- Quraysh is also the name of a
Surah in the Qur'an.
Quraysh or
Quraish ( ) , meaning
little shark. Other transliterations include "Quresh", "Quraysh",
"Koreish" and "Coreish".
Turkish:
Kureyş) was the dominant tribe of Mecca
upon the
appearance of the religion of Islam. It was the tribe to which the
Islamic prophet Muhammad belonged, as well as the tribe that led
the initial opposition to his message.
Lineage
According to popular legend, the Quraysh was a branch of the Kinana
branch, which descended from the
Khuzaimah, which has its genealogical root in
Mudhar patriarchy, descendant of
Adnan.
The Quraysh remained completely disunited until
Qusai ibn Kilab managed to rally their ranks
on honourable terms attaching major prominence to their status and
importance . After the introduction of Islam, the Quraysh gained
supremacy and produced the three dynasties of the
Ummayad Caliphate, the
Abbasid Caliphate and the
Fatimid Caliphate.
Early history
For several generations the Quraysh were spread about among other
tribal groupings. About five generations before Muhammad the
situation was changed by
Qusai ibn
Kilab.
By war and diplomacy he assembled an alliance
that delivered to him the possession of the Meccan Sanctuary
(the Kaaba
). He then gathered his fellow tribesmen
to settle at Mecca, where he enjoyed such adulation from his kin
that they adjudged him their
de
facto king, a position that was enjoyed by no other
descendant of his.
Arab lineages
According to traditional legends, Arab lineages allegedly originate
from three groups:
- Perished Arabs (العرب البائدة): These are the
ancients of whose history little is known. They include ‘Ad, Thamûd, Tasam, Jadis,
Imlaq and others.
- Pure Arabs (العرب العاربة): They allegedly
originated from the progeny of Ya‘rub bin Yashjub bin Qahtan bin
Hud so were also called Qahtanian
Arabs.
- Arabized Arabs (العرب المستعربة): They
allegedly originated from the progeny of Ishmael and were also called ‘Adnanite Arabs. The
Quraysh are a branch of the "Arabized Arabs".
The
Quraysh had become a prominent tribe in Mecca before the
birth of Muhammad and essentially ruled the
city. Before Muhammad's birth, the tribe had split into
different clans, each with different responsibilities. There were
some rivalries among the clans, but these became especially
pronounced during Muhammad's lifetime. Some clan leaders did not
appreciate Muhammad's claim of prophethood and tried to silence him
by putting pressure on his uncle,
Abu
Talib. Many of the clans also began to persecute the followers
of Muhammad, for example by
boycotting them.
This
response led Muhammad to initially send some Muslims to Ethiopia
, and later
would lead to his own emigration to Medina
.
After Muhammad's
conquest of Mecca
in 630, he pardoned many of those who had oppressed him before, and
peace among the different clans was maintained. After Muhammad's
death, clan rivalries reignited, playing central roles in the
conflicts over the
Caliphate and
contributing to the
Shi'a-
Sunni divide.
Clans
Quraysh branched out into various sub-clans, who in turn branched
out into yet further sub-clans. Roughly the division corresponded
to the family lines of the current chieftain of that clan having
sons.
- Banu Quraysh — Quraysh was divided into
several sub-clans.
- *Banu Abd-al-dar — sub-clan of
Quraysh
- *Banu Abd Manaf — sub-clan of
Quraysh
- :*Banu Nawfal — sub-clan of Banu Abd
Manaf, clan of Mut`im ibn
‘Adi
- :*Banu Muttalib — sub-clan of Banu
Abd Manaf
- :*Banu Hashim — sub-clan of Banu Abd
Manaf, clan of Muhammad and Ali.
- :*Banu Abd Shams — sub-clan of
Banu Abd Manaf, parent clan of Banu Umayyah.
- ::*Banu Umayyah — sub-clan of Banu
Abd Shams, clan of Abu Sufyan and
Uthman ibn Affan
- *Banu Makhzum — sub-clan of
Quraysh, clan of Khalid ibn
al-Walid
- *Banu Zuhrah — sub-clan of Quraysh,
clan of Sa'ad ibn Abi
Waqqas
- *Banu Taim — sub-clan of Quraysh, clan
of Abu Bakr
- *Banu Adi — sub-clan of Quraysh, clan
of Umar ibn al-Khattab
- *Banu Asad — sub-clan of
Quraysh, clan of Abd-Allah ibn
al-Zubayr and Khadijah
- *Banu Jumah — sub-clan of
Quraysh
- *Banu Sahm — sub-clan of Quraysh-
Amr ibn al-As
Leaders of the Quraysh
The leaders of Quraysh, who formed Mecca's aristocracy upon the
appearance of
Muhammad, were referred to as
the
Lords of Quraish (by conventional translation),
Dominants of Quraish (by literal translation) (Arabic:
Sadat Quraysh).
A list of them include:
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 Umayyah 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 was forced
to defer to Muawiyah, who, in violation of the treaty signed with
Hasan bin Ali, 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.
See also
Related tribes
References
- [1]
- GLUBB,
John Bagot, The Life and Times of
Mohammed, in A Restatement
of the History of Islam and Muslims, chapter " Muhammad's Visit to Ta'if", Al-islam.org.
- M Pacuk.
External links
- http://www.princeton.edu/~batke/itl/denise/quraysh.htm
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