Beyond a shadow of doubt, the biography of Prophet Muhammad (Peace be
upon him)manifestedly represents an exhaustive embodiment of the
sublime Divine Message that he communicated in order to deliver the
human race from the swamp of darkness and polytheism to the paradise
of light and monotheism. An image, authentic as well as comprehensive,
of this Message is therefore only attainable through careful study and
profound analysis of both backgrounds and issues of such a biography.
In view of this, a whole chapter is here introduced about the nature
anddevelopment of Arab tribes priorto Islam as well as the
circumstantial environment thatenwrapped the Prophet's mission.
LOCATION OF THE ARABS:
Linguistically, the word "Arab" means deserts and waste barrenland
well-nigh waterless and treeless. Ever since the dawn of history, the
Arabian Peninsula and its people have been called as such.
The Arabian Peninsula is enclosed in the west by the Red Sea and
Sinai, in the east by the Arabian Gulf, in the south by the Arabian
Sea, which is an extension of the Indian Ocean, and in the north by
old Syria andpart of Iraq. The area is estimated between a million and
a million and a quarter square miles.
Thanks to its geographical position, the peninsula has always
maintained great importance.. Considering its internal setting, it is
mostly deserts and sandy places, which has rendered it inaccessible to
foreigners and invaders, and allowed its people complete liberty and
independence through the ages, despite the presence of two
neighbouring great empires.
Its external setting, on the otherhand, caused it to be the centre of
the old world and provided it with sea and land links with most
nations at the time. Thanks to this strategic position the Arabian
Peninsula had become the centre for trade, culture, religion and art.
ARAB TRIBES:
Arab kinfolks have been divided according to lineage into three groups:
Perishing Arabs: The ancient Arabs, of whose history little is known,
and of whom were 'Ad, Thamûd, Tasam, Jadis, Emlaq, and others.
Pure Arabs: Who originated fromthe progeny of Ya'rub bin Yashjub bin
Qahtan. They were also called Qahtanian Arabs.
Arabized Arabs: Who originated from the progeny of Ishmael. They were
also called 'Adnanian Arabs.
The pure Arabs – the people of Qahtan – originally lived in Yemen and
comprised many tribes, two of which were very famous:
1. Himyar: The most famous of whose septs were Zaid Al-Jamhur, Quda'a
and Sakasic.
2. Kahlan: The most famous of whose septs were Hamdan, Anmar, Tai',
Mudhhij, Kinda, Lakhm, Judham, Azd, Aws, Khazraj and the descendants
of Jafna — the kings of old Syria.
Kahlan septs emigrated from Yemen to dwell in the different parts of
the Arabian Peninsula prior to the Great Flood (Sail Al-'Arim of
Ma'rib Dam), due to the failure of trade under the Roman pressure and
domain on both sea and land trade routes following Roman occupation of
Egypt and Syria.
Naturally enough, the competition between Kahlan and Himyar led to the
evacuationof the first and the settlement ofthe second in Yemen.
THE EMIGRATING SEPTS OF KAHLAN CAN BE INTO FOURGROUPS:
1. Azd: Who, under the leadership of 'Imran bin 'Amr Muzaiqbâ',
wandered in Yemen, sent pioneers and finally headed northwards.
Details of their emigration can be summed up as follows:
2. Tha'labah bin 'Amr left his tribe Al-Azd for Hijaz and dweltbetween
Tha'labiyah and Dhi Qar. When he gained strength, he headed for
Madinah where he stayed. Of his seed are Aws and Khazraj, sons of
Haritha bin Tha'labah.
Haritha bin 'Amr, known as Khuza'a, wandered with his folks in Hijaz
until they came toMar Az-Zahran. Later, they conquered the Haram, and
settled in Makkah after having driven away its people, the tribe of
Jurhum.
'Imran bin 'Amr and his folks went to 'Oman where they established the
tribe of Azd whose children inhabited Tihama and were known as
Azd-of-Shanu'a.
Jafna bin 'Amr and his family, headed for Syria where he settled and
initiated the kingdom of Ghassan who was so named after a spring of
water, in Hijaz, where they stopped on their way to Syria.
3. Lakhm and Judham: Of whom was Nasr bin Rabi'a, father of Manadhira,
Kings of Heerah.
4. Banu Tai': Who also emigrated northwards to settle by the so-called
Aja and Salma Mountainswhich were consequently named as Tai'
Mountains.
5. Kinda: Who dwelt in Bahrain but were expelled to Hadramout and Najd
where they instituted a powerful government but not for long , for the
whole tribe soon faded away.
*. Another tribe of Himyar, known as Quda'a, also left Yemen and dwelt
in Samawa semi-desert on the borders of Iraq.
The Arabized Arabs go back in ancestry to their great grandfather
Abraham (Peace be upon him) from a town called "Ar" near Kufa on the
west bank of the Euphrates in Iraq. Excavations brought to light great
details of the town, Abraham's family, and the prevalent religions and
social circumstances.
It is known that Abrahaml (Peace be upon him) eft Ar for Harran and
then for Palestine, which he made headquarters forhis Message. He
wandered all over the area. When he went to Egypt, the Pharaoh tried
to do evil to his wife Sarah, but Allâh saved her and the Pharaoh's
wicked scheme recoiled on him. He thus came to realize her strong
attachment to Allâh, and,in acknowledgment of her grace, the Pharaoh
rendered his daughter Hagar at Sarah's service, but Sarah gave Hagar
to Abraham as a wife.
Abraham returned to Palestine where Hagar gave birth to Ishmael. Sarah
became so jealous of Hagar that she forced Abraham to send Hagar and
her baby away to a plantless valley on a small hill in Hijaz, by the
Sacred House, exposed to the wearing of floods coming right and left.
He chose for them a place under a lofty tree above Zamzam near the
upper side of the Mosque in Makkah where neither people nor water was
available, and went back to Palestine leaving with his wife and baby a
leather case with some dates and a pot of water. Not before long, they
ran out of both food and water, but thanksto Allâh's favour water
gushed forth to sustain them for sometime. The whole story of Zamzam
spring is already knownto everybody.
Another Yemeni tribe – Jurhum the Second – came and lived in Makkah
upon Hagar's permission, after being said to have lived in the valleys
around Makkah. It is mentioned in the Sahih Al-Bukhari that this tribe
came to Makkah before Ishmael was a young man while they hadpassed
through that valley long before this event.
Abraham used to go to Makkah every now and then to see his wife and
son. The number of these journeys is still unknown, but authentic
historical resources spoke of four ones.
Allâh, the Sublime, stated in the Noble Qur'ân that He had Abraham
see, in his dream, that he slaughtered his son Ishmael, and therefore
Abraham stood upto fulfill His Order:
*. "Then, when they had both submitted themselves (to the Will of
Allâh), and he had laid him prostrate on his forehead (or on the side
of his forehead for slaughtering); and We called out to him: "O
Abraham! You have fulfilled the dream (vision)!" Verily! Thus do we
reward the Muhsinûn (good-doers, who perform good deeds totally for
Allâh's sake only, without any show off or to gain praise or fame,
etc. anddo them in accordance to Allâh's Orders). Verily, that indeed
was a manifest trial — and We ransomed him with a great sacrifice
(i.e. a ram)" [37:103-107]
It is mentioned in the Genesis that Ishmael was thirteen years older
than his brother Ishaq. Thesequence of the story of the sacrifice of
Ishmael shows that it really happened before Ishaq'sbirth, and that
Allâh's Promise to give Abraham another son, Ishaq, came after
narration of the whole story.
This story spoke of one journey –at least – before Ishmael became a
young man. Al-Bukhari, on the authority of Ibn 'Abbas, reported the
other three journeys; a summary of which goes as follows:
When Ishmael became a young man, he learned Arabic at the hand of the
tribe of Jurhum, who loved him with great admiration and gave him one
of their women as a wife, soon after his mother died. Having wanted to
see his wife and son again, Abraham came to Makkah, Ishmael's
marriage, buthe didn't find him at home. He asked Ishmael's wife about
her husband and how they were doing. She complained of poverty, so he
asked her to tell Ishmael to change his doorstep. Ishmael understood
the message, divorced his wife and got married to the daughter of
Mudad bin 'Amr, chief of the tribe of Jurhum.
Once more, Abraham came to see his son, but again didn't findhim at
home. He asked his new wife the same previous question, to which she
thanked Allâh. Abraham asked her to tell Ishmael to keep his doorstep
(i.e. to keep her as wife) and went back to Palestine.
A third time, Abraham came to Makkah to find Ishmael sharpening an
arrow under a lofty tree near Zamzam. The meeting, after a very long
journey of separation, was very touching for a father so affectionate
and a so dutiful andrighteous son. This time, father and son built
Al-Ka'bah and raised its pillars, and Abraham, in compliance with
Allâh's Commandment, called unto people to make pilgrimage to it.
By the grace of Allâh, Ishmael had twelve sons from the daughter of
Mudad, whose names were Nabet, Qidar, Edbael, Mebsham, Mishma', Duma,
Micha, Hudud, Yetma, Yetour, Nafis and Qidman, and who ultimately
formed twelve tribes inhabiting Makkah and trading between Yemen,
geographical Syria and Egypt. Later on, these tribes spread all over,
and even outside, the peninsula. All their tidings went into oblivion
except for the descendants of Nabet and Qidar.
The Nabeteans – sons of Nabet –established a flourishing civilization
in the north of Hijaz, they instituted a powerful government which
spread out its domain over all neighbouringtribes, and made Petra
their capital. Nobody dared challenge their authority until the Romans
came and managed to eliminate their kingdom. After extensive research
and painstaking investigation, Mr. Sulaiman An-Nadwi came to the
conclusion that the Ghassanide kings, along with the Aws and Khazraj
were not likely to be Qahtanians but rather Nabeteans.
Descendants of Qidar, the son of Ishmael, lived long in Makkah
increasing in number, of them issued 'Adnan and son Ma'ad, to whom
'Adnanian Arabs traced back their ancestry. 'Adnan is the twenty-first
grandfather in the series of the Prophetic ancestry. It was said that
whenever Prophet Muhammad Õáì Çááå Úáíå æÓáã spoke of his ancestry he
would stop at 'Adnan and say: "Genealogists tell lies" and did not go
farther than him. A group of scholars, however, favoured the
probability of going beyond 'Adnan attaching no significanceto the
aforementioned PropheticHadith. They went on to say thatthere were
exactly forty fathers between 'Adnan and Abraham (Peace be upon them).
Nizar, Ma'ad's only son , had foursons who branched out into four
great tribes; Eyad, Anmar, Rabi'a and Mudar. These last
twosub-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, andBanu 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 whomcame Quraish, the descendants of Fahr bin Malik bin
An-Nadr binKinana.
Quraish branched out into various tribes, the most famous of whom were
Jumah, Sahm, 'Adi, Makhzum, Tayim, Zahra andthe three septs of Qusai
bin Kilab: 'Abdud-Dar bin Qusai, Asadbin '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 binHashim
(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:
*.
*. "Allâh created mankind and chose me from the best whereof, He chose
the tribes and selected me from the best whereof; and He chose
familiesand 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 fromKufa.
Zubyan inhabited the plot of andbetween 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.
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