Banu Hashim & History of the Leadership in Makkah

​Who are the Banu Hashim (Prophet's family), how they descended from Quraysh and took control of Makkah?

After Ibrahim (alaihi salaam) left his new born son Ismail (alaihi salaam) in Makkah, he grew up and married among the tribe of Banu Jurhum[1], who had settled in Makkah with the permission of Ismail’s mother Hagar (alaihi salaam). Banu Jurhum are the descendants of Qahtani, the ancient Arabs, also called pure Arabs that resided in the land of Yemen. These descendants of Qahtan had moved out of Yemen and wandered the desert region till they settled in Makkah with Ismail and Hagar (alaihim us salaam).

According to the prophet’s biography Al Raheeq Al Maqtum (The Sealed Nectar), Prophet Ismail (alaihi salaam) ruled the sanctuary of Makkah till his death at the age of 137 and then his two sons Nabet[2] and Qaydar[3] succeeded him. After their rule, the control of Makkah was handed over to their maternal grandfather Mudad bin Amr Al-Jurhumi, one of the Banu Jurhum. From that time till second century CE, the Banu Jurhum roughly ruled Makkah for twenty centuries with the exception of the time when Adnanis (descendants of Ismail from Adnan[4] or Ismaili Arabs) took control of Makkah for a while. This Adnani period coincided with the rule of Bakhtnasar[5] (Nebuchadnezzar II) the Babylonian King who ruled around six hundred BCE.
Around second century CE, Banu Khuzaa[6], another regional Arab tribe invaded Makkah with the assistance of descendants of Adnani Arabs and wrested the control of Makkah from Banu Jurhum. The people of Khuzaa then ruled Makkah and controlled all affairs of Makkah including pilgrim management for three hundred years. After Khuzaa’s control many descendants of Adnan or Adnani Arabs settled around Makkah including the Quraysh[7]. A descendant of Qurasyh named Qusai ibn Kilab married the daughter of Halil bin Habsha, a chief of Makkah from Banu Khuzaa. Qusai after his marriage gathered the tribe of Quraysh with other Arab tribes and after a bloody battle with Khuzaa took control of Makkah. After the battles were over, reconciliation took place between Khuzaa and Quraysh in which it was decided that Makkah be handed over to Qusai ibn Kilab.

After Qusai took charge of Makkah in 440 CE, the Qurasyh resumed the responsibilities of pilgrim duties and guardianship of Makkah. Qusai chose his son Abd Manaf to succeed him after his death and become chief of Makkah. After the death of Abd Manaf, his sons had dispute with sons of Abd ad-dar, the elder son of Qusai. Quraysh played the role of arbitrator and resolved this dispute by handing over the matters of pilgrim management to children of Abd Manaf specifically to his son named Hashim, while other responsibilities such as matters of governance of the city were handed to sons of Abd ad-Dar.

The son of Hashim named Abdul Mutallib (grandfather of Prophet Muhammad) succeeded him in undertaking responsibilities of serving pilgrims and was so well in his manner of administering their affairs that through people’s consensus he was eventually given entire control of Makkah and became a chief. Abdul Mutallib had many sons and one of them was Abdullah, the father of our beloved Messenger of Allah ﷺ. The children of Abdul Mutallib and sons of Hashim and their families were called the clan of Hashim or Banu Hashim. Over here it would also be important to mention that divine assistance from Allah ﷻ assisted Abdul Mutallib in gaining more importance among the people of Makkah and may have been one of the primary causes assisting him in being handed the chieftainship of Makkah. Abdul Mutallib had a dream in which he was informed about the well of Zamzam: “Abdul-Muṭṭalib said that while sleeping in the sacred enclosure, he had dreamed he was ordered to dig at the slaughter-place of the Quraysh between the two idols Isaaf and Naaila. There he would find the Zamzam Well, which the Jurhum tribe had filled in when they left Makkah. The Quraysh tried to stop him digging in that spot, but his son Al-Ḥarith stood guard until they gave up their protests. After three days of digging, Abdul-Mutallib found traces of an old well and exclaimed, "Allahuakbar!" Some of the Quraysh disputed his claim to sole rights over water, but in the end they allowed him to keep it. Thereafter he supplied pilgrims to the Kaaba with Zamzam water, which soon eclipsed all the other wells in Makkah because it was considered sacred.”[8]According to Islamic traditions this well of Zamzam was covered up and hidden by Banu Jurhum before they were driven out of Makkah. No one knew location of this well for centuries from the time of Ismail (alaihi salaam) and in fact is that same Zamzam which gushed forth from the ground when he rubbed his tiny feet due to extreme thirst on the sands of Makkah, while his mother Hagar (alaihi salaam) ran around the hills seeking help. After being hidden for almost four hundred years this was discovered again due to a dream of Abdul Mutallib and since then it continues to quench the thirst of millions of pilgrims on a daily basis.

References:
[1] One of the ancient Arab tribes that has lived in Arabian Peninsula for millenniums.
[2] Ancestor of Nabataeans
[3] A son of Ismail (alaihi salaam) (Ishmael)
[4] A descendant of Ismail (alaihi salaam) through his son Qaydar.
[5] The Babylonian king who ruled from 605 BCE – 562 BCE also famous for second temple.
[6] Descendants of Qahtani or pure Arabs through one of its branch called Kahlaan.
[7] Quraysh are a collection of tribes mainly descended from Adnanite Arabs.
[8]  Sheikh Imran N. 2001. Dreams In Islam - A Window To Truth And To The Heart. Bayshore, NY: Masjid Darul Qur’an - (Hosein 2001)

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