Quraysh - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Arabia at the time of Muhammad, in the 7th century AD, was a nation of tribes who had no central
government; this was most beneficial in one way: since there was no nation in the usual sense, Arabia
was one of the very few nations that had never been subjugated. Arabia then was divided into 3 portions:
1) Arabia Petra, the north of the peninsula; 2) Arabia Deserta, the middle desert region called the Rub al
Khali; and 3) Arabia Felix, the prosperous southern regions. Most of the Arabs were Bedawi (Bedouin)
Arabs. Trading cities were not unknown, in fact some cities were thriving trading centers, like Mecca
and Medina; and within these centers were council houses which transacted the issues that were put
before it. Here again the tribe and its position were of prime importance: the most powerful tribe had the
most say in the council and smaller tribes signed treaties for protection. Arabia lived a life of plundering
caravans that passed through their areas.Template:Selections from the Quran: E. W. Lane pg. xvi;

The races that have peopled Arabia are considered under the following names:

1. al-Arab-ul-Baidah, meaning ‘the lost Arabs’: these are the races that no longer exist but are
referenced in traditional songs and written about in folklore;
2. al-Arab-ul-Ariba meaning ‘the pure Arabs’: these are the tribes that are considered to have been
descended from Qahtan, who is in turn traced to have been descended from Noah’s son Shem;
3. al-Arab-al-Mustariba meaning ‘the mixed Arabs’: this line of Arabs traced their line to Ishmael,
the son of the prophet Abraham, who migrated and married to the Arab-ul-Ariba of Mecca.
Muhammad’s line is traced to Kedar, one of the sons of Ishmael.

Abraham was the prophet after Noah (and Noah was after Adam) to have been inspired by the word of
God. He had two sons Isaac and Ishmael. Isaac is the father of the Jews and Ishmael is the father of the
Quraishi Arabs. It is believed that the word Arab comes from Yereb, who was one of the descendants of
Qahtan, the originator of the 2nd type of Arabs: Arab-ul-Ariba.

Within the tribes they were sub-divided into various families, with each family being identified by the
name of the patriarch; for example: Muhammad belonged to the Quresh tribe and within that tribe he
was of the Beni Hashim clan; within the tribe of Quraish there were numerous other family clans that
made up the Quraish. ‘Beni’ means ‘children of’, hence the name Beni Hashim means ‘the family, or
children of Hashim’.

Hashim was the name of Muhammad’s great grand father. His tribe, the Quraishis, were of the third kind
of Arabian tribes – Arab-al-Mustariba, the ones who traced their lineage back to Ishmael, the son of
Abraham. Due to this fact of their ancestry, that the Quraish were the tribe that traditionally provided
food and water to the pilgrims who visited the Kaaba in Mecca, because they believed that the Kaaba
was constructed by Abraham and his son Ishmael. The family tree of Muhammad has been traced by the
Arabian scholars back 21 generations to a patriarch called Adnan, who is their link to Ishmael bin
Abraham. The time span of this ancestry goes back 660 years backward from the birth of Muhammad in
the year 570 AD.

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The fortunes of this tribe waxed and waned, and to be honest: the history that is provided for the time
period before the birth of Christ is not very trustworthy. At the dawn of the Christian era the authority of
the Quraish was usurped by another tribe called the Jurhum. The Juhrum belonged to the tribe of the
pure Arabs as against the Kuresh who were the mixed Arabs. They were in control of Mecca till the 3rd
century till another tribe called the Khozaa dislodged the Jhurum from their place. Before retreating
from Mecca, they filled up the Zamzam well that lay in the vicinity of the Kaaba.

The Khozaa tribe hung on till the mid of the 5th century, when there appeared on the Quraishi horizon a
man named Qusai, and he vowed to return the Quraish their rightful place of command in Mecca. Qusai
won the fight. Qusai was the 4th generation grand father of Muhammad and the grand father of Hashim.
The name Quraish signifies a shark or big sea creature, and thus a connotation for power and strength.
Quosai expanded the city of Mecca and gathered all his kinfolk around him. He gave each of them
special quarters in the city. He built a council hall near the Kaaba for the transaction of important
business. As the custodian of the Kaaba, Qusai assumed five important functions:

1. possession of the keys of, and to, the Kaaba 2. distribution of food and water to the pilgrims. (the
Kaaba was a center of Arabian worship and veneration centuries before the advent of Islam) 3.
command of the troops in war 4. affixment of the standard and giving it to the standard bearer in times
of war 5. presidency of the council in Mecca.

All this achieved, Qusai became the Sherif of Mecca and chief of the surrounding areas.

Included among the sons of Qusai were: Abd-ad-Dar, Abd-al-Ozza and Abd Menaf. As Qusai aged, he
transferred the rights of his office to his son Abd-ad-Dar. The tenure of Abd-ad-Dar and his sons passed
without incident, and time came for the grandsons of Abd-ad-Dar come to the helm. His grandsons were
very young and were unable to carry out the functions of the office of the Sherif of Mecca. Abd Menaf,
a brother of Abd-ad-Dar and another son of Qusai, plotted with his sons to wrest the office from the
hands of the grandsons of Abd-ad-Dar. They put their claim before the Quraish tribal council and
demanded to be put in charge of the office of the Sherif of Mecca. The members of the council were
equally divided over the matter and no decision could be reached. It seemed that a bloody clash would
ensue, when, unexpectedly a truce was called between the warring factions of the grand sons of Abd-ad-
Dar and the sons of his brother Abd Menaf.

Among Abd Menaf's sons were: Hashim, Abd Shams (the Muslim legends say that there were joined at
birth and severed with a stroke of the sword), Naufal and Al-Muttalib. Hashim, the son of Abd Menaf,
was given the prestigious task of providing food and water to the pilgrims and the rest was retained by
the grandsons of Abd-ad-Dar. Peace was called. As the years passed the prosperity of Hashim grew on
account of his commercial endeavors and his fame grew because of his unparalleled generosity. His
growing fame and wealth were like a thorn in the side of Omeya. Omeya was the son of Abd Shams -
another son of Abd Menaf and brother to Hashim. Like Hashim had challenged the office holder before
sitting in it, Omeya challenged Hashim, his uncle, to a test of superiority. What this test of superiority
was the books don’t say, suffice to say that Hashim won the test and this resulted in Omeya going into

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exile for ten years after a payment of 50 camels. Hashim married, and his wife bore a son, and went to
live in Medina with her new born son. On his death bed Hashim transferred his office to his brother Al-
Muttalib. When Hashim son, Shayba, attained maturity, his uncle Al-Muttalib- brother of Hashim –went
to Medina to get him to Mecca. Wandering in the streets of Mecca someone called Hashims son ‘Abd al-
Muttalib’ meaning ‘servant of Muttalib’; the name stuck on and henceforth Hashims son was called Abd
al-Muttalib. In due course Abd al-Muttalib was given his fathers, Hashim’s property and this was
vehemently opposed by Naufal, the brother of Al-Muttalib and Hashim. Abd al-Muttalib was violently
deprived of his rights by his uncle Naufal. Abd al-Muttalib appealed in vain to the tribal elders, but this
was to no avail. He then beseeched the tribe of his mother Selma to help him. They responded and 80
riders came to his rescue. Naufal was subdued and the rights of Abd al-Muttalib were restored to him.

In time Abd al-Muttalib succeeded to the office of providing food and water to the pilgrims; this office
at that time lacked the power and influence that it enjoyed in earlier times; and coupled with the fact that
he had only one son, Abd al-Muttalib found it difficult to counter the factional friction that was ever
present. It was at this time that Abd al-Muttalib found the well of Zam Zam that the Jurum tribe had
filled up when they were forced out by the Khozaa tribe in the 3rd century AD, about 300 years before
the time of Abd al-Muttalib. The discovery of this well changed his fortunes. He became the father of
many sons and his fortunes grew until he was regarded as the virtual chief of Mecca. A promise that he
had made to his deities began to take precedence at the back of his mind: he had promised that if the
deities gave him ten sons he would sacrifice one son to them. He decided to choose the son by drawing
lots. The lot fell on his son Abdullah. He tried to seek a compromise by offering the sacrifice of ten
camels instead of Abdullah. But the lot again fell on Abdullah; Abd al-Muttalib kept increasing the
number of camels by ten until it finally reached to one hundred. Now the lot fell on the camels and
Abdullah was spared. In any case the life of Abdullah was short lived. After getting married to a woman
called Amina, he went for a commercial enterprise to Gaza; his wife at time was pregnant. Abdullah
died on that journey, a few months later his widow gave birth to a son. The name of that son was
Muhammad, the prophet of Islam. The prosperity of Abd al-Muttalib, the current patriarch of the Beni
Hashim, invited the envy again of Omeya, the representative of the family of Abd Shams. This time
Harb, the son of Omeya challenged Abd al-Muttalib to a contest of superiority; like his father he too lost
and was exiled; but this event cemented the rivalry between the two families. When Abd-al-Muttalib
died he was survived by his remaining six sons; he had bequeathed his office to the his son Az Zubeir;
he, unable to function the office of providing food and water to the pilgrims, gave the office to his
brother Abi Talib. Abi Tailb was the foster father of Muhammad and father of the celebrated Ali of
Islamic history. Abi Talib too was unable to manage the office and he, in turn surrendered it to Al
Abbas. During the office of Al Abbas the fortunes of the Beni Hashim deteriorated, and he was
compelled to give the right of providing food up to another family. Such was the state of the families of
Quraish at the time of birth of Muhammad the prophet of [Islam]. The Quraish also stretch to modern
day Somaliland because it is known in Somali legends that there was a Sheikh called SheikhIsaaq bin
Ahmad from the BanuHashim branch of the Quraish who went to the north coast of modern day
Somaliland he had eight sons there and know Somalis know his descendants are knon as (reer sheikh
Ishaaq) in somali which means family of Sheikh Ishaaq.

Muhammad was sent to the tribe of Sa’d for the first four or five years of his childhood. On returning to

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Mecca, his grand father Abd al-Muttalib took care of him. But he died just two years later; while dying
he entreated his son Abi Talib to take care of the young Muhammad. The word Muhammad come from
the word ‘hamda’, which means ‘the praised’. Rivalries between the family of Abd Shams and the
family of Hashim was a vortex which Muhammad was to face and finally counter in the earliest days of
Islam.

[edit] Clans and the Caliphate

The split between the Shi'a and Sunni branches of Islam centers over the succession to Muhammad. The
Sunnis believe Abu Bakr was elected as Muhammad's successor while the Shi'a (literally "party of Ali")
believe Muhammad appointed Ali ibn Abi Talib as his successor.

Ali was a member of Muhammad's clan, the Banu Hashim. Abu Bakr, while a close companion of
Muhammad, came from the Banu Taim clan.

The second Caliph, Umar ibn al-Khattab, was from the Banu Adi clan.

The third Caliph, Uthman ibn Affan, was from the Banu Umayyad clan.

When Ali was made caliph after the death of Uthman, the Caliphate was in the hands of the Banu
Hashim, but he was almost immediately challenged by Muawiyah, who was a member of the Umayyad
clan. After Ali's assassination at the hands of the Kharajites, the Shi'a hoped his son Hasan would
become Caliph, but he deferred to Muawiyah, who established the Umayyad line of Caliphs.

After the death of Muawiyah, his son Yazid became Caliph but was almost immediately challenged by
Ali's younger son, Hussein, who would not swear allegiance to Yazid for a number of reasons, among
which that the Caliphate was not supposed to be hereditary, and that Yazid was said to be corrupt.
Yazid's forces were stronger than those of Hussein and Hussein was killed at the Battle of Karbela. This
event would ultimately lead to a full schism between Shi'a Islam and Sunni Islam.

The fact that Muhammad's descendants through Ali would be persecuted by Umayyad Caliphs did not
help the matter.

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