Arabia Before Islam
9 of 14 · c. 5th century CE · Makkah
Qusayy Gathers Quraysh
Before his birth · 450 CE
The tribe of Quraysh descended from Isma'il through a long line of ancestors reaching back to 'Adnan; genealogists agree on the line up to 'Adnan, but not beyond him. For a time its clans were scattered across the hills and valleys around Makkah. Then, about five generations before the Prophet ﷺ, a capable leader named Qusayy ibn Kilab united them and won the custodianship of the Ka'bah from Khuza'ah.
Qusayy settled Quraysh around the sanctuary and organised the duties that would define Makkan honour: giving water to pilgrims (siqayah), feeding them (rifadah), keeping the keys of the Ka'bah (hijabah) and carrying the banner in war. He built a council house, Dar al-Nadwah, where the elders met to decide the city's affairs.
From then on, Quraysh were the people of the Haram, respected across Arabia because they served the House and its visitors. The Prophet ﷺ later said that Allah chose Kinanah from the descendants of Isma'il, Quraysh from Kinanah, Banu Hashim from Quraysh, and him from Banu Hashim (Sahih Muslim 2276).
The Prophet ﷺ was born into a family whose honour came from serving pilgrims — a trust that would later be judged by how it was used.
What responsibilities have you inherited, and how are you carrying them?
- Sahih Muslim 2276 Sahih · in the two Sahihs
- Ibn Hisham, al-Sirah al-NabawiyyahHistorical report
- Ibn Sa'd, al-Tabaqat al-KubraHistorical report
What the hadith grades mean
- Sahih (authentic): an unbroken chain of trustworthy, precise narrators, free of hidden flaws or contradiction. It is acted upon.
- Hasan (good): like sahih, but a narrator's precision is slightly lighter. It is also accepted and acted upon. "Hasan sahih" means it reaches sahih by its routes.
- Da'if (weak): a break in the chain or a narrator who is not reliable enough. It is not used to establish beliefs or rulings.
- Very weak (munkar, matruk): a seriously flawed chain or a narrator accused of lying. It is not relied on at all.
- Mawdu' (fabricated): falsely attributed to the Prophet ﷺ. It may not be narrated as his words except to warn against it.
- The two Sahihs: every hadith with a full chain in Sahih al-Bukhari and Sahih Muslim is accepted as sahih by the scholars of hadith.
- Historical report: biographies and histories (Ibn Ishaq, Ibn Sa'd, al-Tabari) record events with chains that are often incomplete. They are used for the story, not for rulings.
- Hadith scholars grade a narration; the four madhhabs do not. Where a hadith carries a ruling, the page shows which schools act on it.
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