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Stopping the genealogy at Ma'add

الوقوف في النسب عند معد

The Prophet's ban on pressing the lineage beyond Ma'add — a stop imposed by the span of time and the quarrel of versions, which al-Mas'udi documents from four divergent witnesses 1.

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Overview

Al-Masudi mentions that the Prophet ﷺ forbade going beyond Ma'add ibn Adnan in lineage, so people stopped there. He explains this by the distance of lineages and the multiplicity of opinions over a long period. 2

The dispute over what lies above Ma'add

Al-Masudi says that the genealogists disagreed about what lies above Ma'add. He mentions different reports: the version of Ibn Hisham from Ibn Ishaq, another version, the report of Ibn al-A'rabi from Hisham al-Kalbi, and the book of Baruch ibn Naria. 2

What is not recorded here: the chain of the Prophet's prohibition and its grade. It needs a further source.

People and things also explored

Disputing the count of raids and sariyas· The Prophet's lineage and its three parts· Orientalism· Optimism (tafaul)· Ibn Khaldun completes the Muqaddima· Abd al-Jabbar al-Jumurd· Abd al-Rahman al-Jabarti· Abd al-Rahman Badawi

Sources

  1. Muruj al-Dhahab — al-Masʼudi , p. 565-566
  2. Muruj al-Dhahab — al-Masʼudi , p.565-566
Cite this page

islam.museum contributors. “Stopping the genealogy at Ma'add”. islam.museum, https://islam.museum/en/concept/waqf-al-nasab-inda-maadd/. CC BY-SA 4.0. Last updated 2026-10-16.

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Disputing the count of raids and sariyas

The maghazi arithmetic disputes: Ibn Ishaq's twenty-six raids versus the twenty-seven that split Wadi'l-Qura from Khaybar; nine pitched battles common to both lists with al-Waqidi adding Wadi'l-Qura and al-Ghaba for eleven; and the sariya counts ranging from thirty-five to al-Waqidi's forty-eight (in al-Tabari's chain) to sixty-six.