Qusaiy ibn Kilāb

Qusaiy ibn Kilāb ( Arabic قصي ابن كلاب, DMG Quṣaiy ibn Kilāb ) was an ancestor of the Prophet Mohammed , who, according to Islamic tradition , founded the Quraish tribe five generations before him , secured its predominance over Mecca and reorganized the cult around the Kaaba . Even in pre-Islamic Mecca, Qusaiy was an extremely important benefactor. Leone Caetani compared its importance for Mecca with that of Theseus for Athens and Romulus for Rome . Almost all of the important institutions that determined everyday life and politics in the city were attributed to him.

Origin and childhood in the north of the Arabian Peninsula

The most important sources mentioned in the sources for Qusaiy's life are Ibn as-Sā'ib al-Kalbī (d. 763), Ibn Ishāq (d. 767) and Ibn Juraidsch al-Makkī (d. 767). According to their tradition, Mecca in the time of Qusaiy consisted of only a collection of tents and was ruled by two clans, the Bakr ibn ʿAbd Manāt from the Kināna tribe and the Banū Ghubschān from the South Arabian tribe of the Chuzāʿa .

Qusaiy belonged to the Banū n-Nadr, a branch of the Arab tribe Kināna . The sources give as his nasab : Qusaiy b. Kilāb b. Murra b. Kaʿb b. Luʾayy b. Ghālib b. Fihr b. Mālik b. an-Nadr b. Kināna. Qusaiy's real name is said to have been Zaid. Qusaiy's father Kilāb died shortly after his birth, whereupon his mother, Fātima bint Saʿd, remarried, namely Rabīʿa, a man from the tribe of the Banū ʿUdhra, who was on a pilgrimage in Mecca. Together with him and his mother, Qusaiy moved to the tribal area of ​​the Banū ʿUdhra, which was located in the north of the Arabian Peninsula on the border with Syria. This is where he grew up. The name Qusaiy (from Arabic qaṣā "to go far away") is said to have been given due to the distance from his homeland.

Return to Mecca and compilation of the Quraish

After Qusaiy was taught his true origins by his mother at a young age, he returned to Mecca. There he married Hubbā, the daughter of the Chuzāʿite Hulail ibn Hubschīya, who was responsible for the cult of the Kaaba and the pilgrimage. After Hulail's death, Qusaiy took over his offices and, with the help of his half-brother Rizāh ibn Rabīʿa, who was then head of the Qudāʿa , drove the Bakr ibn ʿAbd Manāt and the Chuzāʿa from Mecca. He then united the various clans of the Banū n-Nadr, who previously lived scattered among the tribal community of the Kināna , into a firmly established association, which was given the name Quraish (from Arabic qaraša = "to seek out from all sides"). Because of this achievement he was later nicknamed al-Mujammiʿ ("the club").

Reorganization of the cult around the Kaaba

Qusaiy is said to have ensured that permanent houses were built in Mecca and also provided the Kaaba with a roof made of wood for the first time. Hubbā, it is said, showed him the place in the mountains of Mecca where the Iyād tribe had buried the black stone so that Qusaiy could dig it up and attach it to the Kaaba. In addition, he is said to have determined the boundaries of the Holy District ( Haram ) around the Kaaba by setting up stone monuments there.

The ritual, political and military offices that Qusaiy united in his hand, according to tradition, included the 1. gatehouse of the Kaaba ( ḥiǧāba ), 2. the watering of the pilgrims ( siqāya ), 3. the hospitality of the pilgrims ( rifāda ), 4. the presidency of the council assembly ( nadwa ), 5. the waving of the standard ( liwāʾ ) associated with the right to declare war, and 6. the supreme command in war ( qiyāda ). Qusaiy himself is said to have built a meeting house in Mecca for the council, which was called Dār an-Nadwa and was also used for holding ceremonies (marriages, circumcision ceremonies, etc.).

progeny

Qusaiy had four sons: ʿAbd ad-Dār, ʿAbd Manāf , ʿAbd al-ʿUzzā and ʿAbd Qusaiy. There are two versions of the inheritance of his offices. The one narrated in Ibn Hisham says that ʿAbd ad-Dār, Qusaiy's eldest son, inherited all offices. Later, however, the descendants of ʿAbd Manāf are said to have contested these offices with the descendants of ʿAbd ad-Dār, whereupon they were given the Rifāda and the Siqāya. The other version, which al-Azraqī narrates from Ibn Ishāq and Ibn Juraidsch, says that Ibn Qusaiy himself already divided the offices between bAbd ad-Dār and ʿAbd Manāf. While the former received the Kaaba porter's office and the presidency of the council, the latter received rifāda, siqāya and qiyāda.

literature

• al-Azraqī : Aḫbār Makka wa-mā ǧāʾa fī-hā min al-āṯār . Ed. Rušdī aṣ-Ṣāliḥ Malḥas. Dār al-Andalus, Beirut, 1983. Vol. I, pp. 103-115. Digitized
• Walter Dostal: "Mecca before the time of the prophet - attempt of an anthropological interpretation" in Der Islam 68/2 (1991) 193-231.
• Gerald Hawting: "The 'Sacred Offices' of Mecca from Jahiliyya to Islam" in Jerusalem Studies in Arabic and Islam 13 (1990) 62–84.
• G. Levi della Vida: "Ḳuṣayy" in The Encyclopaedia of Islam. New Edition Vol. V, pp. 519b-520b.
• Tilman Nagel: Mohammed. Life and legend . Munich 2008. pp. 27-41.
• Ferdinand Wüstenfeld: Chronicles of the city of Mecca . Fourth volume. Leipzig 1861. pp. 27-34. Digitized

Individual evidence

1. ↑ See della Vida 520a.
2. ↑ See Nagel 38.
3. ↑ Cf. della Vida 519b.
4. ^ Cf. Wüstenfeld: Chronicles of the City of Mecca . 1861, Vol. IV, pp. 29f.
5. ↑ Cf. MJ Kister: Art. " Kh uzāʿa" in The Encyclopaedia of Islam. New Edition Vol. V, pp. 76b-80a. Here pp. 77b-78a.
6. ↑ See Nagel 39.
7. ^ Cf. Wüstenfeld: Chronicles of the City of Mecca . 1861, Vol. IV, pp. 31f.
8. ↑ Cf. Dostal: "Mecca before the time of the prophet". 1991, p. 198.