Banu Quraish

Quraish is also the name of a Surah in the Qur'an.

Quraish ( ) is one of the tribes of Arabia during Muhammad's era, a Meccan tribe that the Islamic prophet Muhammad belonged to before he received the revelations of Islam. Ironically, it was his own tribe that was his chief opponent for most of his life. Qusai ibn Kilab is the progenitor of the banu Quraysh http://www.ummah.net/khoei/khadija.htm.

Arab lineages

Arab lineages allegedly originate from three groups:

Perished Arabs (العرب البائدة): These are the ancients of whose history little is known. They include ‘Ad, Thamûd, Tasam, Jadis, Imlaq and others.
Pure Arabs (العرب العاربة): They allegedly originated from the progeny of Ya‘rub bin Yashjub bin Qahtan bin Hud so were also called Qahtanian Arabs.
Arabized Arabs: They allegedly originated from the progeny of Ishmael and were also called ‘Adnanian Arabs. The Quraish are a branch of the "Arabized Arabs".

The Quraish had become a prominent tribe in Mecca before the birth of Muhammad and essentially ruled the city. Before Muhammad's birth, the tribe had split into different clans, each with different responsibilities. There were some rivalries among the clans, but these became especially pronounced during Muhammad's lifetime. Some clan leaders did not appreciate Muhammad's claim of prophethood and tried to silence him by putting pressure on his uncle, Abu Talib. Many of the clans also began to persecute the followers of Muhammad, for example by boycotting them. This response led Muhammad to initially send some Muslims to Ethiopia, and later would lead to his own emigration to Medina.

After Muhammad's conquest of Mecca in 630, he pardoned many of those who had oppressed him before, and peace among the different clans was maintained. After Muhammad's death, clan rivalries reignited, playing central roles in the conflicts over the Caliphate and contributing to the Shi'a-Sunni divide.

Clans

Quraish branched out into various sub-clans, who in turn branched out into yet further sub-clans. Roughly the division corresponded to the family lines of the current chieftain of that clan having sons.

Banu Quraish — Banu Quraish was divided into several sub-clans.

Banu Abd-al-dar — sub-clan of Banu Quraish
Banu Abd al-Manaf — sub-clan of Banu Quraish

Banu Nawfal — sub-clan of Banu Abd al-Manaf
Banu Muttalib — sub-clan of Banu Abd al-Manaf
Banu Hashim — sub-clan of Banu Abd al-Manaf, clan of Muhammad and Ali.
Banu Abd Shams — sub-clan of Banu Abd al-Manaf, parent clan of Banu Umayyad.

Banu Umayyad — sub-clan of Banu Abd Shams, clan of Abu Sufyan and Uthman ibn Affan

Banu Makhzum — sub-clan of Banu Quraish, clan of Khalid ibn al-Walid
Banu Zuhrah — sub-clan of Banu Quraish, clan of Sa'ad ibn Abi Waqqas
Banu Taim — sub-clan of Banu Quraish, clan of Abu Bakr (somtimes confused with Banu Tamim)
Banu Adi — sub-clan of Banu Quraish, clan of Umar ibn al-Khattab
Banu Asad — sub-clan of Banu Quraish, clan of Abd-Allah ibn al-Zubayr and Khadijah
Banu Khuza'a — sub-clan of Banu Quraish,

Banu Mustaliq — sub-clan of Banu Khuza'a,

(uncategorized Quraish sub-clans)

Banu Jumah

Leaders of the Quraish

During the era of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, there where a powerful elit that ruled the Arabian city of Mecca. All of those people came from the tribe of Quraish and where accordingly referred to as the Leaders of the Quraish.

A list of them include:

Clans and the Caliphate

The split between the Shi'a and Sunni branches of Islam centers over the successor to Muhammad. The Sunnis believe Abu Bakr was elected as Muhammad's successor while the Shi'a (literally "party of Ali") believe Muhammad appointed Ali ibn Abi Talib as his successor.

Part of Shi'a belief stems from the fact that Ali was a member of Muhammad's clan, the Banu Hashim. Abu Bakr, while a close companion of Muhammad, came from the Banu Taim clan.

The second Caliph, Umar ibn al-Khattab, was from the Banu Adi clan.

The third Caliph, Uthman ibn Affan, was from the Umayyad clan.

When Ali was made caliph after the death of Uthman, the Caliphate was in the hands of the Banu Hashim, but he was almost immediately challenged by Muawiyah, who was a member of the Umayyad clan. After Ali's assassination at the hands of the Kharajites, the Shi'a hoped his son Hasan would become Caliph, but he deferred to Muawiyah, who established the Umayyad line of Caliphs.

After the death of Muawiyah, his son Yazid became Caliph but was almost immediately challenged by Ali's younger son, Hussein, who would not swear allegiance to Yazid for a number of reasons, among which that the Caliphate was not supposed to be hereditary, and that Yazid was said to be corrupt. Yazid's forces were stronger than those of Hussein and Hussein was killed at the Battle of Karbela. This event would ultimately lead to a full schism between Shi'a Islam and Sunni Islam.

The fact that Muhammad's descendants through Ali would be persecuted by Umayyad Caliphs did not help the matter. It seems that initially, the difference between Shi'a Islam and Sunni Islam was purely political. Only under the later Abbasid Caliphs would actual doctrinal religious differences arise.

References

External link

http://www.princeton.edu/~batke/itl/denise/quraysh.htm

Islam | Quraish | Tribes of Arabia