Banu Hashim
Encyclopedia
Banū Hāshim was a clan in the Quraysh tribe. Muhammad
, was a member of this clan
; his great-grandfather was Hashim
, for whom the clan is named. Members of this clan are referred to by the Anglicised version of their name as Hashemites, or Huseini or Hasani
. Descendants of Muhammad usually carry the titles Sayyid
or Sharif
.
, Banu Al-Muttalib, and Banu Nawfal
clans comprises the Banu Abd al-Manaf section of the Quraysh.
The house of 'Abd al-Muttalib of Banu Hashim of Quraysh comprised a form of nobility in pre-Islamic Makkah, based upon their hereditary duty to act as stewards and caretakers of the pilgrims coming to Makkah
to worship at the Kaabah
. This was the sacred shrine in that city, which in Islamic tradition was built by the prophet Ibrahim (Abraham
) and his first-born son and heir Ismail (Ishmael
), which had come to be occupied by some hundreds of idols. The idols represented many different tribes and as a result Makkah became a centre of pilgrimage, and the Kaabah's environs were an inviolable sanctuary. This pilgrimage traffic added considerably to the wealth of the merchants of Makkah, which also benefited from its position astride the caravan routes from Yemen (Arabia Felix) up to the Mediterranean markets.
It was into the house 'Abd al-Muttalib of Banu Hashim of Quraysh that Muhammad was born in the year 570 C.E. From 610 C.E. his mission to call people to the worship of the One God set him at odds with the established powers in Makkah. His membership of the 'top house, of the top clan' (in terms of prestige, though not power) was a factor in keeping him safe from assassination during the early years of his mission, as a number of his uncles would not countenance any such insult to their clan honour.
In the year 622 C.E. the Muslim community of Makkah made Hijrah/emigrated to the city of Yathrib, which subsequently became known as Madinah, to avoid the often murderous persecution of the pagans of Makkah.
With the conquest of Mecca
in 630, the city was captured by the army of Islam. The Kaabah was cleansed of idols and became the centre of pilgrimage for Muslims. (It is forbidden to non-Muslims to enter an area designated around the city of Makkah).
Though Muhammad had a number of wives few of his children lived long enough to produce any ongoing lines of descent. The two major lines of descent are those of his two grandsons, Al-Hasan
and Al-Husayn, born of the union of his daughter Fatimah
and his cousin/son-in-law Ali. Muhammad besought the mercy of the Muslims upon his beloved grandsons, thus their descendants have become a form of spiritual aristocracy amongst many, though not all, Muslims. The descendants of Muhammad's grandsons are known by the titles of Sayed (Sayyid, Syed, etc.), or Sharif/Sherif.
It is to be noted though that over the centuries a great many 'false' Sayedi/Sharifi lines of descent have developed. These have often arisen not through deceit upon their part as much as through the obfuscation of genealogical identity over largely unrecorded centuries. Two known clusters of 'false Sayeds' are: the so-called 'Sayeds of Sindh' in modern Pakistan, descendants of the Ansar (helpers) of a Sayedi/Sharifi refugee from Madinah whose line died out early on thus creating the impression amongst the descendants of those who sheltered him that they were Ahl an'Naas ('of the blood') and the 'Talukdari Sayeds' of Hyderabad Deccan in Southern India, the descendants of Muhammad an adopted son of Muhammad and therefore also not 'of the blood'.
There are also many Hassani and Hussayni (double s lines) who claim to be descendants of the Prophet but who are not so in reality, this is a long attested fact; as well as which there are those who falsely claim descendants of the Prophet Muhammad's uncle Al-Abbas to constitute part of the Ahl an'Naas (House of the Blood) of the Prophet, the which is mostly done by Abbasis who wish to appear as descendants of the Prophet, 'though these are possible descendants of the Abbasid line which is separate to Banu Hashim; along with many of the Shia'at Ali who claim that descent through Ali is as, if not more, significant in terms of descent from Muhammad and thus falsely try to include Alvis and a cluster of others under the umbrella of being descendants of the Prophet Muhammad despite the clear lack of any blood lineage.
To try to resolve the confusion surrounding the descendants of Muhammad, the Ottoman
Caliph
s during the 19th Century C.E. attempted to replicate the Almanach de Gotha
(the tome listing the Noble houses of Europe) to show known and verifiable lines of descent. Although not 100% complete in its scope (some lines might have been excluded due to lack of proof, although no false lines are included) the resulting 'Kitab al-Ashraf (Book of the Sharifs), kept at the Topkapi Palace (Museum) in Istanbul is one of the best sources of evidence of descent from Muhammad.
The Alid
(the term given to the descendants of Muhammad via his daughter Fatima and Ali)lines of descent produced many once, current (and future) reigning dynasties across the Islamic imperium, amongst these stand:
Muhammad
Muhammad |ligature]] at U+FDF4 ;Arabic pronunciation varies regionally; the first vowel ranges from ~~; the second and the last vowel: ~~~. There are dialects which have no stress. In Egypt, it is pronounced not in religious contexts...
, was a member of this clan
Clan
A clan is a group of people united by actual or perceived kinship and descent. Even if lineage details are unknown, clan members may be organized around a founding member or apical ancestor. The kinship-based bonds may be symbolical, whereby the clan shares a "stipulated" common ancestor that is a...
; his great-grandfather was Hashim
Hashim ibn Abd Manaf
Hashim ibn 'Abd Manaf was the great-grandfather of the Islamic prophet Muhammad and the progenitor of the Banu Hashim clan of the distinguished Quraish tribe in Mecca....
, for whom the clan is named. Members of this clan are referred to by the Anglicised version of their name as Hashemites, or Huseini or Hasani
Hašani
Hašani is a village in the municipality of Bosanska Krupa, Bosnia and Herzegovina....
. Descendants of Muhammad usually carry the titles Sayyid
Sayyid
Sayyid is an honorific title, it denotes males accepted as descendants of the Islamic prophet Muhammad through his grandsons, Hasan ibn Ali and Husain ibn Ali, sons of the prophet's daughter Fatima Zahra and his son-in-law Ali ibn Abi Talib.Daughters of sayyids are given the titles Sayyida,...
or Sharif
Sharif
Sharīf or Chérif is a traditional Arab tribal title given to those who serve as the protector of the tribe and all tribal assets, such as property, wells, and land. In origin, the word is an adjective meaning "noble", "highborn". The feminine singular is sharifa...
.
History
Amongst pre-Islamic Arabs people classified themselves according to their Confederation, their tribe, their clan, and then their house/family. There were two Tribal Confederations; the Adnani (originating from "Adnan", the traditional ancestor of the Arabs of northern, central and western Arabia), and the Qahtani (originating from "Qahtan", the traditional ancestor of the Arabs of southern and south eastern Arabia). Banu Hashim is one of the clans of the Quraysh tribe, of the Adnani confederation. It derives its name from Hashim, the great-grandfather of Muhammad, and along with the Banu Abd ShamsBanu Abd Shams
Banu Abd Shams refers to a clan within the Meccan tribe of Quraish. The clan names itself from Abd Shams ibn Abd Manaf, the son of Abd Manaf ibn Qusai and brother of Hashim, the great-grandfather of the Islamic prophet Muhammad.-Connection with the Umayyads:...
, Banu Al-Muttalib, and Banu Nawfal
Banu Nawfal
Banu Nawfal is a notable Arabic sub-clan of the Quraish tribe. Its progenitor is Nawfal ibn Abd Manaf .Chief: Mut`im ibn ‘Adi...
clans comprises the Banu Abd al-Manaf section of the Quraysh.
The house of 'Abd al-Muttalib of Banu Hashim of Quraysh comprised a form of nobility in pre-Islamic Makkah, based upon their hereditary duty to act as stewards and caretakers of the pilgrims coming to Makkah
Mecca
Mecca is a city in the Hijaz and the capital of Makkah province in Saudi Arabia. The city is located inland from Jeddah in a narrow valley at a height of above sea level...
to worship at the Kaabah
Kaaba
The Kaaba is a cuboid-shaped building in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, and is the most sacred site in Islam. The Qur'an states that the Kaaba was constructed by Abraham, or Ibraheem, in Arabic, and his son Ishmael, or Ismaeel, as said in Arabic, after he had settled in Arabia. The building has a mosque...
. This was the sacred shrine in that city, which in Islamic tradition was built by the prophet Ibrahim (Abraham
Abraham
Abraham , whose birth name was Abram, is the eponym of the Abrahamic religions, among which are Judaism, Christianity and Islam...
) and his first-born son and heir Ismail (Ishmael
Ishmael
Ishmael is a figure in the Hebrew Bible and the Qur'an, and was Abraham's first born child according to Jews, Christians and Muslims. Ishmael was born of Abraham's marriage to Sarah's handmaiden Hagar...
), which had come to be occupied by some hundreds of idols. The idols represented many different tribes and as a result Makkah became a centre of pilgrimage, and the Kaabah's environs were an inviolable sanctuary. This pilgrimage traffic added considerably to the wealth of the merchants of Makkah, which also benefited from its position astride the caravan routes from Yemen (Arabia Felix) up to the Mediterranean markets.
It was into the house 'Abd al-Muttalib of Banu Hashim of Quraysh that Muhammad was born in the year 570 C.E. From 610 C.E. his mission to call people to the worship of the One God set him at odds with the established powers in Makkah. His membership of the 'top house, of the top clan' (in terms of prestige, though not power) was a factor in keeping him safe from assassination during the early years of his mission, as a number of his uncles would not countenance any such insult to their clan honour.
In the year 622 C.E. the Muslim community of Makkah made Hijrah/emigrated to the city of Yathrib, which subsequently became known as Madinah, to avoid the often murderous persecution of the pagans of Makkah.
With the conquest of Mecca
Conquest of Mecca
Mecca was conquered by the Muslims in January 630 AD .-Background:In 628 the Meccan tribe of Quraysh and the Muslim community in Medina signed a 10 year truce called the Treaty of Hudaybiyyah....
in 630, the city was captured by the army of Islam. The Kaabah was cleansed of idols and became the centre of pilgrimage for Muslims. (It is forbidden to non-Muslims to enter an area designated around the city of Makkah).
Though Muhammad had a number of wives few of his children lived long enough to produce any ongoing lines of descent. The two major lines of descent are those of his two grandsons, Al-Hasan
Hasan ibn Ali
Al-Hasan ibn ‘Alī ibn Abī Tālib is an important figure in Islam, the son of Fatimah the daughter of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, and of the fourth Caliph Ali ibn Abi Talib. Hasan is a member of the Ahl al-Bayt and Ahl al-Kisa...
and Al-Husayn, born of the union of his daughter Fatimah
Fatimah
Fatimah was a daughter of the Islamic prophet Muhammad from his first wife Khadijah bint Khuwaylid. She is regarded by Muslims as an exemplar for men and women. She remained at her father's side through the difficulties suffered by him at the hands of the Quraysh of Mecca...
and his cousin/son-in-law Ali. Muhammad besought the mercy of the Muslims upon his beloved grandsons, thus their descendants have become a form of spiritual aristocracy amongst many, though not all, Muslims. The descendants of Muhammad's grandsons are known by the titles of Sayed (Sayyid, Syed, etc.), or Sharif/Sherif.
It is to be noted though that over the centuries a great many 'false' Sayedi/Sharifi lines of descent have developed. These have often arisen not through deceit upon their part as much as through the obfuscation of genealogical identity over largely unrecorded centuries. Two known clusters of 'false Sayeds' are: the so-called 'Sayeds of Sindh' in modern Pakistan, descendants of the Ansar (helpers) of a Sayedi/Sharifi refugee from Madinah whose line died out early on thus creating the impression amongst the descendants of those who sheltered him that they were Ahl an'Naas ('of the blood') and the 'Talukdari Sayeds' of Hyderabad Deccan in Southern India, the descendants of Muhammad an adopted son of Muhammad and therefore also not 'of the blood'.
There are also many Hassani and Hussayni (double s lines) who claim to be descendants of the Prophet but who are not so in reality, this is a long attested fact; as well as which there are those who falsely claim descendants of the Prophet Muhammad's uncle Al-Abbas to constitute part of the Ahl an'Naas (House of the Blood) of the Prophet, the which is mostly done by Abbasis who wish to appear as descendants of the Prophet, 'though these are possible descendants of the Abbasid line which is separate to Banu Hashim; along with many of the Shia'at Ali who claim that descent through Ali is as, if not more, significant in terms of descent from Muhammad and thus falsely try to include Alvis and a cluster of others under the umbrella of being descendants of the Prophet Muhammad despite the clear lack of any blood lineage.
To try to resolve the confusion surrounding the descendants of Muhammad, the Ottoman
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
Caliph
Caliph
The Caliph is the head of state in a Caliphate, and the title for the ruler of the Islamic Ummah, an Islamic community ruled by the Shari'ah. It is a transcribed version of the Arabic word which means "successor" or "representative"...
s during the 19th Century C.E. attempted to replicate the Almanach de Gotha
Almanach de Gotha
The Almanach de Gotha was a respected directory of Europe's highest nobility and royalty. First published in 1763 by C.W. Ettinger in Gotha at the ducal court of Frederick III, Duke of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg, it was regarded as an authority in the classification of monarchies, princely and ducal...
(the tome listing the Noble houses of Europe) to show known and verifiable lines of descent. Although not 100% complete in its scope (some lines might have been excluded due to lack of proof, although no false lines are included) the resulting 'Kitab al-Ashraf (Book of the Sharifs), kept at the Topkapi Palace (Museum) in Istanbul is one of the best sources of evidence of descent from Muhammad.
The Alid
Alid
The Alid dynasties descended from Ali ibn Abi Talib, son-in-law of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. Shia Muslims consider him the First Imam appointed by Muhammad and the first rightful caliph. The Alid are followers of Ali ibn Abi Talib and his sons....
(the term given to the descendants of Muhammad via his daughter Fatima and Ali)lines of descent produced many once, current (and future) reigning dynasties across the Islamic imperium, amongst these stand:
- the Zaydid Imams of Tabaristan (Al-Hasan of Banu Hashim of Nishapur);
- the Abbasid Caliphate Sharif of Baghdad and Qairo Abbasi sharif are found currently in many countries of the world
- the Jafaari SharifSharifSharīf or Chérif is a traditional Arab tribal title given to those who serve as the protector of the tribe and all tribal assets, such as property, wells, and land. In origin, the word is an adjective meaning "noble", "highborn". The feminine singular is sharifa...
s of Sus/Saadian Sultans of Morocco (16-17ty Centuries C.E); - the Al-Aoute Sharifs, who reign in Morocco currently;
- the former Sharifs of Makkah, who now rule Jordan (and used to rule the Hejaz and Iraq also);
- the Idrissid Sharifs, who ruled parts of North Afrika from Fez (8th-10th Centuries C.E);
- the Hammudids of Spain;
- the Fatimid Caliphate of Egypt;
- the Daoudi Sulaymanids of Yemen;
- the RassidsRassidsThe Imams of Yemen and later the Kings of Yemen were religiously consecrated leaders belonging to the Zaidiyyah branch of Shia Islam. They established a blend of religious and secular rule in parts of Yemen from 897. Their imamate endured under varying circumstances until the republican revolution...
Imams of Yemen; - the Maghrabi Sulaymanids;
See also
- HallaurHallaurHallaur or Haloor is a town or a big village in the north Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, situated near the banks of Rapti river. Residents of Hallaur are referred as Hallauri.The Place of Rizvi Syed...
- Non-Muslims who interacted with Muslims during Muhammad's era
- SayyidSayyidSayyid is an honorific title, it denotes males accepted as descendants of the Islamic prophet Muhammad through his grandsons, Hasan ibn Ali and Husain ibn Ali, sons of the prophet's daughter Fatima Zahra and his son-in-law Ali ibn Abi Talib.Daughters of sayyids are given the titles Sayyida,...
- HusseiniHusseiniHusseini is an Arabic surname.-Etymology:It is a nisba derivation of the given name Hussein...
- Taba'een
- Banu Dawud
- IsaaqIsaaqThe Isaaq is one of the main Somali clans. Members of the clan principally live in the northwestern Somaliland region of Somalia, and the Somali Region of Ethiopia. The populations of five major cities of Somaliland – Hargeisa, Burco, Berbera, Ceerigaabo and Gabiley – are predominantly Isaaq...
- Abbasid Caliphate
- Battle of Mecca 1916Battle of Mecca 1916The Battle of Mecca occurred in the Muslim holy city of Mecca in June and July 1916. On June 10, the Sharif of Mecca, Hussein bin Ali, the leader of the Binu Hashim clan started a revolt against the Ottoman Caliphate from this city. The Battle of Mecca was part of the Arab Revolt of World War...
- Fakhri PashaFakhri PashaFakhri Pasha or Fahreddin Pasha or Umar Fakhr ud-Din Pasha was the commander of Ottoman army and governor of Medina from 1916 to 1919.-Early life:...