EnglishThey went on to say that there were exactly forty fathers between ‘Adnan and Abraham (Peace be
upon them).
Nizar, Ma‘ad’s only son , had four sons who branched out into four great tribes; Eyad, Anmar, Rabi‘a
and Mudar. These last two sub-branched into several septs. Rabi‘a fathered Asad, ‘Anazah, ‘Abdul
Qais, and Wa’il’s two sons (Bakr and Taghlib), Hanifa and many others.
Mudar tribes branched out into two great divisions: Qais ‘Ailan bin Mudar and septs of Elias bin
Mudar. Of Qais ‘Ailan were the Banu Saleem, Banu Hawazin, and Banu Ghatafan of whom descended
‘Abs, Zubyan, Ashja‘ and Ghani bin A‘sur. Of Elias bin Mudar were Tamim bin Murra, Hudhail bin
Mudrika, Banu Asad bin Khuzaimah and septs of Kinana bin Khuzaimah, of whom came Quraish, the
descendants of Fahr bin Malik bin An-Nadr bin Kinana.
Quraish branched out into various tribes, the most famous of whom were Jumah, Sahm, ‘Adi,
Makhzum, Tayim, Zahra and the three septs of Qusai bin Kilab: ‘Abdud-Dar bin Qusai, Asad bin
‘Abdul ‘Uzza bin Qusai and ‘Abd Manaf bin Qusai.
‘Abd Manaf branched out into four tribes: ‘Abd Shams, Nawfal, Muttalib and Hashim. It is, however,
from the family of Hashim that Allâh selected Prophet Muhammad bin ‘Abdullah bin ‘Abdul-Muttalib
bin Hashim (Peace be upon him).
Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him) said:
“Allâh selected Ishmael from the sons of Abraham, Kinana from the sons of Ishmael,
Quraish from the sons of Kinana, Hashim from the sons of Quraish and He selected me from
the sons of Hashim.”
Al-‘Abbas bin ‘Abdul-Muttalib quoted the Messenger of Allâh (Peace be upon him) as saying:
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“Allâh created mankind and chose me from the best whereof, He chose the tribes and
selected me from the best whereof; and He chose families and selected me from the best
whereof. I am the very best in person and family.”
Having increased in number, children of ‘Adnan, in pursuit of pastures and water, spread out over
various parts of Arabia.
The tribe of ‘Abdul Qais, together with some septs of Bakr bin Wa’il and Tamim, emigrated to
Bahrain where they dwelt.
Banu Hanifa bin Sa‘b bin Ali bin Bakr went to settle in Hijr, the capital of Yamama. All the tribes of
Bakr bin Wa’il lived in an area of land which included Yamama, Bahrain, Saif Kazima, the sea shore,
the outer borders of Iraq, Ablah and Hait.
Most of the tribe of Taghlib lived in the Euphrates area while some of them lived with Bakr.
Banu Tamim lived in Basra semi-desert.
Banu Saleem lived in the vicinity of Madinah on the land stretching from Wadi Al-Qura to Khaibar
onwards to the eastern mountains to Harrah.
Thaqif dwelt in Ta’if and Hawazin east of Makkah near Autas on the road from Makkah to Basra.
Banu Asad lived on the land east of Taimâ’ and west of Kufa, while family of Tai’ lived between Banu
Asad and Taimâ’. They were five-day-walk far from Kufa.
Zubyan inhabited the plot of and between Taimâ’ and Hawran.
Some septs of Kinana lived in Tihama, while septs of Quraish dwelt in Makkah and its suburbs.
Quraish remained completely disunited until Qusai bin Kilab managed to rally their ranks on
honourable terms attaching major prominence to their status and importance.
The Sealed Nectar