Who Was Abu Amir the Monk? Behind the mosque of harm in Islamic History

Before the worldBefore Adam

The first nationsAdam to Shuayb

Egypt and Bani Israilc. 1300–1000 BCE

Bani Israil and Romec. 1000 BCE – 250 CE

Arabia before IslamUp to 570 CE

Enemies of the Prophet ﷺ610–632 CE

After the Prophet ﷺ632–1000 CE

Crusades and conquests1090–1502 CE

The end of timeStill to come

Ten signs before the Hour

Isa ibn Maryam descends
A landslide in the east
A landslide in the west
A landslide in Arabia
The smoke
The sun rises from the west
The Beast of the earth
A fire from Yemen drives people to their gathering

Sahih Muslim lists ten major signs before the Hour without fixing their order. This follows a common order given by the scholars. Sahih Muslim 2901a ↗

Villains of history52 / 76

أبو عامر الراهب

Abu Amir the Monk

Behind the mosque of harm622–631 CE

Relied onA mosque used as a cover

Undone byRevelation, and the fire that followed

An ascetic of Madinah known as 'the monk' who turned against the Prophet ﷺ, fought with Quraysh at Uhud, then went north to seek Byzantine help. His allies built a mosque near Quba as a base for his return.

How it ended

On the way back from Tabuk the Quran exposed the 'mosque of harm', and the Prophet ﷺ had it burned. Abu Amir died in exile in Syria.

And [there are] those [hypocrites] who took for themselves a mosque for causing harm and disbelief and division among the believers and as a station for whoever had warred against Allah and His Messenger before. And they will surely swear, "We intended only the best." And Allah testifies that indeed they are liars.
Quran 9:107

The lessonA building called a mosque is not one if it was founded to divide (9:108).

In the Quran

9:107-110

Stood against
Source: In the Quran, named by the commentatorsThe commentators agree that 'whoever had warred against Allah and His Messenger before' (9:107) means him. His son Hanzalah died a martyr at Uhud and was washed by the angels.

Every villain in Islamic history, from Iblis to the Dajjal

Each entry is drawn from the Quran, authentic hadith (with links to sunnah.com), the classical commentators and the historians. Companions who fought Islam and later became Muslim are not included, nor are figures Muslims disagree about.