Qusayy ibn Kilab Takes Mecca

The custody of the House and the rule of Mecca passed from Khuza'a to Qusayy ibn Kilab after a war and an arbitration, in the middle of the fifth century CE, which al-Rahiq al-Makhtum dates to 440 CE. With this, Qusayy and then Quraysh gained complete sovereignty in Mecca. ^{1 2}

Khuza'a ruled Mecca for three hundred years. During their rule the Adnanites spread through Najd and the edges of Iraq and Bahrain. Some clans of Quraysh remained on the outskirts of Mecca, the clans of Hulul and Haram, with scattered houses among Banu Kinana, but they had no say in the affairs of Mecca or the House until Qusayy came. ^{3 4 5 6} Qusayy had married Hubba, daughter of Hulayl ibn Hubshiyya, the governor of Mecca. When Hulayl died, war broke out between Khuza'a and Quraysh. ³

The author gives three accounts of the cause of this war. ^{3 1}

• The first: when Qusayy's descendants multiplied, his wealth grew and his nobility became great, and Hulayl died, he saw himself as more entitled to the Ka'ba and the rule of Mecca than Khuza'a and Banu Bakr, since Quraysh were the chiefs of the family of Ishmael and its purest line. He spoke to men of Quraysh and Banu Kinana about expelling Khuza'a and Banu Bakr, and they agreed. ^{3 1 7}
• The second: that Hulayl, as Khuza'a claim, charged Qusayy with the custody of the Ka'ba and the rule of Mecca. ^{1 8}
• The third: that Hulayl gave his daughter Hubba the custody of the House and appointed Abu Ghubshan of Khuza'a as her agent. When Hulayl died, Qusayy bought the custody of the House from Abu Ghubshan for a skin of wine. Khuza'a did not accept this sale and tried to prevent Qusayy from reaching the House. ^{1 9}

Whatever the case, when Hulayl died and Sufa performed its customary rites, Qusayy came to them at the Aqaba with those of Quraysh and Kinana who were with him, and said: "We are more entitled to this than you." They fought, and Qusayy overcame them and took what was in their hands. At that, Khuza'a and Banu Bakr withdrew from Qusayy. He then took the initiative against them and gathered his forces for war; they met and fought fiercely. ^{1 10}

Then they called for reconciliation and made Ya'mar ibn Awf, of Banu Bakr, their arbiter. He ruled that Qusayy was more entitled to the Ka'ba and to the rule of Mecca; that every life Qusayy had taken from them was void, to be trampled under his feet; that blood-money was due for what Khuza'a and Banu Bakr had taken; and that Qusayy should be left free with the Ka'ba. Ya'mar was called al-Shaddakh ("the crusher") that day. ^{1 10}

Qusayy's seizure of Mecca and the House occurred in the middle of the fifth century CE, in 440 CE. With it, complete sovereignty and effective command in Mecca passed to Qusayy and then to Quraysh, and he became the religious head of the House to which Arabs came from across the peninsula. ^{1 2} What Qusayy did in Mecca afterward, in its entrance, in Dar al-Nadwa and in the offices of Quraysh, is recorded in its own entries.

• The year 440 CE is an estimate by Fu'ad Hamza, from his book Qalb Jazirat al-Arab, as the author relays it. There is no second source for it.
• The three accounts are recorded in the event data as accounts, not as a ruling.