Quraysh

Quraysh was the tribe of Mecca at the time of Muhammad's mission: the guardians of the Ka'ba and the owners of its trade. Its leadership were the fiercest opponents of the call in its early years; after the conquest, the tribe became the counterpart of the new state.

Quraysh trace themselves to al-Nadr ibn Kinana and branch into clans, among them Hashim, Umayya, Makhzum and Zuhra, who share with the others the honour of the charge of the House and the watering of the pilgrims ¹. The biography has preserved a picture of the class that monopolised the decisions in Mecca. Its leaders, such as Abu Jahl and Abu Lahab, opposed the call of their kinsman Muhammad, and Quraysh boycotted Banu Hashim in the shi'b for three years ².

After the battles of Badr, Uhud and the Trench, and the agreement of al-Hudaybiyya, Mecca was entered in 630 CE with no notable fighting. Its leaders became Muslim, from Abu Sufyan to Ikrima ibn Abi Jahl, and the relationship changed. Quraysh became the pillar of the army and the administration in the Rashidun and Umayyad eras ³.

The saying "the caliphate belongs to Quraysh", which tradition transmits from the context of the Saqifa, established the tribe's central place in the Islamic political imagination. Historians from outside the tradition see in it a later legitimation of a social superiority that already existed ⁴.

According to al-Raheeq al-Makhtum, Quraysh are the sons of Fihr ibn Malik ibn al-Nadr ibn Kinana, of the clans of Ilyas ibn Mudar ^{5 6}. They divided into many tribes, the best known being Jumah, Sahm, Adi, Makhzum, Taym, Zuhra, and the clans of Qusayy ibn Kilab: Abd al-Dar, Asad ibn Abd al-Uzza, and Abd Manaf. From Abd Manaf came Abd Shams, Nawfal, al-Muttalib and Hashim ⁵. The author cites the hadith in Muslim that God chose Quraysh from Banu Kinana and Banu Hashim from Quraysh ^{5 7}. The clans of Quraysh, namely Hulul, Haram and scattered households among Banu Kinana, lived in Mecca and its outskirts. They were bound by no single union and had no say in the affairs of Mecca or the House, until Qusayy ibn Kilab arose among them, gathered them, and formed the unity that gave them honour ^{8 9 10}. After Qusayy, Quraysh held offices and something like a small state, in the offices of Quraysh and in the emirate of the Hijaz.