Banu Hashim

Reading levelSprouts (4–6)Explorers (7–9)Scholars (13+)Read it in the Kids' Wing

Banu Hashim is the Prophet ﷺ's clan inside the tribe of Quraysh, named after his forefather Hashim ibn Abd Manaf. They carried the Prophet through the hardest days of the feud, and they were besieged with him in the quarter of Abu Talib for three years. Among them were his Muslim and non-Muslim uncles and cousins.

Banu Hashim is a clan of Quraysh named after their forefather Hashim ibn Abd Manaf, who was famous for feeding the pilgrims on the winter and summer caravans. From it came the Prophet ﷺ's grandfather Abd al-Muttalib and his uncles Abu Talib, Hamza and al-Abbas — Muslims and non-Muslims alike. When Quraysh threatened the Prophet, the small clan defended him; Quraysh wrote a boycott document and Banu Hashim, with Banu al-Muttalib, were besieged in the quarter of Abu Talib for three years until the document was torn up. After Islam the name Hashim became a banner: Hashimid, Alid, Fatimid, Abbasid, Hasanid and Idrisid claims to legitimacy trace their lines to this clan.

Storytellers (10–12) read the Explorers text, then cross to the Scholars text.

Banu Hashim is the Qurashi clan of the Prophet ﷺ's household, named for Hashim ibn Abd Manaf, who was remembered for spending on the pilgrims and holding the rifada and the feeding of the caravan; the sira books preserve his story with Qusayy and the ilaf. From it came Abd al-Muttalib, the Prophet's grandfather, and his uncles — Abu Talib, Hamza and al-Abbas — and their children, Muslims and non-Muslims. When Quraysh's feud with the call deepened, Abu Talib defended him, and Quraysh drove the clan into social and economic boycott in the quarter of Abu Talib for about three years (c. 616–619 CE) under a document hung in the Kaaba until worms ate it — the sira records the besieged's hardship. After the Islamic transformation the name Hashim remained a title of legitimacy: Hashimid, Alid, Fatimid, Abbasid, Hasanid, Idrisid and Ibadite houses claimed descent or leadership from this house, and genealogical works give the tree in detail. For historians the clan is the family nucleus that turned from tribal protection into ruling dynasties.

Overview

Banu Hashim is the clan of Muhammad within Quraysh. Its small quarter defended him at the height of the enmity, and it later became the name under which the Hashimite, Alid and Fatimid states claimed legitimacy.

History

The clan includes the household of his grandfather Abd al-Muttalib, and his uncles Abu Talib, Hamza and al-Abbas, his paternal uncles, Muslim and non-Muslim alike. Its guardianship grew great when the tribe took refuge in it during the boycott of the Shi'b of Abu Talib, an ordeal in which the alliance bore hardship together with the members who had not become Muslim ¹.

After the death of Abu Talib, the roles followed one another: the diplomatic leadership of al-Abbas, the martyrdom of Hamza at Uhud, and, in Shia belief, the inheritance of the imamate through Ali and Fatima ².

Legacy

From this clan emerged the Abbasids, then the Hashemites of Jordan and the 'Alawis of Morocco. In Sunni heritage the Hashimi lineage became the most honoured of the state's lineages; in Imami heritage it is the very title of authority ³.

Of this clan in the chapter on the emigrants to Abyssinia

Those carried in the two ships:

Ja'far ibn Abi Talib ⁴

Women emigrants to Abyssinia:

Those born in the land of Abyssinia:

Abdullah ibn Ja'far ⁴

In the introduction to The Sealed Nectar

The Prophet's family is known as the Hashimite family, after his grandfather Hashim ibn Abd Manaf. The author therefore discusses the circumstances of Hashim, then of Abd al-Muttalib, and then of Abdullah ⁷. The house of Hashim is one of the four branches of Abd Manaf, along with Abd Shams, Nawfal and al-Muttalib. It is from this house that God chose the Prophet ﷺ, according to Muslim's hadith ⁸ ⁹. When Nawfal returned Abd al-Muttalib's arkah, Nawfal allied with Banu Abd Shams against Banu Hashim. Khuza'a entered the Dar al-Nadwa and allied with Banu Hashim against Banu Abd Shams and Nawfal. The author says this alliance became the cause of the conquest of Mecca ¹⁰ ¹¹. The ten sons of Abd al-Muttalib and his six daughters are in the entry on Abd al-Muttalib ¹².

Your choice is kept in this browser only.

Sources

Ibn Ishaq / Guillaume, The Life of Muhammad (1955)

Watt, Muhammad at Mecca (1953)

Ibn Sa'd, Kitab al-Tabaqat al-Kabir (Bewley translation, Ta-Ha)

al-Sira al-Nabawiyya — Ibn Hisham, al-Saqqa edition (1355/1936) , 4/3

al-Sira al-Nabawiyya — Ibn Hisham, al-Saqqa edition (1355/1936) , 4/11

al-Sira al-Nabawiyya — Ibn Hisham, al-Saqqa edition (1355/1936) , 4/10

al-Raheeq al-Makhtum — Safi al-Rahman al-Mubarakpuri , p.49

al-Raheeq al-Makhtum — Safi al-Rahman al-Mubarakpuri , p.21

Sahih Muslim , 2/245

al-Raheeq al-Makhtum — Safi al-Rahman al-Mubarakpuri , p.50

Mukhtasar Sirat al-Rasul — al-Najdi , p.41-42

al-Raheeq al-Makhtum — Safi al-Rahman al-Mubarakpuri , p.52

The Umayyad State — Bakr Muhammad Ibrahim Bakr (1st ed., Markaz al-Raya lil-Nashr wal-I'lam, Cairo 2002)

At a glance

In space

Place in the story

Overview

History

Legacy

Of this clan in the chapter on the emigrants to Abyssinia

In the introduction to The Sealed Nectar

Connections

People and things also explored

Sources

Mecca