During his deputy rule over Basra, he is held by the Islamic traditional sources to have ordered wide-scale executions of Kharijites in his jurisdiction.

Samura ibn Jundab belonged to the Banu Lay clan of the Shamkh branch of the Fazara,[1] a nomadic Arab tribe, itself a division of the Ghatafan confederation,[2] which dwelt in the part of the Hejaz (western Arabia) Medina.

[2][7] Samura was one of a number of Muhammad's companions in Basra chosen by the city's new governor, Ziyad ibn Abihi, to join his administration, following his appointment to the post by the Umayyad caliph Mu'awiya I in 665.

[10] He may have led the funeral prayers for Sajah, the one time self-proclaimed prophetess who opposed Medina during the Ridda wars before submitting to Islam and settling in Basra.

[16] His daughter Umm Thabit was wed to Mukhtar al-Thaqafi, who took over Kufa and ruled in the name of Caliph Ali's family during the Second Muslim Civil War (680–692).