd ed.) describes 'Amir b. al-Tufayl as a poet and tribal leader of the Malik, the younger line of the Kilab, belonging to 'Amir b. Sa'sa'a. In the 90s AH and just past the beginning of the 7th century he took part in expeditions, sometimes leading his own men. After his father fell in the south fighting the Khath'am, he conducted the war until the loss of an eye at the battle of Fayf al-Rih (c. 614) made him unsuited to command. After the death of his uncle Abu Bara' (c. 4-5/624-5) he became the formal head of the Dja'far, the mightiest Bedouin leader of central Arabia. ⁵

Legend connects him several times with the Prophet and makes him his bitterest Bedouin opponent, accusing him of treacherously attacking the Muslim missionaries at Bi'r Ma'una. The article holds that the truth is that he did not submit to Medina and died a pagan, probably shortly before the taking of Mecca; the accusation goes back to an exchange of satire between the poets of Medina and of the Dja'far. ⁵

The fragmentary impression left by his diwan is due partly to the tradition. He cultivated mainly the short forms of fakhr (boasting) and hija' (satire), and his elegy on losing his eye has a particular humanity. ⁵