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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 from the 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:
- Himyar: The most famous of whose septs were Zaid Al-Jamhur,
Quda‘a and Sakasic.
- 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 evacuation of the first and the settlement of the second in Yemen.
The emigrating septs of Kahlan can be divided into four groups:
- 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:
Tha‘labah bin ‘Amr left his tribe Al-Azd for Hijaz and dwelt between
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 to Mar 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.
- Lakhm and Judham: Of whom was Nasr bin Rabi‘a, father of
Manadhira, Kings of Heerah.
- Banu Tai’: Who also emigrated northwards to settle by the
so- called Aja and Salma Mountains which were consequently named as Tai’ Mountains.
- 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 [AWS] 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. [Tafheem-ul-Qur'an, 1/553]
It is known that Abraham [AWS] left Ar for Harran and then for
Palestine, which he made headquarters for his 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. [Bukhari 1/474]
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 thanks to Allâh’s favour water gushed forth to sustain them for sometime. The
whole story of Zamzam spring is already known to everybody. [Bukhari
1/475]
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 had passed 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 up to 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. and do 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. The sequence of the story of the sacrifice of Ishmael shows that
it really happened before Ishaq’s birth, 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, after Ishmael’s marriage, but he 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. [Qalb Jazeerat Al-Arab, p
230]
Once more, Abraham came to see his son, but again didn’t find
him 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 and righteous
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 neighbouring tribes, 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. [Tareekh Ard Al-Qur'an 2/78-86]
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 [pbuh] 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 significance to
the aforementioned Prophetic Hadith. They went on to say that there were exactly
forty fathers between ‘Adnan and Abraham [AWS]. [Rahmat-ul-lil'alameen
2/7-17]
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
[pbuh].
Prophet Muhammad [pbuh] 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."
[Muslim 2/245; Tirmidhi 2/201]
Al-‘Abbas bin ‘Abdul-Muttalib quoted the Messenger of
Allâh [pbuh] 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 families and selected me from the best whereof. I am the very best in person and
family." [Tirmidhi 2/201]
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. [Muhadrat Tareekh Al-Umam Al-Islamiyah
1/15-16]
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