The Sealed Nectar (4 page)

The Reasons of this War have been illustrated in Three Versions
The First:
Having noticed the spread of his offspring, increase of his property and exalt of his honour after Halil’s death, Qusai found himself more entitled to shoulder responsibility of rulership over Makkah and custodianship of the Sacred House than the tribes of Khuza‘a and Bani Bakr. He also advocated that Quraish were the chiefs of Ishmael’s descendants. Therefore he consulted some men from Quraish and Kinana concerning his desire to evacuate Khuza‘a and Bani Bakr from Makkah. They took a liking to his opinion and supported him.

The Second:
Khuza‘a claimed that Halil requested Qusai to hold custodianship of Al-Ka‘bah and rulership over Makkah after his death.

The Third:
Halil gave the right of Al- Ka‘bah service to his daughter Hobba and appointed Abu Ghabshan Al- Khuza‘i to function as her agent whereof. Upon Halil’s death, Qusai bought this right for a leather bag of wine, which aroused dissatisfaction among the men of Khuza‘a and they tried to keep the custodianship of the Sacred House away from Qusai. The latter, however, with the help of Quraish and Kinana, managed to take over and even to expel Khuza‘a completely from Makkah. [Rahmat- ul- lil'alameen 2/55]

Whatever the truth might have been, the whole affair resulted in the deprivation of Sofa of their privileges, previously mentioned, evacuation of Khuza‘a and Bakr from Makkah and transfer of rulership over Makkah and custodianship of the Holy Sanctuary to Qusai, after fierce wars between Qusai and Khuza‘a inflicting heavy casualties on both sides, reconciliation and then arbitration of Ya‘mur bin ‘Awf, from the tribe of Bakr, whose judgement entailed eligibility of Qusai’s rulership over 18

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Makkah and custodianship of the Sacred House, Qusai’s irresponsibility for Khuza‘a’s blood shed, and imposition of blood money on Khuza‘a. Qusai’s reign over Makkah and the Sacred House began in 440 A.D. and allowed him, and Quraish afterwards, absolute rulership over Makkah and undisputed custodianship of the Sacred House to which Arabs from all over Arabia came to pay homage.

Qusai brought his kinspeople to Makkah and allocated it to them, allowing Quraish some dwellings there. An- Nus’a, the families of Safwan, Adwan, Murra bin ‘Awf preserved the same rights they used to enjoy before his arrival. [Ibn Hisham 1/124]

A significant achievement credited to Qusai was the establishment of An- Nadwa House (an assembly house) on the northern side of Al- Ka‘bah Mosque, to serve as a meeting place for Quraish. This very house had benefited Quraish a lot because it secured unity of opinions amongst them and cordial solution to their problem. [Ibn Hisham 1/125; Akhbar Al- Kiram p.152]

Qusai however enjoyed the following privileges of leadership and honour: 1. Presiding over An- Nadwa House meetings where consultations relating to serious issues were conducted, and marriage contracts were announced.

2. The Standard: He monopolized in his hand issues relevant to war launching.

3. Doorkeeping of Al- Ka‘bah: He was the only one eligible to open its gate, and was responsible for its service and protection.

4. Providing water for the Pilgrims: This means that he used to fill basins sweetened by dates and raisins for the pilgrims to drink.

5. Feeding Pilgrims: This means making food for pilgrims who could not afford it.

Qusai even imposed on Quraish annual land tax, paid at the season of pilgrimage, for food. [Ibn Hisham 1/130]

It is noteworthy however that Qusai singled out ‘Abd Manaf, a son of his, for honour and prestige though he was not his elder son (‘Abd Ad- Dar was), and entrusted him with such responsibilities as chairing of An- Nadwa House, the standard, the doorkeeping of Al- Ka‘bah, providing water and food for pilgrims. Due to the fact that Qusai’s deeds were regarded as unquestionable and his orders inviolable, his death gave no rise to conflicts among his sons, but it later did among his grand children, for no sooner than ‘Abd Munaf had died, his sons began to have rows with their cousins —sons of ‘Abd Ad- Dar, which would have given rise to dissension and fighting among the whole tribe of Quraish, had it not been for a peace treaty whereby posts were reallocated so as to preserve feeding and providing water for pilgrims for the sons of ‘Abd Munaf; while An- Nadwa House, the flag and the doorkeeping of Al- Ka‘bah were maintained for the sons of ‘Abd Ad- Dar. The sons of

‘Abd Munaf, however, cast the lot for their charge, and consequently left the charge of food and water giving to Hashim bin ‘Abd Munaf, upon whose death, the charge was taken over by a brother of his called Al- Muttalib bin ‘Abd Manaf and afterwards by ‘Abd Al- Muttalib bin Hashim, the Prophet’s grandfather, whose sons assumed this position until the rise of Islam, during which ‘Abbas bin ‘Abdul- Muttalib was in charge. [Ibn Hisham 1/129- 179]

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Many other posts were distributed among people of Quraish for establishing the pillars of a new democratic petite state with government offices and councils similar to those of today. Enlisted as follows are some of these posts.

1. Casting the lots for the idols was allocated to Bani Jumah.

2. Noting of offers and sacrifices, settlement of disputes and relevant issues were to lie in the hands of Bani Sahm.

3. Consultation was to go to Bani Asad.

4. Organization of blood- money and fines was with Bani Tayim.

5. Bearing the national banner was with Bani Omaiyah.

6. The military institute, footmen and cavalry would be Bani Makhzum’s responsibility.

7. Bani ‘Adi would function as foreign mediators. [Tareekh Ard Al- Qur'an 2/104-106]

Rulership in Pan-Arabia

We have previously mentioned the Qahtanide and ‘Adnanide emigrations, and division of Arabia between these two tribes. Those tribes dwelling near Heerah were subordinate to the Arabian king of Heerah, while those dwelling in the Syrian semi-desert were under domain of the Arabian Ghassanide king, a sort of dependency that was in reality formal rather than actual. However, those living in the hinder deserts enjoyed full autonomy.

These tribes in fact had heads chosen by the whole tribe which was a demi-government based on tribal solidarity and collective interests in defence of land and property.

Heads of tribes enjoyed dictatorial privileges similar to those of kings, and were rendered full obedience and subordination in both war and peace. Rivalry among cousins for rulership, however, often drove them to outdo one another in entertaining guests, affecting generosity, wisdom and chivalry for the sole purpose of outranking their rivals, and gaining fame among people especially poets who were the official spokesmen at the time.

Heads of tribes and masters had special claims to spoils of war such as the quarter of the spoils, whatever he chose for himself, or found on his way back or even the remaining indivisible spoils.

The Political Situation

The three Arab regions adjacent to foreigners suffered great weakness and inferiority. The people there were either masters or slaves, rulers or subordinates.

Masters, especially the foreigners, had claim to every advantage; slaves had nothing but responsibilities to shoulder. In other words, arbitrary autocratic rulership brought about encroachment on the rights of subordinates, ignorance, oppression, iniquity, injustice and hardship, and turning them into people groping in darkness and ignorance, viz., fertile land which rendered its fruits to the rulers and men of power to extravagantly dissipate on their pleasures and enjoyments, whims and desires, tyranny and aggression. The tribes living near these regions were fluctuating 20

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between Syria and Iraq, whereas those living inside Arabia were disunited and governed by tribal conflicts and racial and religious disputes.

They had neither a king to sustain their independence nor a supporter to seek advice from, or depend upon, in hardships.

The rulers of Hijaz, however, were greatly esteemed and respected by the Arabs, and were considered as rulers and servants of the religious centre. Rulership of Hijaz was, in fact, a mixture of secular and official precedence as well as religious leadership. They ruled among the Arabs in the name of religious leadership and always monopolized the custodianship of the Holy Sanctuary and its neighbourhood.

They looked after the interests of Al- Ka‘bah visitors and were in charge of putting Abraham’s code into effect. They even had such offices and departments like those of the parliaments of today. However, they were too weak to carry the heavy burden, as this evidently came to light during the Abyssinian (Ethiopian) invasion.

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Religions of the Arabs

Most of the Arabs had complied with the call of Ishmael [AWS] , and professed the religion of his father Abraham [AWS] . They had worshipped All? , professed His Oneness and followed His religion a long time until they forgot part of what they had been reminded of. However, they still maintained such fundamental beliefs such as m onotheism as well as various other aspects of Abraham’s religion, until the time when a chief of Khuza‘a, namely ‘Amr bin Luhai, who was renowned for righteousness, charity, reverence and care for religion, and was granted unreserved love and obedience by his tribesmen, came back from a trip to Syria where he saw people worship idols, a phenomenon he approved of and believed it to be righteous since Syria was the locus of Messengers and Scriptures, he brought with him an idol (Hubal) which he placed in the middle of Al- Ka‘bah and summoned people to worship it. Readily enough, paganism spread all over Makkah and, thence, to Hijaz, people of Makkah being custodians of not only the Sacred House but the whole Haram as well.

A great many idols, bearing different names, were introduced into the area.

[Mukhtasar Seerat- ar- Rasool p.12]

An idol called ‘Manat’, for instance, was worshipped in a place known as Al- Mushallal near Qadid on the Red Sea. Another, ‘Al- Lat’ in Ta’if, a third, ‘Al- ‘Uzza’ in the valley of Nakhlah, and so on and so forth. Polytheism prevailed and the number of idols increased everywhere in Hijaz. It was even mentioned that ‘Amr bin Luhai, with the help of a jinn companion who told him that the idols of Noah’s folk – Wadd, Suwa‘, Yaguth, Ya‘uk and Nasr – were buried in Jeddah, dug them out and took them to Tihama. Upon pilgrimage time, the idols were distributed among the tribes to take back home. [Bukhari 1/222] Every tribe, and house, had their own idols, and the Sacred House was also overcrowded with them. On the Prophet’s conquest of Makkah, 360 idols were found around Al- Ka‘bah. He broke them down and had them removed and burned up. [Mukhtasar Seerat- ar- Rasool p.13- 54]

Polytheism and worship of idols became the most prominent feature of the religion of pre- Islam Arabs despite alleged profession of Abraham’s religion.

Traditions and ceremonies of the worship of their idols had been mostly created by

‘Amr bin Luhai, and were deemed as good innovations rather than deviations from Abraham’s religion. Some features of their worship of idols were: 1. Self- devotion to the idols, seeking refuge with them, acclamation of their names, calling for their help in hardship, and supplication to them for fulfillment of wishes, hopefully that the idols (i.e., heathen gods) would mediate with All? for the fulfillment of people’s wishes.

2. Performing pilgrimage to the idols, circumrotation round them, self-abasement and even prostrating themselves before them.

3. Seeking favour of idols through various kinds of sacrifices and immolations, which is mentioned in the Qur’? ic verses:

"And that which is sacrificed (slaughtered) on An- Nusub (stone-altars)"
[Al- Qur'an 5:3]

All? also says:

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"Eat not (O believers) of that (meat) on which All
?
’s Name has not
been pronounced (at the time of the slaughtering of the animal)."
[Al-Qur'an 6:121]

4. Consecration of certain portions of food, drink, cattle, and crops to idols.

Surprisingly enough, portions were also consecrated to All? Himself, but people often found reasons to transfer parts of All? ’s portion to idols, but never did the opposite. To this effect, the Qur’? ic verses go:

"And they assign to All
?
a share of the tilth and cattle which He has
created, and they say: ‘This is for All
?
according to their pretending, and
this is for our (All
?
’s so- called) partners.’ But the share of their (All
?
’s so-called) ‘partners’, reaches not All
?
, while the share of All
?
reaches their
(All
?
’s so- called) ‘partners’. Evil is the way they judge."
[Al- Qur'an 6:136]

5. Currying favours with these idols through votive offerings of crops and cattle, to which effect, the Qur’? goes:

"And according to their pretending, they say that such and such cattle and
crops are forbidden, and none should eat of them except those whom we
allow. And (they say) there are cattle forbidden to be used for burden or
any other work, and cattle on which (at slaughtering) the Name of All
?
is
not pronounced; lying against Him (All
?
)."
[Al- Qur'an 6:138]

6. Dedication of certain animals (such as
Bahira
,
Sa’iba
,
Wasila
and
Hami
) to idols, which meant sparing such animals from useful work for the sake of these heathen gods.
Bahira
, as reported by the well- known historian, Ibn Ishaq, was daughter of
Sa’iba
which was a female camel that gave birth to ten successive female animals, but no male ones, was set free and forbidden to yoke, burden or being sheared off its wool, or milked (but for guests to drink from); and so was done to all her female offspring which were given the name ‘
Bahira
’, after having their ears slit. The
Wasila
was a female sheep which had ten successive female daughters in five pregnancies. Any new births from this
Wasila
were assigned only for male people. The
Hami
was a male camel which produced ten progressive females, and was thus similarly forbidden. In mention of this, the Qur’? ic verses go: