005 - Genealogy & Year of the Elephant

[DOWNLOAD MP3]

Insha'Allah ta'ala, today will be, as we said, a rehash of one of the first episodes of the seerah. And that is the genealogy of the Prophet PBUH.

And we begin by talking about, really, the entire Arab race. Because this is how the books of seerah begin. Who exactly are the Arabs.

And there are many theories. And the fact of the matter is that there is nothing that is, quote-unquote, scientific. These are all legends that the Arabs have basically transferred down, generation to generation. And this is the standard narrative.

Genealogy of the Arabs

The standard narrative goes that: the Arabs can be divided into two broad categories.

1. The first of them are the Extinct Arabs (al-Arab al-Ba'ida/العرب البائدة). They are gone. The Extinct Arabs. And these are also called the Ancient Arabs. And these are the earliest civilizations known in the land of Arabia. The earliest human civilizations known. And the Quran mentioned some of them, such as Thamud (ثمود) and Ad (عاد). And there were other tribes as well.

And so these civilizations, they no longer exist, obviously. And their progeny, according to the majority and dominant opinion (and we will come to another opinion), has been completely exterminated; that Allah SWT basically exterminated all of them. And these civilizations flourished five to six thousand years ago, i.e., from the earliest dawn of the recorded civilization. And some of them were destroyed by Allah SWT, such as Ad and Thamud. And others were forced to evacuate or wiped out by war. So the point is these are called the Ancient Arabs, and they are simply in the textbooks of history.

2. The second group of Arabs are called the Remaining Arabs (al-Arab al-Baqiya/العرب الباقية); Those who remained. So we have the Extinct Arabs (the Ancient), then we have the Remaining Arabs (al-Arab al-Baqiya). And these Arabs are divided into two categories, okay? So these Arabs are divided into two categories:

2a) The first of these are: al-Arab al-Ariba (العرب العاربة), or if you want to be in English: the Pure Arabs. The Arabs who were pure Arabs.

2b) And the second: al-Arab al-Musta'riba (العرب المستعربة). The Arabs Who Became Arab; the Arabs who learned the Arabic language.

So far so clear?


So you have the Original Arab (al-Arab al-Ariba); then you have the Arabs Who Became Arab; the Arabs who took the Arabic language (al-Arab al-Musta'riba). And there are two figures that the legend says are the founders of each of these. These two figures are not brothers, obviously. They are two separate categories.

The first of them, al-Arab al-Ariba. They say they are (primarily they say), this is Qahtan (قحطان). Or some say his son Ya'rub (يعرب). And from that, they say we get "Arab (عرب)." Ya'rub — those who were the descendants of Ya'rub, they became Arab. And they say Ya'rub was the first who spoke the beginning of Arabic. So they say Ya'rub spoke a language — they called it Ya'rab. And his, basically, people were called Arabi, from this person Ya'rub, the son of Qahtan.

And they are also called Qahtani Arabs (العرب القحطانية). So his father is Qahtan. So they say this is Qahtani Arabs.

And these Arabs primarily were found in southern parts of Arabia, such as the ancient Yemeni civilizations. The ancient civilizations of Yemen. Who was Qahtan? Qahtan was one of the descendants of Sam (سام). Who is Sam? Sam is the son of Nuh (نوح). And from Sam, we get the English term Semite. Semite. So from Sam we get, "These people are Semites."

Now common legend. Biblical and even hadith (there is a hadith [حديث] that some scholars have said is authentic, some said is not authentic). There is a hadith in Tirmidhi (الترمذي): Our Prophet PBUH said, "Sam (سام) is the father of the Arabs. And Yafith (يافث) is the father of the Romans. And Ham (حام) is the father of the Africans"—this hadith is in Tirmidhi.

And legend. Even the Bible has the exact same thing, that Nuh had basically... eventually there were three sons. And these three sons, from them all of the races came. Sam, Yafith, and Ham. And Sam is the father of the Semite people, Yafith is the father of the Romans, and Ham is the father of the Africans. And this is the standard Biblical narrative. And it is also the standard Islamic narrative as well. Of course modern science does not accept any of this because they have their own theories.

Having said that by the way, modern science does say that the Semite people have a certain gene — so there is some evidence. But obviously, modern science does not hold this to be true.

So Qahtan is one of the Semites. And of course, Ibrahim (إبراهيم) is also one of the Semites eventually. Ibrahim and Qahtan are both descendants of Sam. Qahtan and Ibrahim are not brothers or contemporaries — we don't know when Qahtan lived, but Qahtan's ancestor, Ibrahim's ancestor, are both Sam. And therefore both Ibrahim and Qahtan are Semites.

However of course, the lineage of Ibrahim, we consider more pure — our Prophet PBUH came from that; in that sense, meaning the sense of Ibrahim AS.

Now some people say that this man, Qahtan, was actually one of the descendants of the Ancient Arabs (al-Arab al-Ba'ida). So he was not just a total stranger wandering in, but rather that some Ancient Arabs remained, and one of these people was Qahtan, and he flourished at a time and a place we have no idea, anything really, about him other than southern Yemen basically, and that his children were called the Pure Arabs because his son is the founder, let's say, of the Arabic language, Ya'rub. So Ya'rub is the founder of the Arabic language.

Now as I said, we do not know when Qahtan flourished. By the way, Imam al-Tabari (الطبري) said that Sam has two different branches. One of them goes to Ibrahim, and another goes to Qahtan.

And other people say (other scholars say) that Qahtan is of the descendants of Hud (هود) AS. Hud. And of course Hud also is one of the ancient Arab al-Ariba. But the point is we do not know when he lived, and most likely Qahtan was predating Adnan (عدنان) by many centuries. Who is Adnan? That is the second category of Arabs — and these are the Arab al-Musta'riba (the Arabs Who Became Arab). Okay?

So once again, two large groups: the Qahtani Arabs (العرب القحطانية) and the Adnani Arabs (العرب العدنانية).

And all the Arabs are familiar with these two big branches. These are the two mother branches. The Qahtanis are those who lived in Arabia from the ancient times after the destruction of the first Arabs. Clear? Very ancient times. But not from the earliest of times — that is al-Arab al-Ba'ida.

So then who are the Arabasized Arabs (the Adnani Arabs)? These Arabs are of the descendants of Ismail (إسماعيل). One of the descendants of Ismail (Allah knows how many generations down), his name was Adnan. And Adnan obviously... where does his lineage come from? It goes back to Ismail, the son of Ibrahim; and where was Ibrahim living? In Arabia? No. Where was Ibrahim living? Iraq and Sham. Iraq and Sham and Filastin now. Right? Ibrahim is from up there. So they say therefore, that these Arabs (Adnan basically) are Musta'riba — they acquired the Arabic language, because Ibrahim was not speaking Arabic, he was speaking ancient Semitic language which is the mother of Hebrew and Arabic — some language that is neither Arabic nor Hebrew, it is some ancient Semitic language. However, most likely it is closer to Hebrew than it is to Arabic. Most likely, this language that Ibrahim spoke is closer to ancient Hebrew than it is to Arabic.

So where did Arabic come from? The Qahtani Arabs. Okay? And so when the descendants of Ismail, basically, lived in the Arabian Peninsula, they obviously have to adopt and take in the Arabic language. Now obviously, human linguistics and knowledge tells us that they must have added to the language as well — every time a civilization comes, you also add to the language. So the Adnani Arabs — and who is Adnan? One descendant of Ismail. How many people between Adnan and Ismail? We will come to that, but very simplistically: we do not know. And Adnan is a direct ascendant of our Prophet Muhammad PBUH. So our Prophet PBUH is an Adnani Arab. Not a Qahtani. He is an Adnani. He has to be Adnani because Adnan is of the sons of Ismail AS. And our Prophet PBUH is the 20th grandchild of Adnan. So between our Prophet PBUH and Adnan is exactly 20 generations.

By the way, for the Arabs here: So Adnan, one of his great-great-great-great-grandchildren was Mudar (مضر). And his brother was Rabi'a (ربيعة). So Mudar and Rabi'a are the two main branches of Adnan.

Footnote here: There is an entire science of classical Islam, which is one of the rarest sciences alive to this day, and that is the science of ilm al-ansab (علم الأنساب). The science of lineage. That people literally memorize every one of these branches and trees and whatnot. And that is a science that the Arabs prided themselves on. And anybody who was knowledgeable of ansab was considered to be what we would consider a well-educated man — "He has read all the classics." In those days what are the classics? It's the ansab; it's the lineage and genealogy.

So our Prophet PBUH is of the descendants of Adnan.

When did Adnan live? I did as much research that I could find here — there is a report from Ibn al-Kalbi (ابن الكلبي). And Ibn al-Kalbi is one of the greatest ulama of ansab (d. 204 AH). Very early scholar, and one of the founders of the history of writing genealogy. Classical alim like Ibn al-Hisham and Ishaq, there is also Ibn al-Kalbi. Ibn al-Kalbi said that Ma'ad (معد), the son of Adnan lived contemporaneously with Jesus Christ. So Adnan is one generation before Jesus Christ.

Now I calculated this out. Actually, it is very accurate. This seems very accurate. Why? Because typically 100 years exactly... 100 years exactly is how many generations typically? 2? 5? 3 years. Exactly. The year is 2015. Go back to 1915 in your own family. And who was flourishing at that time? Great-grandfather. Not grandfather. Great-grandfather. Think about it. Flourishing and being at the prime... where you are right now of your life. Where you are right now at your life, this is your great-grandfather... right? My own great-grandfather died 1918 by the way. Pretty much exact 1918 he passed away, and relatively young. He was in his 40s — and basically is exactly what I'm going to be in a few years as well. But insha'Allah I hope I don't die in a few years. But the age is pretty much the same insha'Allah ta'ala.

The point being that if you do the math, if you do the math, what was the time difference between Isa (عيسى) and our Prophet PBUH? Quickly. Everybody should know. Five hundred and? Five hundred seventy. Because our Prophet PBUH was born when? 570. So we have exactly 570. Divide 570 by 20 and you get around 31, 32... which is basically exactly right. How old are you when you have your son or daughter? In your early 30s typically, right? That is the time zone typically. The average, right? And therefore if you do the math, we can pretty accurately date when did Adnan lived — he lived 30 BC. Because his son, Ma'ad, was contemporaneous to Isa ibn Maryam (عيسى بن مريم). Clear?

So Adnan, the founder of the Adnani Arabs is roughly contemporaneous to... or pre Jesus Christ. And Qahtan, we have no idea. But probably a few hundred years before him — because Qahtan predates Adnan. How do we know this? Because Ismail marries into the Jurhumites (قبيلة جرهم) that is one of the branches of Qahtan. Clear? So the Qahtan has to predate Adnan.

______________

Lineage of the Prophet PBUH

So with this background, the lineage of our Prophet PBUH is divided into 3 categories.

1. The first category, we know for sure, without a shadow of a doubt, without any difference of opinion, between him and Adnan. This is set in stone, everybody agrees. How many generations? 20. Set in stone, everybody knows, everybody agrees, memorized.

2. The second category is that: we can try to glean some knowledge from pre-Islamic sources, but we do not have anything concrete. And this is from Adnan to Ismail. From Adnan to Ismail. Now we cannot have any information from the Jewish and Christian sources about this period. Why? (From Adnan to Ismail.) Why?

*Brother answers*

Jesus... okay. How about the Biblical sources?

*Brother answers*

Wa inka... No. They... What?

*Brother answers*

It is not mentioned. Why is it not mentioned?

*Brother answers*

Exactly. They don't care about Ismail's lineage. The Bible does not mention at all Ismail's lineage.

By the way, the Bible mentions that there is going to be the sons of Kedar (Qedar). Kedar. And one of the descendants of Ismail, he is Kedar (Qaidar/قيدار). Right? The Bible mentions — go look it up... if I am not mistaken, it is in Genesis. Ismail is mentioned, and Allah says, 'I shall make a great nation out of him.' And it also mentioned the sons of Kedar (k. e. d. a. r.); and Qaidar is one of the sons of Ismail, and one of the ancestors of Adnan. So Qaidar is mentioned in the Bible. But that's about it.

So where do we get this information from? From Arabic folklore. And Arabic folklore has not been preserved that well. So al-Tabari for example, mentions 7 opinions about the lineage between Adnan and Ismail. And in one opinion, there is 7 people; in another, 8; in another, 9; in another, 10; in another, 41 people... between Adnan and Ismail. In the end of the day, we have no idea. It is a big question mark.

What are the names of the ancestors and how many ancestors between Adnan and Ismail? We have no idea whatsoever. Even though to be frank, 7 does not seem enough, because if you do the math, Ismail is not living just 200 years before Jesus Christ. 7 generations would be 300 years. That is not enough. And probably the 40, 41 seems closer to the truth. In any case, we do not know. So that's the case we have no knowledge about.

3. Then from Ismail to Adam (آدم), we have one source. What is that source? The lineage of Ismail to Adam. We have a source. What is our source? Where do we look up a lineage from Ismail to Adam? The Tawrah (التوراة - Torah). The Old Testament. Can we rely on the Old Testament? No. So that's our only source of information.

And if you look at some of the charts printed in the Muslim world (and we find them in our houses), you find the lineage of Prophet PBUH all the way to Adam. You must have seen this. It is also online and whatnot, right? This chart is half fact, half myth, and half fiction. Nah, that doesn't make sense. ⅓, ⅓, ⅓, okay?

1) As for the fact, it is between Prophet PBUH and Adnan — that's a fact.
2) From Adnan to Ismail — somewhat of a myth.
3) Then from Ismail to Adam — this, complete, we take it from the Jewish Christian sources. We don't have anything in our tradition about the lineage from Ismail and Ibrahim all the way back to the Prophet Adam AS.

And if you look at this chart and count the numbers, you will find exactly 55 generations between Adam and the Prophet PBUH. And this fits in perfectly with the Jewish calendar of around 6,000 years, because the Orthodox Jews and the Fundamentalist Christians believe that we have been around for... how many years? 6,000 years. And this genealogy kinda sorta fits in perfectly to that narrative.

Of course this is highly problematic in light of modern science, in light of archaeology, in light of human remains, in light of cave paintings. I have gone into this tangent multiple times right here from this platform, I am not going to go into them again. But the fact of the matter is that we can carbon-14 date humanity pretty clearly for tens of thousands of years. We have paintings in France. We have aborigine structures going back thirty thousand years in the minimal. Thirty thousand years. This is like literally set in stone. Carved in stone. It's not a pun. We have carved-in stone images, we have a handprint of a famous cave that was uncovered in France — the artist left his handprint on there, and it was a cave that was basically blocked off and it was discovered a few years ago. Famous incident. There is a National Geographic documentary about this. He left his handprint over there. You can carbon-14 date... the cave was cut-off because there was an avalanche and it was sealed completely. Then it was discovered a few years ago. You go back, you see the remains of the fire, you see the remains of the painting, the carvings, the animal shown no longer exist in the world, right? So it's bizarre, amazing. This goes back 30,000 years. These are Homo sapiens, these are not some Neanderthals or some Cro-Magnon. These are Homo sapiens. Our. Us. Even the guy who was there literally put his hand there and he showed this is the same size as us. Everything.

The point being that: clearly, 6,000 years does not make sense from a scientific perspective. And I have said this before, I'm not going to go into it now in a lot of detail, but we as Muslims do not have to believe the 6,000-year timeline. Our tradition does not tell us to believe in 6,000-year timeline. We have no problem extrapolating back twenty, thirty thousand years, as long as science tells us. And if we were to do this, then we have to say that this lineage that is shown between Adnan and Ismail, and between Ismail and Adam, has to be wrong. Because there must be more people. Cannot just be this small lineage.

And there are evidences to this as well: Imam Malik ibn Anas (مالك بن أنس) was told about a human being in his time who could trace his lineage back to Adam AS. And Imam Malik said, "And how does he know? Who told him this lineage?"—he denied this. And he said that, "How about to Ismail?" And Imam Malik said, "Even this, I doubt." — How would somebody know his lineage back to Ismail AS? And there's also a hadith in it. Hadith regarding this in Mu'jam al-Kabir (المعجم الكبير) of al-Tabarani (الطبراني), which has some slightness in the chain, that the Prophet PBUH heard somebody saying his lineage back to the Prophet Nuh. In which the Prophet PBUH when he heard this lineage, he said, "Kadhaban nassabun" ("These people who are putting this lineage have lied" / "The genealogists have lied.") Then he recited the verse in the Quran. Surah al-Furqan [25:38] I believe:

وَقُرُونًا بَيْنَ ذَلِكَ كَثِيرًا

And there were KATHIR, MANY generations between them. So it is as if... (now, the hadith is slightly weak. If we say it is authentic, for historical reasons, meaning when it comes to history, we can be a little bit lax and accept incidents. But it is not authentic as a saying of the Prophet PBUH. But it makes sense to be honest.) Allah says in the Quran:

وَقُرُونًا بَيْنَ ذَلِكَ كَثِيرًا

There were MANY generations between. And Allah is mentioning past generations, past nations. And Allah says there were many generations between them. If Allah is saying "many," in my humble opinion, this is not 10, 15, 20. For Allah to use the word "kathir," in my opinion, it does not make sense that this is just 7 people between Adnan and Ismail, or 10 people between. It seems to be a little bit more than this, right?

And this would fit in perfectly with modern science as well — that there were many many many generations. And there are other evidences as well that indicate that 6,000 years does not make any sense whatsoever. Of them is the Prophet PBUH saying:

بعثت انا والساعة كهاتين

That, "I and the Day of Judgment have been sent like these two fingers [index and middle fingers]"—meaning the difference between these two fingers is... how little? How little is the difference? "I and the Day of Judgment have been sent like these two fingers"—meaning, "The Day of Judgment is right after me," okay? So since the beginning of man until the Prophet PBUH is this finger [index finger]; and then the beginning of man until the Day of Judgment is this finger [middle finger]. So how much is the difference? This little.

Okay. We are now in what year of the Hijrah, who can tell me?

*People say something*

People have opinions about which year we are in the Hijrah? 1437 now. 1437 now. Masha'Allah, our young brother is right — 1437. So one thousand four hundred thirty seven years have gone by and we are still not here (and we don't want to be alive when this year comes), right? So if this little amount is one thousand years, how about then the rest of the finger? Doesn't it kind of makes sense to stretch it back to more than just 6,000 years?

And there are other evidences as well. Of them is the hadith in the Sahih Muslim (صحيح مسلم) where Allah SWT created the children of Adam, and Adam was there and he saw a bright light amongst his children, and he was amazed by this light. And he said, "Who is this, O Allah?" And Allah said, "This is your son, Dawud (داود)." "This is your son, Dawud who shall live towards the End of Times." "Akhir al-Zaman (آخر الزمان)." Now hold on a sec. Dawud is Akhir al-Zaman? What does that mean about us then? If Dawud who lived (maybe three four thousand years before us, right? Allah knows how many year. Or sorry, not 3, 4 thousand, but less than it. But still...) If Dawud is Akhir al-Zaman... where does that leave between him, Adam and Dawud? How many generations? If we were to go according to Biblical, or the 6,000-year period, Dawud would not be "akhir." Dawud would be a little bit after half, right? So for Allah to say, "This is your son, Dawud who will be fi Akhir al-Zaman"... ...So why am I saying this by the way? Because in my humble opinion, the evidences are very clear for me — but these are not Certain Evidences — they are not Qat'i (قطعي - Certain/Definitive), they are Dhanni (ظني - Conjectural/Probable) — that the 6,000-year timeline is not Islamic. And this is one of those things that people bring doubts about Islam: "Look at your 6,000-year." You know. "You don't believe in evolution," for example whatnot. And I have given entire lectures about that. Not the time here to get into it, [but] we are not restricted to 6,000 years. We can extrapolate masha'Allah, tabarak'Allah, as long as science tells us to — because we don't have any time frame. And perhaps these evidences seem to suggest that there were plenty of generations between our Prophet PBUH and Adam.

Tayyib (طيب - alright/okay).

______________

Lineage Between the Prophet PBUH and Adnan

With that now let us get to the actual lineage of the Prophet PBUH.

That our Prophet PBUH is Muhammad ibn Abdillah ibn Abdul Muttalib ibn Hashim ibn Abd Manaf ibn Qusayy ibn Kilab ibn Murrah ibn Ka'b ibn Lu'ayy ibn Ghalib ibn Fihr ibn Malik ibn al-Nadr ibn Kinana ibn Khuzaymah ibn Mudrikah ibn Ilyas ibn Mudar ibn Nizar ibn Ma'ad ibn Adnan.

محمد بن عبد الله بن عبد المطلب بن هاشم بن عبد مناف بن قصي بن كلاب بن مرة بن كعب بن لؤي بن غالب بن فهر بن مالك بن النضر بن كنانة بن خزيمة بن مدركة بن إلياس بن مضر بن نزار بن معد بن عدنان

This is the exact 20, okay? That is his lineage as has been agreed upon — these are exact 20. And we do not have much information about all of these 20. However, we do have a little tidbits here and there about some of them, and in particular, our Prophet PBUH mentioned some of them in his ancestry — this hadith is in Sahih Muslim. And so let's look at this hadith and then we definitely have to analyze the people that he mentioned; that our Prophet PBUH said:

إن الله اصطفى كنانة من ولد إسماعيل

Allah chose Kinana from all of the descendants of Ismail.

واصطفى قريشا من كنانة

And He chose Quraysh from Kinana.

واصطفى من قريش بني هاشم

And He chose the Banu Hashim from Quraysh.

واصطفاني من بني هاشم

And He chose me from the Banu Hashim.

So believe that the lineage of our Prophet PBUH is the best and the most noble lineage ever that nobody had a more noble lineage. And this was very important especially for the Arabs of his time. Because for them, everything depended upon? Lineage. Everything! His status, his nobility, any cause he was fighting for. Everything depended upon his lineage. So our Prophet PBUH was chosen to be of the best lineage. And this is narrated by the sahaba (صحابة) themselves. When Ja'far ibn Abi Talib (جعفر بن أبي طالب) was speaking to the Najashi (نجاشي - Negus), so what did he tell the Najashi? (And I have gone over this story before as well.) So, "Allah sent a Messenger to us. We knew his lineage (عرفنا نسبه)."

And when al-Mughira ibn Shu'ba (المغيرة بن شعبة) stood in front of Yazdegerd (the last emperor of Persia), what did he tell Yazdegerd, the last emperor? He told him:

فبعث الله إلينا رجلا معروفا نعرف نسبه ونعرف وجهه ومولده ، فأرضه خير أرضنا ، وحسبه خير أحسابنا ، وبيته خير بيوتنا ، وقبيلته خير قبائلنا ، وهو نفسه كان خيرنا

So in this hadith, he is basically saying, "Allah sent us a man. We know his lineage, and we know where he came from, and his land is the best of land, and his lineage is the best of lineage, and his house (meaning his immediate qabila [قبيلة - tribe]) is the best house, and his tribe is the best tribe, and he himself is the best of us."

So our Prophet PBUH has the best and the highest lineage.

______________

Concept of Sharaf: Nobility of Lineage

Now pause here for a quick second. One of my quick tangents here. There is a lot of misconception amongst our Muslim ummah (أمة) about the concept of sharaf (شرف), of lineage, of nobility of lineage. And people really get confused and messed up because... I guess we have not done the job of explaining properly. "We" = the scholars and students of knowledge, have not done the job of explaining this properly enough.

Listen. Doesn't matter who your father was, Allah AWJ will not cause you to enter Jannah (جنة) or Jahannam (جهنم) based upon your father. That's clear. Your lineage is irrelevant when you stand in front of Allah on the Day of Judgment. That much is clear.

لا فضل لعربي على عجمي ، ولا لعجمي على عربي ، ولا لأبيض على أسود ، ولا لأسود على أبيض - : إلا بالتقوى

There is no problem about this. But this does not mean that nasab (نسب - lineage/ancestry) and sharaf (شرف - honor/nobility) and hasab (حسب - status/rank) is irrelevant to a person stature in this world. Rather, the world universally acknowledges lineage as something to be acceptably proud of, if it is done within a reasonable amount. If it is taken to an extreme, then it becomes fakhar (فخر - [excessive] pride) and it becomes haram (حرام). But there is nothing wrong with taking some amount of happiness in nobility, and status confers this nobility upon people. So even in America, which is one of the places where lineage has almost completely been destroyed. (Because America by and large is a land of immigrants, even unlike Europe where lineage still carry some weight.) Even in America, if your last name happens to be Kennedy or Rockefeller, you're going to go places. And doors will open up for you. Whether you like it or not, this is the reality of the world that we live in, right? It doesn't matter if you are the most ignorant uneducated person, if your last name is... The point being that it doesn't matter, you know. This is the reality of the world we live in — that parents, grandparents, tribes, they do establish some type of respectability and president. And there is nothing wrong with accepting this, as long as it doesn't become a racism or a mark of pride. And what did we expect Allah AWJ to choose our Prophet PBUH EXCEPT the best lineage in the history of mankind; the best lineage in the history of mankind. And this goes back to the sharaf or the honor given to the Prophet PBUH.

And that is why... (and this is a very controversial point that many Muslims balk at when they hear, but this is something that is very clear in the Sunni tradition at least)... that the tribe of the Prophet PBUH, Quraysh (قريش), has certain blessings. And the Ahl al-Bayt (أهل البيت - People of the House) have certain privileges. We believe this as Sunnis, even though we say the Shia have gone to an extreme, we as Sunnis, confer privilege on the Ahl al-Bayt. Is that not the case? Even though we say, "The Ahl al-Bayt will not enter Jannah if they are not righteous"—a person who is not righteous of the children of the Prophet PBUH, that's not going to cause them to enter Jannah — but in THIS world, do we not respect them more? Do we not prevent zakat (زكاة)? (Because zakat is not appropriate for them. We don't give them zakat because zakat is not given to... it's... 'demeaning' to give zakat to the Ahl al-Bayt of the Prophet PBUH, right?) And we have other ahkam (أحكام - rulings) as well.

So the righteous amongst them have a double reward, and a double respect. And the unrighteous amongst them, their lineage is not going to cause them to enter Jannah. So the Ahl al-Bayt... And the Quraysh as well, our Prophet PBUH said:

الأئمة من قريش

"The leaders of my ummah should always be from the Quraysh." This is a hadith. And that is why for the bulk of this ummah, the Abbasid and the Umayyad and the bulk of the ummah, up until the 1500 CE, basically for, you know, one thousand something years, our khulafa were from the Quraysh.

Ya'ni (يعني) there are Khulafa al-Rashidun (الخلفاء الراشدون - Rightly Guided Caliphs), and Abdullah ibn al-Zubayr (عبد الله بن الزبير), and then the Umayyad, and then the Abbasid — they are all from the Quraysh. And majority of the Sunni world basically accepted this reality.

The point being that our Prophet PBUH was from the best of all lineages.

______________

Kinana

So he said that from the children of Ismail, Allah chose... who? Who? From the children of Ismail, Allah chose? Kinana.

Okay. Before we jump to Kinana, let us talk one sentence about Mudar. Mudar is one of the ancestors as well of the Prophet PBUH. It is said that Mudar was the first of the Arabs to train camels, and to use them in a way that they can basically travel in caravans. And he would also have camel poetry. What is camel poetry? So it's like what you say to the camel to get it to go. So to train the camel to go faster and slower and to do... So it is said that Mudar was the first person to do that.

As for Kinana. Kinana — the name means that "the pouch that you put the arrows in" — this is what Kinana means. And that's not his actual name. He is called Kinana. Why was he called Kinana? Because he was known for his bravery, he was known as being a repository of ilm (علم - knowledge), of wisdom, of knowledge. It is said in the books of history that people would do hajj (حج) in order to meet with Kinana. (Now, hajj is of course since the time of Ismail.) So Kinana. To meet Kinana became an honor. And people would have a double niyyah (نية - intention) when doing hajj — that not just to come for the Makkah (مكة) and the hajj, but to also meet Kinana — people would literally travel. Kinana lived a very long life and he was a repository of knowledge, of wisdom. And he has a certain sayings still recorded in classical Arabic, about wisdoms and mathal (مثل - parables / statements of concise wisdom) — these are recorded from Kinana. So Kinana was a legendary Arab up until the time of the Prophet PBUH.

______________

Quraysh (قريش)

Then he said, "And from Kinana, He chose Quraysh."

From Kinana He chose Quraysh. Okay. I just quoted you the lineage of the Prophet PBUH, there is no man called Quraysh in there. There is no man called Quraysh. Who is Quraysh? Lots of opinions. And it appears that there are 3 people who can be called Quraysh; and some scholars have said there is the Big Quraysh, the Middle Quraysh, and the Small Quraysh. Al-Quraysh al-Akbar (ألقريش الأكبر), al-Quraysh al-Awsat (ألقريش الأوسط), and al-Quraysh al-Asghar (ألقريش الأصغر).

So 3 people have this title. But 2 of them are the real contenders, and that is: #1 is Fihr. And #2 is al-Nadr. Fihr and al-Nadr. Going back to the lineage:

Muhammad ibn Abdillah ibn Abdul Muttalib ibn Hashim ibn Abd Manaf ibn Qusayy ibn Kilab ibn Murrah ibn Ka'b ibn Lu'ayy ibn Ghalib ibn FIHR

محمد بن عبد الله بن عبد المطلب بن هاشم بن عبد مناف بن قصي بن كلاب بن مرة بن كعب بن لؤي بن غالب بن فهر

So number? Number? 12.

Ibn Malik ibn AL-NADR

بن مالك بن النضر

Or number? 14.

So either 12 or 14. One of these two is Quraysh. One of these two is Quraysh. And they say that al-Nadr is the Big Quraysh, and Fihr is the Middle Quraysh. And Qusayy, who is 5 generations, is the Minor Quraysh. So 3 people had a founding role in the tribe of Quraysh. But the actual tribes of Quraysh, all of them combined at Fihr. And Fihr is the? 12th. 12th.

So the stronger opinion: The one person who combines all the tribes of Quraysh... and one simple fact here: The Ten Who Were Promised Jannah were all Qureshi. They were all Qureshi. Who is the one ancestor, the closest ancestor? It's Fihr. The 10 people who were promised Jannah, Ashara Mubasharun (العشرة المبشرون), if you go back to their lineage, you keep on going going going, it's actually Fihr where they all combine. So the 10 people combined at Fihr. So therefore it seems to be Fihr is the person who is Quraysh. And all of the tribes of Quraysh, how many tribes of Quraysh were there at the time of the Prophet PBUH? Probably around 12 or 13 subtribes. So you have the Banu Hashim (بنو هاشم), the Banu Zuhrah (بنو زهرة), the Banu Makhzum (بنو مخزوم) — all of these tribes, we kinda talked about here and there... the Banu Umayya (بنو أمية), the Banu Abd Shams (بنو عبد شمس) — these types — they are basically around 12 or so tribes, and they all go back to Fihr.

So "quraysh," what does it mean therefore? This is a laqab (لقب). A title. Not a name. What does quraysh mean? A number of opinions once again:

1. One opinion is that quraysh comes from the term "to trade." Because the Quraysh were involved in trading.

2. Another opinion is that quraysh, yaqrishu comes from "gathering together." Because the Quraysh were in different areas and one of their ancestors combined them in Makkah (we will come to the story very briefly).

3. And the third opinion, which is narrated in al-Tabari, is that quraysh comes from "conquering." Because there is a story, a long story, where one of the Quraysh basically "conquered"... or... you know, long story. And then they say this is why he is called Quraysh — that Quraysh will conquer other tribes.

Whatever the meaning is, this was the laqab that stuck with Fihr. And so the descendants of Fihr are called Qureshi. And therefore all of the tribes of Quraysh go back to Fihr who is a 12th ancestors back from the Prophet PBUH.

______________

The Immediate Ancestors of the Prophet PBUH

So now let us begin very quickly about the immediate ancestors of the Prophet PBUH, whom we know a little bit more about. Beginning with Qusayy, and then Abd Manaf, and then Hashim, and then Abdul Muttalib. That will be our rest of the halaqa (حلقة) for today. What we know about these people.

Qusayy. How many generations? I want everybody to memorize at least up to Qusayy. At least up to Qusayy. So come with me. Come with me.

#1? Muhammad ibn?
Abdillah, ibn?
Abdul Muttalib, ibn?
Hashim, ibn?
Abd Manaf, ibn?
Qusayy.

Okay? Memorize this. At least this much. Everybody should know, okay?

______________

Qusayy

So Qusayy is the STAR of the Quraysh. That's why he is called the Minor Quraysh. He really started the immediate ascent of the Quraysh, so that when the Prophet PBUH came, the Quraysh are at the pinnacle of their power, okay? So Qusayy is the one who BEGAN. And then 5 generations later, the Prophet PBUH comes and of course he then takes it to an international level.

So what did Qusayy do? And when did he live? Qusayy lived around 400 CE. Around 400 CE., i.e., 170 years before the birth of the Prophet PBUH. So what did Qusayy do?

Many things.

The most important thing he did: He wrestled back the power of the political city of Makkah into the descendants of the Quraysh. Well who was in Makkah at the time? There was another tribe of the descendants of Adnan, but not of the descendants of Fihr, i.e., not a Qureshi. And this was the tribe of Khuza'a (خزاعة).

So who are the Khuza'a? They are another Ismaili... hhh... when I say Ismaili, I don't mean THAT Isma'ili. Ismaili meaning of the descendants of Ismail, right? Another branch — not the descendants of Fihr/Quraysh. The Khuza'a are another branch of the descendants of Ismail. And the Khuza'a had taken over the city of Makkah. Who did they take it over from? From the ancient Arabs that Ismail had married into and that is? Who did Ismail marry into? Jurhum. Jurhum. So Ismail had married into Jurhum, Jurhum stayed for awhile, they began doing bad things, overtaxing the people — so the Khuza'a overthrew them and kicked out everybody, including Fihr's descendants, i.e., the original Quraysh. So where were they living? They were living in a small encampments, in small dwellings outside of Makkah, i.e., not in the city of Makkah, but traveling distance from Makkah.

So Qusayy, in a long story mentioned by Ibn Ishaq (ابن إسحاق), managed to win over the tribe of Khuza'a, the chieftain of the tribe. How did he do so? By a very smart tactical move. He married his daughter. So the chieftain of Khuza'a, he had sons, he had daughters — Qusayy managed to marry one of his daughters. And he then demonstrated his skills over and above the sons even of the chieftain of Khuza'a. And therefore when the father died, now he is in the family — he is a son-in-law — the people wanted Qusayy over the sons. And because of this, he managed to actually go to war with the other tribes, and he called in the descendants of Fihr, i.e., the other Qureshi tribes, and this is now the "Gathering" (some people say this is why Qureshi is called "Quraysh" — some people say this). He gathered together the tribes of Banu Fihr (بنو فهر). And he fought the tribes of Khuza'a. And of course they are very distant cousins, obviously. VERY distant cousins. But he fought them and he expelled them, so he took over Makkah.

So the great-great-grandfather, 6 generations back, of course the great-great-great-grandfather of the Prophet PBUH reclaimed Makkah for the Quraysh. Or I should say claimed it, because before that time until the time of Ismail, there was no... So Quraysh, when did they start their rise to power? In the time of Qusayy.

Now what else did Qusayy do? Qusayy was the one who built the Dar al-Nadwa (دار الندوة - Place of Gathering), which was the parliament. He was the one who instituted this concept of "everybody come and voice your opinion." Then he built the structure that the Prophet PBUH himself... EXACT same area (I'm sure it was not the same building; but the same area) of Dar al-Nadwa. We have mentioned the Dar al-Nadwa so many times. Who was the one who built it? It was Qusayy.

He also took custody of the Ka'bah (الكعبة) and he assigned responsibilities that trickle down — the responsibility of water, the responsibility of hospitality, the responsibility of diyaf/ضيف (of guests), the responsibility of the keys of the Ka'bah — HE was the one who made a list of responsibilities. And when he was alive, he had it all. Then amongst his sons, it was distributed, until the days of Banu Hashim where each tribe had a certain responsibility. And as we know, even in the time of the Prophet PBUH, one of the tribes, the Banu Abd al-Dar (بنو عبد الدار), had the key. One had this, one had that. So this... all of these responsibilities, Qusayy was the one who began it. AND this also indicates that Qusayy was the one who began the institution of taking care of the hujjaj (حجاج - pilgrims). So the hujjaj would get free food and water. That wasn't there before. Now this is frankly... he is probably a good guy and nobody is denying that, and he is also a good politician. Because to be a good politician, what must you do? Make the people happy. There's nothing wrong with being a good guy and a good politician. I know it's rare, but that's...

So Qusayy was one of those people that he wants to please the people, and he is a good person, hospitable person — and therefore he instituted the entire concept of free hospitality for the hujjaj. "When they come, they are our guests." And every hajj, he would stand and do a fundraiser, and he would say, "O people of Quraysh, Allah has given you the blessings of taking care of His House, and the people are coming, and these pilgrims are guests of Allah, and they deserve our hospitality." So they would donate money and food and water, and he would then provide for the hujjaj.

And also, Qusayy would facilitate the actual hajj rites as well. He would light a fire for the hujjaj in Muzdalifah (مزدلفة). They could then use that fire to take their own, you know, to the local tents. He dug a well to provide water for the hujjaj. And this water was needed because, (we have all done this before, but I will just reiterate), there was no zamzam (زمزم) in the time of Qusayy. Why was there no zamzam in the time of Qusayy? Go back thousand years, or however many years that we talked about Khuza'a taking over from Jurhum. So when Khuza'a attacked Makkah... (Allah knows how many centuries ago — we don't know when this happened. Probably we are going back a little bit after the time of Jesus Christ. I mean this is like 400 years before the Prophet PBUH. We don't know roughly when.) When Khuza'a attacked Jurhum, and Jurhum realized they are going to lose, they did a very dastardly deed — they buried the well of zamzam. They destroyed it and they buried it. And no matter how much Khuza'a tried and they tried and tried and tried and tried, they couldn't find the well. They are just keep on digging and nothing is happening. They could not find the well. Of course Allah willed they wouldn't find it.

So for over 300 years at least, the people of Makkah were forced to get water from other sources.

Now they cannot leave — this is the House of Allah. They are also accustomed to living there. Once you become accustomed to living, then you bear with it, right? So they cannot leave. So they had to dig wells far away and bring the water in. They would have a mountain collecting, what ways to do that. So they had a very tough time.

And Qusayy, also of the things that he did: He was buried at Hujun (الحجون); and Hujun is the famous graveyard of Makkah. He was the first person to be buried over there. And to this day Hujun is really one of the most famous graveyards of Makkah — he was the first person, and he is still buried there to this day.

______________

Abd Manaf

His son Abd Manaf, his actual name was Mughira (المغيرة). And Manaf means "that which is raised." So they would give other names to Allah SWT. And Abd Manaf was known for his handsomeness and his leadership skills. He became famous even in the lifetime of Qusayy. Abd Manaf was handed many responsibilities. And he was beloved to the people.

______________

Hashim: Rihlat al-Shita'i wa al-Sayf

His son Hashim is of course where we get "Banu Hashim" from. And Hashim is not his name — it is his title. His actual name is Amr (عمرو). His name is Amr. And Hashim comes from هـ ش م (h-sh-m) which means "to grind" — because he would grind the barley and present food to the pilgrims. So his name was Amr, and he was called Hashim because of his generosity. And it is said that Hashim never ever ate food alone — that if he was ever eating food, he would just call anybody to eat with him, to show his generosity. He was never a person to eat alone.

And Hashim did, perhaps, the most important thing to raise the economic level of the Quraysh.

So his grandfather, Qusayy raised the political level of Quraysh by capturing Makkah.

Hashim was the one who began the economic, if you like, raising of the Quraysh. And that is: He instituted Rihlat al-Shita'i wa al-Sayf (رحلة الشتاء والصيف - Winter and Summer Trip). He was the one who thought of the idea. One particular year, there was a very severe drought, and people were dying, and quite literally, a man would take his family and build a grave in the middle of... just because nobody else is going to build a grave and just wait for death to come because there was no food. And Hashim thought this is just too much, something has to be done. And he came across the idea that, "Why don't we institute 2 journeys? One in the summer, and one in the winter. So in the summer, we go up to Rome, and in the winter, we go down to Yemen?" — Rihlat al-Shita'i wa al-Sayf.

And they would go to the city of Bosra (Busra/بصرى, we talked about this. And the remnants of that city are still to this day visible. The very city of Bosra, which is outside of Damascus by 80 km or so). That Hashim began going up there, and down to Yemen. And this really was a stroke of genius that of course Allah blessed him with. And there have been entire books and articles written in English literature by non-Muslims, about this reality. Because it truly is... I mean all of us who are knowing business here: Business is all about location, location, location, right? Where is your business, and what is it catering to — location. And he came across the very simple idea that, "Everybody's coming to us in hajj. Why don't we give them stuff that's... We have the market. It's all here in front of us. The people are there. Why don't we sell them the merchandise they will need? Where we get the merchandise from? Well, we gotta get connected to the world trade routes." What are the world trade routes? Well, you want Indian stuff, and an African stuff, well then you go to Yemen. And in Yemen you will have the ships from India coming — Indian spice, Indian this — you will have African stuff coming in to Yemen — "So we will go to Yemen to get the Indian and African stuff. And we will go up north to get the Roman and Persian goods." — Because there is the Silk Route, right? The Silk Road went through Damascus and Bosra. So Bosra was on the Silk Road. So the Silk Road, as we all know, is the most famous road of caravans. So he just hooked up to the Silk Road, right?

And he made a lifeline all the way down to Yemen. And smack in the middle is Makkah, right?

So Makkah became on the grid. Is connected now to the lifeline. And so Hashim became extremely wealthy. That's why he could feed the people. That's why he could known as Hashim. He became extremely wealthy. Because he fed all of the pilgrims. Because he was the one who instituted Rihlat al-Shita'i wa al-Sayf.

And Allah mentions to the Quraysh, 'I blessed you with this.'

The whole surah (سورة - ~chapter) is revealed:

لِإِيلَافِ قُرَيْشٍ

إِيلَافِهِمْ رِحْلَةَ الشِّتَاءِ وَالصَّيْفِ

فَلْيَعْبُدُوا رَبَّ هَذَا الْبَيْتِ

الَّذِي أَطْعَمَهُمْ مِنْ جُوعٍ وَآَمَنَهُمْ مِنْ خَوْفٍ

'I am the One who gave you the money, so that you are no longer hungry; so that you are no longer fearful. I gave you the protection of the Ka'bah' [see Quran 106:1-4].

It is also said that Hashim understood that because he is from the Quraysh, and because they are the neighbors of Makkah, nobody would harm them. And so he took advantage of the fact that in a lawless society, him being from Quraysh and Makkah actually gave him protection. Nobody robbed the caravan. Because you can't possibly rob the caravan going to Makkah, can you? Right? Even the pagans felt a little bit of like, "These people are too holy for us."

So Allah says:

لِإِيلَافِ قُرَيْشٍ

This honor, this sanctity, this custom — who gave it to you? And it is also said that he (Hashim) struck a deal with the kings of Rome and Yemen, that to basically, you know, protect them when they are in their lands, and to give good deals. So basically he is a businessman, and he struck gold. And of course Allah blessed him with this — because again, look... Qusayy did the politics, Hashim did the wealth, and then Abdul Muttalib did the prestige and the zamzam. All of these, every one of the ancestors of the Prophet PBUH changed the course of the Quraysh history. And of course it's building up — because what is prestige of lineage other than what your ancestors have done, right? Why are Rockefeller and Kennedy famous? Because of what people have done one generation after the other. If they didn't do it, they wouldn't be Rockefellers and Kennedys, right? They just be like Tom, Dick, and Harry after that, right?

So how is the prestige or the lineage built? It's what the ancestors do. And in the case of our Prophet PBUH, each and every ancestor is doing something that is absolutely amazing. And Hashim was extremely wealthy, and he was also very generous.

And of course, this wealth, it created jealousy, especially amongst his brother, Abd Shams, and his nephew, Umayya (Umayya ibn Abd Shams). And this rivalry between the Banu Umayya and the Banu Hashim would continue up until Islam and post-Islam with the Abbasids and the Umayyads as well. That rivalry was established in his time.

And Hashim married a number of women. Actually, almost all of these... Of course, to marry multiple women was the norm. And in fact, almost all of the ancestors of the Prophet PBUH had multiple wives. Hashim also married multiple women. One of his wives, and the great-grandmother of the Prophet PBUH, was from Yathrib (يثرب). And this was, without a doubt, something that Allah AWJ, of course, had planned — why would a person from Makkah marry somebody from Yathrib? So that 3 generations from them, the Prophet PBUH would have distant third cousins amongst the Ansar (الأنصار - the Helpers). Abu Ayyub al-Ansari is one of them, right? So he would have distant cousins from the Ansar. So Hashim married from Yathrib. And he died on a trading trip to Ghazza (غزة) — our Filastin brothers know this very well. And there is a masjid to this day called Masjid al-Sayed Hashim (مسجد السيد هاشم) obviously. And that is why Ghazza is sometimes also called Ghazzatu Hashim. To this day, the Ghazza, the famous Ghazza, the famous Gaza — Hashim is buried there. And the city is called the Ghazza of Hashim to this day. Ghazzatu Hashim. And his masjid is over there. So he died far far away.

______________

Abdul Muttalib

And his son then, because his father had died, his mother took his most important son to her hometown of Yathrib. And so the Prophet's PBUH grandfather was raised in the very city he would migrate to. And this is of course without a doubt, Allah's qadr — Allah's plan. Otherwise, really, Yathrib and Makkah don't have those strong ties.

And of course, the Prophet's PBUH grandfather, what is his name? Abdul Muttalib. But that's not his name. His name is Shaybat al-Hamd (شيبة الحمد). Shaybat al-Hamd. Shayba is whitish hair that old people have. (I'm getting it right now, masha'Allah, tabarak'Allah, okay? I'm beginning my shayba right now.) Shayba is the whitish hair. (Some of you, masha'Allah, tabarak'Allah, right? I'm not at that level yet. Others of you are hiding it, masha'Allah, tabarak'Allah as well... hhhh... okay. And others of you don't have to worry about anything okay. Hahahaha, masha'Allah, you're the smartest one, masha'Allah.)

So Shayba is the whitish hair that you have when you are old. And of course some people, some kids, are born; there are some kids, they are just born; so he was born with the whitish streak. So they said, "This is the Shayba of Praise (Shaybat al-Hamd)." So they called him Shaybat al-Hamd. And this was his name, Shaybat al-Hamd. He grew up in Yathrib because his father had passed away.

And his mother actually didn't even tell his uncles that she was pregnant. Because she was worried that the child will be taken away. So when she was pregnant, her husband died. She went back to Yathrib. And then the child is born there. Now she is happy that it's safe. Because you know, in those days, child custody goes to the stronger. And Quraysh is the stronger. So she went back, she lived a quiet life.

One day, it is said that the uncle of Shaybat al-Hamd, and his name is Muttalib, the uncle, was visiting Yathrib. And he saw Shaybat al-Hamd and he said, "This is my blood."

Now it's very true actually that in those days (and even now) they had this gift of recognizing "this is not a Yathribite," "this is not an Ansari," "this is a Qureshi." He found out, turns out, "Oh, this is the woman that my brother married." So he realize, "This is my nephew."

And so he concocted a plot. Long story. And he basically, literally, abducted the child. Like, the relatives would not have let him go. And he coaxed the child that, "Your ancestors are so-and-so. You have a great lineage. You will reclaim your honor." Some say that even the mother was convinced. Others say even the mother did not know. But definitely the uncles did not know — meaning the uncles in Yathrib.

And he took the child and dashed away on the camel, and he rushed back to Makkah. And when the people saw him with a young lad, they assumed the young lad was a new slave he had purchased. So that is why they called him, "Oh! Muttalib has an 'abd!" — "Abdul Muttalib." Muttalib is his uncle. Muttalib is his uncle. And the name stuck. And therefore he is called Abdul Muttalib.

And Abdul Muttalib initially had a bit of a struggle with some of his uncles and cousins — because his father had died. And his uncles had taken the lion's share of the wealth. But Abdul Muttalib proved himself with his own uncles, and inherited his father's share of the grandfather's wealth, and managed to carve out for himself an entire legacy. And we are going to just quickly gloss over the story out of Abdul Muttalib, even though it is very important. But this is a story that has been told and retold so many times, I will just quickly mention the 3 main things that happened in his lifetime. And the details, unfortunately, I will have to just gloss over for this lecture, because we do not have time. (Actually, I'm condensing 2 lectures into 1. Because we did 2 different lectures and they were not recorded.)

The 3 main things that happened in the lifetime of Abdul Muttalib is:

1. The rediscovery of zamzam.

2. His vow to sacrifice Abdallah.

3. The incident of Abraha and the elephant(s). And these are stories well known to every Muslim, right? But I will just quickly gloss over them, especially details we do not know.

______________

Abdul Muttalib: Rediscovery of Zamzam (زمزم)

So we understand why zamzam was covered up. And how therefore did Abdul Muttalib discover zamzam — that he saw it in a dream. Allah showed him in a dream that, 'If you go to such-and-such a place next to this idol, between that stone and marker (because there was idols around the Ka'bah), if you go to this place and you dig, you will find zamzam.' Initially, he ignored the dream. But he kept on seeing it, seeing it, seeing it, until finally he realize, "This is from Allah."

And so at the time, he only had one son, Harith. And Harith is his oldest son. And so his kunya is Abu al-Harith. Abdul Muttalib's kunya is Abu al-Harith.

And so he took his one son and himself, and he took a shovel than an ax, and began digging. And the Quraysh, of course, are mocking him, "You think you are going to discover zamzam after we haven't found it for three four hundred years?" And he kept on digging, digging, digging. Until he struck something far more precious than gold, far more precious than oil, he struck water. And as we all know the story, when the water began bubbling up, the Quraysh surrounded him. His own relatives. And they said, "This is our property now." And he refused and he said, "No. I discovered it. I have the rights." Now again, it's not as if he is not going to give them water, but there comes power, and there comes prestige by claiming this. Both power and prestige. And he knows this.

And they surround him. And war is about to break out. This is a civil... not of war, but I mean, you know, scuffle that might lead to death. And that's when he makes a vow to Allah that, "O Allah, if you ever give me 10 sons to defend me, then I promise I will sacrifice one for You." That's when he does this.

But they don't want to fight him. And so they agree to go to a fortune-teller who is their priestess. (Of course their religion is paganism [so] who is their sheikh? Who is their elder? It is a priestess. Far far away, that's the seniormost pagan, you know, whatever, like, you know, the Hindus have their pundits, whatever... so they have their hierarchy.) So they agreed they will go to such-and-such a lady.

And on the way there, they get lost actually. And they are about to die. On the way there, all of them, they are all cousins and relatives, they are all about to die, so much so that Abdul Muttalib says, "Each one of you should dig his own grave because we are too weak to bury each other." So they dig their own graves. And as Abdul Muttalib is digging his own grave, he strikes water again. And so his cousins and distant Quraysh said, "This is a sign from Allah that the water is yours. Because this water saved us." So without going to the priestess, they then come back, and they voluntarily gave the rights of zamzam to Abdul Muttalib.

______________

Abdul Muttalib: Children of Abdul Muttalib

And then of course, as we all know, eventually, Abdul Muttalib has... how many children? How many children does Abdul Muttalib have?

*Brother answers*

15? 16? 18?

18. 18. 18. He has 18 children eventually, with, masha'Allah, 5 or 6 women.

And so he has 12 sons and 6 daughters. 12 sons and 6 daughters. (And to be honest, he probably had more than 12 sons and 6 daughters — because in those days, kids died in their youth.) But 12 sons who lived to become adults, and 6 daughters who lived to become adults.

And the ones that we are most familiar with... We don't really know much about most of them to be honest. They died even before the coming of the Prophet PBUH. Because remember, Abdallah was one of his youngest... not THE youngest, but one of his youngest sons, right? So Harith actually died in the life of Abdul Muttalib. And the majority of his sons died, because Abdul Muttalib lived almost to the age of 100, almost to the age of 100 he lived, that's a very old age, especially for that time when the average age is probably 30, 40, 50 years old. So he lived almost to the age of 100.

So (i) Harith (الحارث) was his eldest.

And then (ii) Zubayr (الزبير), (iii) Abdallah (عبد الله), and (iv) Abu Talib (أبو طالب) were from the same mother. Zubayr, Abdallah and Abu Talib were from the same mother.

Then (v) Abbas (العباس) and (vi) Dirar (ضرار) from another mother.

Then (vii) Hamzah (حمزة), and (viii) Muqawwam (المقوم), and (ix) Hajl (حجل) from another mother.

And then (x) Abu Lahab (أبو لهب) all by himself from one mother. Abu Lahab is by himself.

And he (Abdul Muttalib) has 6 daughters:

(i) Safiyyah (صفية).  And of course Safiyyah is the only one of his (the Prophet's PBUH) aunts who accepted Islam. As for the other aunts, we only know of (ii) Atikah (عاتكة), who was alive when the Prophet PBUH began preaching, and then she simply disappears from the seerah. We don't know whether she accepted Islam. To be frank, most likely she didn't. That's what seems to be the case.

And then we have (iii) Ummi Hakim (أم حكيم).

And then we have (iv) Umayma (أميمة). And Umayma is the mother of Zaynab bint Jahsh — the cousin that he (the Prophet PBUH) married. (Zaynab bint Jahsh, how was she a cousin? Through Umayma. So she was his father's sister's daughter, okay?)

And then we have (v) Arwa (أروى) and (vi) Barrah (برة).

These are the 6 daughters of Abdul Muttalib.

______________

Abdul Muttalib: Vow to Sacrifice Abdullah

So we all know the story. I will quickly gloss over it that when all of these sons reach adulthood, he tells them to vow and he says, "Look, I am a man of my word. Allah blessed me. And I have to give one of you up to Allah, to sacrifice you." And that's when, as you know, he took Abdullah in front of the Ka'bah, and the Quraysh said, "You cannot do this. He is the most beloved." Abdullah was probably 17 at the time (16 or 17). And so they said, "You know, why don't you go to such-and-such priestess (another of their elite priestesses), and see if there is a way out." And that is when the 100 camels was instituted. (As you all know the story. I will quickly gloss over that one.) And this is when the life of a person became equivalent to 100 camels. (Which is still the shariah to this day. That if you do a manslaughter or accidental murder or accidental manslaughter or intentional murder, you have to pay 100 camels as blood money. To this day. And if you want to do the modern equivalent, you literally calculate the cost of a camel in US dollars. That's what the shariah would say. And then you just put that price and say, "That's the cost of a person's life" — if you accidentally kill somebody or whatnot. Where did this 100 camels come from? It comes from this incident, that the shariah came and then confirmed it, that this is the price of one man: 100 camels.)

______________

Abdul Muttalib: Incident of the Attack of the Elephant(s)

And then the third and final story, which is the story of Abraha (أبرهة). Abraha was the governor of Yemen, under Najashi. So Najashi... (Not the same Najashi as the one that the Prophet's PBUH sahaba emigrated to^[1], but his father.) Najashi had conquered some areas of Yemen. And he had sent his governor. And his governor's name was Abraha. So Abraha was the governor of the Najashi in Yemen.

And he saw his people, every year, go north. So he said, "Where are you guys going?" So they said, "We have to go do hajj." He said, "Why? What is there?" They said, "There is a House of Allah." So he said, "I will build you a house that is far better than any of your houses, and you will come for hajj under here."

So he built a massive cathedral (because they were Christians), and it was out of glass, and out of... Can you imagine, in Arabia, to bring stained glass? Because they had access to these architects and whatnot. And he built a cathedral in Yemen the likes of which he thought would become the biggest temple of Christianity in the entire Arabian Peninsula.

And he then said, "All of you have to come over here rather than going up north to the Ka'bah."

And when one of the Bedouins heard this, he went there — but he went there to relieve himself. Number 1 and number 2, right? And he went there and he did that. And he (Abraha) became so angry, that he said, "As revenge, I will destroy this House (Ka'bah in Makkah), so people must come to my House." And that is why he gather together his army. And of course because they were from Abyssinia, so they had elephants. Otherwise, elephants did not live in the Arabian Peninsula as natural beasts over there. But because he was from Africa, so he had a group of African elephants. And of course the people of Africa had trained the elephants to be instruments of war.

And this was when he marched to the Ka'bah. And he went with his army of around, some say 8, and some say 20 elephants, and the chief elephant... By the way, his name was Mahmud (محمود). Mahmud was the name of the chief elephant. And it is also said that he hired an Arab guide to take him to the Ka'bah. And this guide, his name was Abu Rughal (أبو رغال). Abu Rughal. And Abu Rughal became infamous for treachery — because to trade your honor for money, and to lead Abraha through the ways to get to the Ka'bah... And so there is an expression in Arabic (which I don't think the Arabs still use), they say, "More treacherous than Abu Rughal." I don't think you have this anymore, right? Okay. So this was common at the time of the Prophet PBUH. And later on, this was a classical Arabic saying, "More treacherous than Abu Rughal." Abu Rughal is this person from that example.

And Abraha came with the entire army. As you know, when he got to Makkah, he captured the livestock of Abdul Muttalib, over 200 camels and sheep, which by the way shows you Abdul Muttalib is a rich man now. Times have changed for the Quraysh, masha'Allah, money is flowing in.

And you all know the story that Abdul Muttalib came. And this is where we read the description of Abdul Muttalib that he was a tall man (6-foot tall maybe, huge, far taller than any of the other Arabs), and he was handsome and admirable. And there is no denying, and this is scientifically proven as well, that those people who are handsome, or women who are beautiful, they actually get leadership positions. This is a scientific study. Qadr of Allah AWJ. You just automatically give a respect or whatnot to people who are looking better. Abdul Muttalib was one such person. Very handsome, very strong, very tall. He looked like a leader. So much so it is said when he entered into the tent, Abraha was in awe of this man — so tall and handsome; he actually stood up from his chair and sat down on the floor with Abdul Muttalib as a manner of respect that, "Abdul Muttalib, the chieftain of Makkah has come."

And he said, as you all know, the famous story, I will go very quickly over it that: He said to Abdul Muttalib, "I have no problem with you. You just get out of the city, and I'll destroy your House. And I have no problem with you guys." "There's nothing personal, I just wanna destroy your House of Worship. There's nothing against you." And that's when Abdul Muttalib said, "I didn't come to you to talk about the House. I didn't come to you to talk about the Ka'bah. I came to you to talk about my camels." And this is when Abraha lost all respect for Abdul Muttalib and he said, "I have come to destroy your Holy House, and you are coming to talk to me about your camels." And by the way, this shows us, subhan'Allah, that even though Abdul Muttalib didn't come back with the right punch, he didn't come back with the one-liner yet, but what does it show? When you stand up for your principles, people will respect you. Even though both of them are different religions and pagans, but still, Abraha thought Abdul Muttalib is going to argue about his House. And so he is honoring him. Then when he say "I want my camels," he said, "I lost all respect for you." That is when Abdul Muttalib gives the one-liner punch, the right uppercut and he says, "It is not my business. The House has a Lord who will protect it. And the camels have a lord, and it is my job to protect the camels." Right?

So because of this one-liner, Abraha gave the camels back. And that was when the Quraysh left the city, after making lots of du'a — Abdul Muttalib is pleading in front of the Ka'bah, "O Allah, we cannot fight this army. They are too strong for us. They have these elephant(s). They have these thousand men. You take care of it." And they then left to the mountains, and this is when they (the army of Abraha) faced Mahmud to the Ka'bah, and they are telling him (Mahmud) to go and go and go, and he would not go even if they whipped him, they beat him, they bled him, the elephant would not move. But whenever they turned him in any other direction, he would move in that direction. And that is why in the Treaty of Hudaybiyyah^[2], when the Prophet's PBUH camel stopped, what did he say? "Don't get angry at my camel. The Same One who stopped the elephant from entering Makkah has stopped my camel as well." "There is a wisdom," right?

حبسها حابس الفيل

So Allah stopped the elephant from entering. And as they're debating what to do, that is when large Birds came:

وَأَرْسَلَ عَلَيْهِمْ طَيْرًا أَبَابِيلَ

تَرْمِيهِمْ بِحِجَارَةٍ مِنْ سِجِّيلٍ

So stones from Jahannam —imagine stones from Jahannam in this world— they are coming. And in front of their eyes, every stone hits an animal, and a person, and he literally dissolves — his skin dissolves, and he becomes a pile of broken and molten flesh in front of the eyes of the people of Quraysh. And it is said that Abraha himself suffered the worst fate, and they carried him back, and his skin is dissolving the entire way. And he dies right before reaching his home in Yemen, so that he suffers the worst punishment that: he is just about there, and then he dies. And he is buried over there.

And it is mentioned that the traces of the elephant still were there when the Prophet PBUH was born. And one of the sahaba —his name is Qubath ibn Ashyam (قباث بن أشيم)— Qubath ibn Ashyam has a very famous narration in Sunan al-Tirmidhi, where one of the early Umayyad caliphs asks him that, "Are you bigger, or the Prophet PBUH is bigger?" — meaning in age.

أأنت أكبر أم رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم؟

And he means, in age. So Qubath says:

هو(الرسول ص) أكبر مني ، وأنا ولدت قبله

"The Prophet PBUH is bigger than me. But I was born before him."

Meaning don't say are you bigger or not.

"The Prophet PBUH is BIGGER than me. But I was born before him."

Why? Because, "I remember my mother taking me and showing me the defecations of the elephant(s) that had withered and become yellow. I saw the elephant(s) and their defecations when I was a young boy." — So he is showing... And of course, the Prophet PBUH was born in the Year of the Elephant. The fact that Qubath remembers this, he is saying, "I'm older than him." How did he prove he is older? "I remember my mother showing me the remnants of the elephant(s)."

And Aisha (عائشة) mentions and recalls that when she was a young child in Makkah, she remembered seeing one of the guides of the elephant that had come from Yemen who had been blinded and was living as a beggar (cursed obviously, to the end of his days), and begging the people for any morsel of food. So she says, "I remember one of the guys —he must have been a young man at the time; now he is an old man about to die— and he is still begging for food" — this is punishment. Obviously, this is the worst punishment that you are now blinded and you have no other means. So Aisha remembers seeing that.

______________

Conclusion

To conclude: So the story, especially of our lineage of the Prophet PBUH, proves very clearly that something momentous is about to happen.

Every single person in the lineage of the Prophet PBUH establishes something of momentous value. Whether it's economic, whether it's political, whether it's just a discovery of water. And clearly therefore, when we now understand why the Prophet PBUH was chosen by Allah, and Allah chose his lineage in this manner, that nobody in the world has a more noble and prestigious lineage. And that is why in the Battle of Hunayn^[3], what did our Prophet PBUH say?

أنا النبي لا كذب ، أنا ابن عبد المطلب

"I am the Prophet, there is no doubt! I am the son (grandson) of Abdul Muttalib!" So he is invoking his lineage here — because the Quraysh were still new in Islam. And he is telling them, "I AM that grandson of the person you are so proud of."

And can you imagine the prestige of Abdul Muttalib? That it is under his leadership he makes du'a to Allah, and Allah sends the Birds of Ababil (الطير الأبابيل), and he discovers zamzam — and so these prestige of Abdul Muttalib... there was no chieftain in all of Arabia as prestigious as Abdul Muttalib. Not just because of him, but because of his father, and grandfather, and great-grandfather. And so to be born to the most beloved son of Abdul Muttalib (that is Abdullah), to be born to the most beloved son and to be raised by him (Abdul Muttalib) for 8 years... So all of this is of course a preparing for the Prophet PBUH.

And also, we have over here as well the fact that 2 of the ancestors of the Prophet PBUH were ransomed off and saved. The first is the beginning of the chain: Ismail. And the second is the end of the chain: Abdullah. So both the beginning and the end were ransomed off by Allah SWT. And this is clearly an indication that Allah AWJ is blessing this ancestry.

And the fact that there is also some hidden wisdom here (some semi-mystical wisdom here) that: We have a Christian attacking a pagan —Abraha attacking Abdul Muttalib— and the Ka'bah is the subject of attack — and neither of them is able to defend (in fact the one is attacking, and the other cannot defend) — and Allah defends the Haram. And who was living in the Haram at the time? Aminah (آمنة). And she must have been pregnant with our Prophet PBUH. So quite literally (because he is born in the same year, a few months later), so this means Aminah, when the Incident of Fil (فيل - Elephant) takes place, our Prophet PBUH is literally in the womb of Aminah. So there is a huge symbolism here that Allah Himself protects, not just the Ka'bah, but what else? Our Prophet PBUH. And this is as if to indicate that the mushrikun (مشركون - pagans) could not protect the Ka'bah — they are not worthy of the Ka'bah. So Allah SWT destroyed those who attempted to harm it, because there will come now somebody who will be worthy of the Ka'bah. The Quraysh have not been worthy to the level they deserve. So somebody will now come — and that is our Prophet PBUH, who purified it of its idols, who made it the qibla, and who returned it to the glory that it was — and that is the initial House that Ibrahim AS built.

And with that, we come to the conclusion of our quick summary of 2 halaqas, insha'Allah ta'ala.