© Copyright 2007-2008 The Straight Path
From:  "JT" <planetece@yahoo.ca>  Add to Address Book  Add Mobile Alert  
Date: Sun, 22 Apr 2007 05:05:47 -0400 (EDT)

With respect to the lineage of Prophet Muhammad there are three versions: The first was authenticated by biographers and genealogists
and states that Muhammad’s genealogy has been traced to ‘Adnan. The second is subject to controversies and doubt, and traces his lineage beyond
‘Adnan back to Abraham. The third version, with some parts definitely incorrect, traces his lineage beyond Abraham back to Adam (AS).

After this rapid review, now ample details are believed to be necessary.

The first part: Muhammad bin ‘Abdullah bin ‘Abdul-Muttalib (who was called Shaiba) bin Hashim, (named ‘Amr) bin ‘Abd Munaf (called Al-
Mugheera) bin Qusai (also called Zaid) bin Kilab bin Murra bin Ka‘b bin Lo’i bin Ghalib bin Fahr (who was called Quraish and whose tribe was
called after him) bin Malik bin An-Nadr (so called Qais) bin Kinana bin Khuzaiman bin Mudrikah (who was called ‘Amir) bin Elias bin Mudar bin
Nizar bin Ma‘ad bin ‘Adnan.

The second part: ‘Adnan bin Add bin Humaisi‘ bin Salaman bin Aws bin Buz bin Qamwal bin Obai bin ‘Awwam bin Nashid bin Haza bin Bildas
bin Yadlaf bin Tabikh bin Jahim bin Nahish bin Makhi bin Aid bin ‘Abqar bin ‘Ubaid bin Ad-Da‘a bin Hamdan bin Sanbir bin Yathrabi bin Yahzin
bin Yalhan bin Ar‘awi bin Aid bin Deshan bin Aisar bin Afnad bin Aiham bin Muksar bin Nahith bin Zarih bin Sami bin Mazzi bin ‘Awda bin Aram
bin Qaidar bin Ishmael son of Abraham (AS).

The third part: beyond Abraham (AS) , Ibn Tarih (Azar) bin Nahur bin Saru‘ bin Ra‘u bin Falikh bin Abir bin Shalikh bin Arfakhshad bin Sam bin
Noah (AS) , bin Lamik bin Mutwashlack bin Akhnukh [who was said to be Prophet Idris (Enoch) bin Yarid bin Mahla’il bin Qainan bin Anusha bin
Shith bin Adam (AS).

The Prophetic Family:
The family of Prophet Muhammad  is called the Hashimite family after his grandfather Hashim bin ‘Abd Munaf. Let us now speak a little about
Hashim and his descendants:

Hashim: As we have previously mentioned, he was the one responsible for giving food and water to the pilgrims. This had been his charge when
the sons of ‘Abd Munaf and those of ‘Abd Ad-Dar compromised on dividing the charges between them. Hashim was wealthy and honest. He was
the first to offer the pilgrims sopped bread in broth. His first name was ‘Amr but he was called Hashim because he had been in the practice of
crumbling bread (for the pilgrims). He was also the first man who started Quraish’s two journeys of summer and winter. It was reported that he
went to Syria as a merchant. In Madinah, he married Salma — the daughter of ‘Amr from Bani ‘Adi bin An-Najjar. He spent some time with her in
Madinah then he left for Syria again while she was pregnant. He died in Ghazza in Palestine in 497 A.D. Later, his wife gave birth to ‘Abdul-
Muttalib and named him Shaiba for the white hair in his head[], and brought him up in her father’s house in Madinah. None of his family in
Makkah learned of his birth. Hashim had four sons; Asad, Abu Saifi, Nadla and ‘Abdul-Muttalib, and five daughters Ash-Shifa, Khalida, Da‘ifa,
Ruqyah and Jannah.

‘Abdul-Muttalib: We have already known that after the death of Hashim, the charge of pilgrims’ food and water went to his brother Al-
Muttalib bin ‘Abd Munaf (who was honest, generous and trustworthy) . When ‘Abdul-Muttalib reached the age of boyhood, his uncle Al-Muttalib
heard of him and went to Madinah to fetch him. When he saw him, tears filled his eyes and rolled down his cheeks, he embraced him and took
him on his camel. The boy, however abstained from going with him to Makkah until he took his mother’s consent. Al-Muttalib asked her to send
the boy with him to Makkah, but she refused. He managed to convince her saying: "Your son is going to Makkah to restore his father’s authority,
and to live in the vicinity of the Sacred House." There in Makkah, people wondered at seeing Abdul-Muttalib, and they considered him the slave
of Muttalib. Al-Muttalib said: "He is my nephew, the son of my brother Hashim." The boy was brought up in Al-Muttalib’s house, but later on Al-
Muttalib died in Bardman in Yemen so ‘Abdul-Muttalib took over and managed to maintain his people’s prestige and outdo his grandfathers in his
honourable behaviour which gained him Makkah’s deep love and high esteem.

When Al-Muttalib died, Nawfal usurped ‘Abdul-Muttalib of his charges, so the latter asked for help from Quraish but they abstained from
extending any sort of support to either of them. Consequently, he wrote to his uncles of Bani An-Najjar (his mother’s brothers) to come to his aid.
His uncle, Abu Sa‘d bin ‘Adi (his mother’s brother) marched to Makkah at the head of eighty horsemen and camped in Abtah in Makkah. ‘Abdul-
Muttalib received the men and invited them to go to his house but Abu Sa‘d said: "Not before I meet Nawfal." He found Nawfal sitting with some
old men of Quraish in the shade of Al-Ka‘bah. Abu Sa‘d drew his sword and said: "I swear by Allâh that if you don’t restore to my nephew what
you have taken, I will kill you with this sword." Nawfal was thus forced to give up what he had usurped, and the notables of Quraish were made
to witness to his words. Abu Sa‘d then went to ‘Abdul-Muttalib’ s house where he stayed for three nights, made ‘Umra and left back for Madinah.
Later on, Nawfal entered into alliance with Bani ‘Abd Shams bin ‘Abd Munaf against Bani Hashim. When Khuza‘a, a tribe, saw Bani An-Najjar’s
support to ‘Abdul-Muttalib they said: "He is our son as he is yours. We have more reasons to support him than you." ‘Abd Munaf’s mother was
one of them. They went into An-Nadwa House and entered into alliance with Bani Hashim against Bani ‘Abd Shams and Nawfal. It was an
alliance that was later to constitute the main reason for the conquest of Makkah. ‘Abdul-Muttalib witnessed two important events in his lifetime,
namely digging Zamzam well and the Elephant raid.

In brief, ‘Abdul-Muttalib received an order in his dream to dig Zamzam well in a particular place. He did that and found the things that Jurhum
men had buried therein when they were forced to evacuate Makkah. He found the swords, armours and the two deer of gold. The gate of Al-Ka
‘bah was stamped from the gold swords and the two deer and then the tradition of providing Zamzam water to pilgrims was established.

When the well of Zamzam gushed water forth, Quraish made a claim to partnership in the enterprise, but ‘Abdul-Muttalib refused their demands
on grounds that Allâh had singled only him out for this honourable job. To settle the dispute, they agreed to consult Bani Sa‘d’s diviner. On their
way, Allâh showed them His Signs that confirmed ‘Abdul-Muttalib’ s prerogative as regards the sacred spring. Only then did ‘Abdul-Muttalib
make a solemn vow to sacrifice one of his adult children to Al-Ka‘bah if he had ten.

The second event was that of Abraha As-Sabah Al-Habashi, the Abyssinian (Ethiopian) viceroy in Yemen. He had seen that the Arabs made their
pilgrimage to Al-Ka‘bah so he built a large church in San‘a in order to attract the Arab pilgrims to it to the exclusion of Makkah. A man from
Kinana tribe understood this move, therefore he entered the church stealthily at night and besmeared its front wall with excrement. When Abraha
knew of that, he got very angry and led a great army – of sixty thousand warriors – to demolish Al-Ka‘bah. He chose the biggest elephant for
himself. His army included nine or thirteen elephants. He continued marching until he reached a place called Al-Magmas. There, he mobilized his
army, prepared his elephants and got ready to enter Makkah. When he reached Muhassar Valley, between Muzdalifah and Mina, the elephant
knelt down and refused to go forward. Whenever they directed it northwards, southwards or eastwards, the elephant moved quickly but when
directed westwards towards Al-Ka‘bah, it knelt down. Meanwhile, Allâh loosed upon them birds in flights, hurling against them stones of baked
clay and made them like green blades devoured. These birds were very much like swallows and sparrows, each carrying three stones; one in its
peak and two in its claws. The stones hit Abraha’s men and cut their limbs and killed them. A large number of Abraha’s soldiers were killed in this
way and the others fled at random and died everywhere. Abraha himself had an infection that had his fingertips amputated. When he reached San
‘a he was in a miserable state and died soon after.

The Quraishites on their part had fled for their lives to the hillocks and mountain tops. When the enemy had been thus routed, they returned
home safely.

The Event of the Elephant took place in the month of Al-Muharram, fifty or fifty five days before the birth of Prophet Muhammad  which
corresponded to late February or early March 571 A.D. It was a gift from Allâh to His Prophet and his family. It could actually be regarded as a
Divine auspicious precursor of the light to come and accompany the advent of the Prophet and his family. By contrast, Jerusalem had suffered
under the yoke of the atrocities of Allâh’s enemies. Here we can recall Bukhtanassar in B.C. 587 and the Romans in 70 A.D. Al-Ka‘bah, by Divine
Grace, never came under the hold of the Christians – the Muslims of that time – although Makkah was populated by polytheists.

News of the Elephant Event reached the most distant corners of the then civilized world. Abyssinia (Ethiopia) maintained strong ties with the
Romans, while the Persians on the other hand, were on the vigil with respect to any strategic changes that were looming on the socio-political
horizon, and soon came to occupy Yemen. Incidentally, the Roman and Persian Empires stood for the powerful civilized world at that time. The
Elephant Raid Event riveted the world’s attention to the sacredness of Allâh’s House, and showed that this House had been chosen by Allâh for
its holiness. It followed then if any of its people claimed Prophethood, it would be congruous with the outcome of the Elephant Event, and would
provide a justifiable explanation for the ulterior Divine Wisdom that lay behind backing polytheists against Christians in a manner that
transcended the cause-and-effect formula.

‘Abdul-Muttalib had ten sons, Al-Harith, Az-Zubair, Abu Talib, ‘Abdullah, Hamzah, Abu Lahab, Ghidaq, Maqwam, Safar and Al-‘Abbas. He also
had six daughters, who were Umm Al-Hakim – the only white one, Barrah, ‘Atikah, Safiya, Arwa and Omaima.[]

‘Abdullah: The father of Prophet Muhammad Õáì Çááå Úáíå æÓáã. His mother was Fatimah, daughter of ‘Amr bin ‘A’idh bin ‘Imran bin
Makhzum bin Yaqdha bin Murra. ‘Abdullah was the smartest of ‘Abdul-Muttalib’ s sons, the chastest and the most loved. He was also the son
whom the divination arrows pointed at to be slaughtered as a sacrifice to Al-Ka‘bah. When ‘Abdul-Muttalib had ten sons and they reached
maturity, he divulged to them his secret vow in which they silently and obediently acquiesced. Their names were written on divination arrows
and given to the guardian of their most beloved goddess, Hubal. The arrows were shuffled and drawn. An arrow showed that it was ‘Abdullah to
be sacrificed. ‘Abdul-Muttalib then took the boy to Al-Ka‘bah with a razor to slaughter the boy. Quraish, his uncles from Makhzum tribe and his
brother Abu Talib, however, tried to dissuade him from consummating his purpose. He then sought their advice as regards his vow. They
suggested that he summon a she-diviner to judge whereabout. She ordered that the divination arrows should be drawn with respect to ‘Abdullah
as well as ten camels. She added that drawing the lots should be repeated with ten more camels every time the arrow showed ‘Abdullah. The
operation was thus repeated until the number of the camels amounted to one hundred. At this point the arrow showed the camels, consequently
they were all slaughtered (to the satisfaction of Hubal) instead of his son. The slaughtered camels were left for anyone to eat from, human or
animal.

This incident produced a change in the amount of blood-money usually accepted in Arabia. It had been ten camels, but after this event it was
increased to a hundred. Islam, later on, approved of this. Another thing closely relevant to the above issue goes to the effect that the Prophet  once
said:

"I am the offspring of the slaughtered two," meaning Ishmael and ‘Abdullah.

‘Abdul-Muttalib chose Amina, daughter of Wahab bin ‘Abd Munaf bin Zahra bin Kilab, as a wife for his son, ‘Abdullah. She thus, in the light of
this ancestral lineage, stood eminent in respect of nobility of position and descent. Her father was the chief of Bani Zahra to whom great honour
was attributed. They were married in Makkah, and soon after ‘Abdullah was sent by his father to buy dates in Madinah where he died. In another
version, ‘Abdullah went to Syria on a trade journey and died in Madinah on his way back. He was buried in the house of An-Nabigha Al-Ju‘di. He
was twenty-five years old when he died. Most historians state that his death was two months before the birth of Muhammad . Some others said
that his death was two months after the Prophet’s birth. When Amina was informed of her husband’s death, she celebrated his memory in a most
heart-touching elegy.

‘Abdullah left very little wealth —five camels, a small number of goats, a she-servant, called Barakah – Umm Aiman – who would later serve as
the Prophet’s nursemaid.