Timeline Of Leading Prophets

One my readers wondered whether I was shooting in the dark when I wrote that 4,000 years ago Makkah was unpopulated.  He, or perhaps she, went on saying that it would be nice to have timeline on the various prophets since Adam.

Well, I was not shooting in the dark, and as promised, here is the brief timeline.

Broadly speaking, we can divide the timeline of the prophets into four categories: (1) prehistoric, (2) ancient, (3) middle age, and (4) modern.

The prophets from Adam to Noah are prehistoric.  Any attempt to put dates on them would be superfluous.  Scholars put the time of Adam creation somewhere between 10,000 to 20,000 years ago.  As you can see, the gap is huge.  Modern scholars tend to put the date much earlier.  None of these is accurate.

In case you are interested, one Internet source estimates the date of Adam creation at 3760 BC.  That means not even 6,000 years ago.  The evolutionists would definitely disagree.  We don't need to agree with that estimate either, although we don't have to go with the evolutionists.

While at it, let's have some fun.  Adam was created 5772 years ago.  He lived for 930 years.  Enoch (Prophet Idris) was born in 3138 BC, or 622 years after Adam was created.  It means that when Enoch was born, Adam was still alive.

Noah was born in 2704 BC, or 126 years after Adam died.  In 2204 BC, he started to construct the ark, and one hundred years later, the great flood occurred.  Noah was 600 years old when the Flood occurred.

Noah lived for 950 years, which made him the longest living prophet.  But he did not live the longest.  It was his grandfather, Methusaleh, who was the longest living person.  Methusaleh lived for 969 years.

In case you are interested, here is the link for the above information which make for good reading but are not historically accurate.

While those information may not be accurate historically, there is one point worth noting.  The prehistoric people lived very long.  The evolution theory, however, says that early people's lifespan was very short, somewhere around 40 years or so. 

Quran says that Noah tarried the earth for 1,000 years minus 50, meaning 950 years, which agrees with Biblical account.  As a Muslim, I would rather go with the Quran, not evolution theory, as you should too. 

That said, those dating games should be used with caution.  About all we can say is that the early human beings lived very long, but when exactly Adam was created or when the Great Flood took place, these we leave to Allah. 

From Hud to Joseph, we can categorize them as ancient prophets.  Not much is known about Hud and Saleh as far as their times were concerned, but many sources are available about Abraham.  Most sources indicate that Abraham flourished about 4,000 years ago. 

According to Sultan Ghalib Al-Qu'aiti in his book "The Holy Cities, The Pilgrimage and The World of Islam," a 692 page compendium on Makkah and Madinah, tracing the history of these cities from the earliest traditions till 1925, Abraham was born around 2000 BC.  He said it was agreed by most computations (pg. 8).

Britannica Concise Encyclopaedia, Gale Encyclopaedia Of Biography and many others also give the same period.  But the link above, calculated based on Bible, estimates the date of Abraham's birth at 1812 BC. 

Since Bible is quite notorious for historical error, I would tend to think that year 2000 BC, thereabout, is more accurate. 

This ancient period ended with Joseph who lived around 3,600-3,700 years ago, thereabout.

The third period, middle age (not to be confused with European Middle Ages), started with Moses and ended with Jonah (Prophet Yunus).   Moses lived around 3,300-3,400 years ago, while Jonah lived around 2,700 years ago.  In this category we have Prophet Job (Nabi Ayyub) who was said to live around 2,500-2,600 years ago, according to Biblical account.  His name, however, comes before Moses according to Islamic placement of the 25 prophets.

In this category as well, we have King David and King Solomon (Propeht Dawood and Sulaiman).  Since they were also kings, in addition to being prophets, their dates are well known and agreed upon by most scholars.  David was born around 1040 BC and died in 970 BC.  Solomon was born around 1000 BC and died in 930 BC.  In other word, they lived around 3,000 years ago.

The modern prophets started with Zechariah (Prophet Zakariya) and ended with Muhammad.

Zechariah was born around 100 BC while John the Baptist (Prophet Yahya) was born a few years before the Christian Era.  Jesus marked the Christian Era, being born about 2,000 years ago, a few years after the birth of John the Baptist.  It is interesting to note that the actual date of birth of Jesus was not known.  Most place it around 4 BC although it should have been 1 AD.

Muhammad was born in 570 AD, according to most accounts, and died in 632 AD.

Info Seerah: The Story Of Four Hunafa (4/4)

We have narrated the way of Hanafiya in Part 1, and introduced the first and second Hunafa, Uthman bin Huwarith and Zayd bin Amr, in Part 2 and Part 3, respectively.  Now, let’s turn to the last two Hunafa.

The first of these two is Waraqah bin Nawfal.  He is well known.  He is the cousin of Khadijah, the wife of the Prophet.  He is well known because he was the one whom Khadijah brought Muhammad to meet when the latter was shaken upon receiving the first revelation.  By then, he was an old man of about 80 years old.

Unlike Uthman bin Huwarith who had some political ambition and finally decided to embrace Trinity Christian to further his cause, or Zayd who decided not to follow any of the established religions during his time but would rather continue searching for the true Hanafiya religion, Waraqah became a scholar. 

He decided to embrace Christianity, but not of trinitarian kind.  It is said that he was an Ebionite Christian, the Christian sect that considered Jesus to be a man, not a God.  He learnt the old scriptures and knew that the foretold prophet was forthcoming, and was hoping to meet him while he was still alive.

Also unlike Zayd bin Amr who went far and wide looking for an answer, and came back when the answer was to come from his own country, Waraqah remained in Makkah.  He knew Muhammad personally, and respected the latter highly, and was elated when at last the Prophet he was waiting finally appeared.

Now, the story when Muhammad received his first revelation is well known, and need not be repeated here.  Suffice to say that the experience had shaken him to the bones.  While his beloved wife Khadijad tried her best to comfort him, his mind was still not at peace.  So she brought him to her cousin, Waraqah bin Nawfal.

Listening to the story, Waraqah consoled his cousin’s husband, saying that he was not possessed by the Demon, but instead was visited by the Archangel, whom he called Namus, but we call Gabriel (Jibril).  Being learned in the ancient scriptures, and knowing Muhammad personally, it quickly dawned upon him that this was the much awaited prophet.  So, he told Muhammad as such.   

But his consoling words were added with serious warning: “If only I am still alive by the time people would oppose and drive you out, then I would surely have defended you with all my might.”

Thus consoled that he was not losing his mind, Muhammad was shocked again to learn that his life was about to be stormy.  Not long thereafter, the old Waraqah died.  He died as Muslim. 

Thus, unlike his colleagues, firstly Uthman who was a Hanif who died a Trinitarian Christian, and secondly Zayd who was a Hanif who died a Hanif, Waraqah was a Hanif who became an Ebionite Christian but died a Muslim.

The last Hanif was Ubaydillah bin Jahsh.  He was the brother of Zaynab bint Jahsh, the cousin of the Prophet who later on became his wife as well.  Ubaydillah was therefore the Prophet’s cousin as well.  He was the younger companion of Waraqah, and probably followed the way of Waraqah before Muhammad became a prophet.

He became among the earlier converts.  Waraqah probably told him to embrace the religion brought by Muhammad, which he did.  He was married to Ramlah bint Abu Sufyan, more popularly known as Umm Habibah.  Yes, the same Abu Sufyan who fought against Muhammad before he converted to Islam after the Prophet conquered Makkah.

After the persecution imposed upon the Muslims, Ubaydillah left Makkah and migrated to Abyssinia (Ethiopia).  This occurred in the fifth year of Prophethood.  Somehow, after some years in Abyssinia, mingling with the Christians there, he got attracted to their Christianity and became a Christian. 

It is said that one of the reasons for his conversion was because he wanted to continue drinking wine, but this is probably only a speculation.  Allah guides whomever He wills. In any case, because of his conversion, he was forced to divorce his wife Umm Habibah, whom the Prophet married later on.

Since he was no longer a Muslim, he never came back either to Makkah, as some of his companions did before the migration to Madinah, or to Madinah, when the Migration that marked the turn of the event took place.  Instead, he died in Abyssinia as a Christian.  He was a Hanif who became Muslim but died a Christian.

Allah guides whoever He wills, and leads astray whoever He wills.

The End

Info Seerah: The Story Of Four Hunafa (3/4)

In Part 2, we have narrated the brief account of the first Hanif, Uthman bin Huwarith.  To those who have missed that part, a Hanif is one who follows the way of tawheed, the way of Abraham.  For more, please go to the introduction of this subject in Part 1.

Also in Part 2, we have introduced the second Hanif, Zayd bin Amr.  Who was Zayd bin Amr?

He was the cousin of Umar bin Al Khattab, because Al Khattab, the father of Umar, was his uncle.  His father Amr, and Al Khattab, were brothers.  They were sons of Nufayl.  They belonged to Adiy clan, of which Al Khattab was one of their leaders.

Zayd was not only critical but rejected the Quraysh’s way completely.  He was searching for the way of Abraham, but no one was to guide him.  His critical attitude to the way of the Quraysh had angered them.  Since Al Khattab was the elder within his clan, the responsibility to reign Zayd fell under his shoulder. 

Now, Al Khattab was pretty much like his son, Umar: stern, strict, unbending and can be physical.  He controlled Zayd the way he knew best, by giving the latter a good deal of beatings.  If Zayd did not participate in the important ritual of the Quraysh, then Al Khattab was there to kick his butt.

Later in his life, Zayd felt that such was not the way to live.  Not only that he did not know how to live as a Hanif, but he also got beaten frequently by his uncle for refusing to follow their way.  One day, leaving his family behind, he escaped and travelled far and wide, looking for the true religion.

There were Christians and Jews already, but he thought that they were not the true Hunafa, so he kept searching.  Knowing that Abraham used to live in Palestine, he went there, looking for answer.  By chance he was told by one of the monks that the prophet who would bring the true religion was about to appear, and he would appear from his country, Arabia.

Travelling far and wide, only to be told that the answer would be forthcoming from his own hometown, he came back, hoping to meet the foretold prophet.  Alas, he was murdered on his way back. 

The Prophet used to say that Zayd bin Amr is the dweller of Paradise, a special paradise for people like him.  He had a son, Saeed bin Zayd, who embraced Islam as soon as Muhammad became a prophet.  Saeed and his wife were among the early converts. 

In case you are wondering who is this Saeed, the son of Zayd the Hanif, he was the brother in law of Umar Al Khattab.  Well, he married Umar’s sister, Fatima.  He was the one who got kicked by Umar when the latter went searching for Muhammad in rage, to kill the Prophet.  Umar was not yet a Muslim at that time. 

This story is well known, but let’s narrate it briefly here. 

True to his character, Umar felt that enough was enough.  Being intelligent, he knew the source of the problem was Muhammad.  The way to solve the problem, of course, was to eliminate its source.  Muhammad had to die, he decided.  He knew if he killed Muhammad, the Bani Hashim would kill him.  But he didn’t care, for all he wanted was to solve the problem with these pests called Muslims.

Alas, he was shocked to learn that his sister and his brother in law had been Muslims all along, but they kept it secret from him.  Wanting to put his house in order first, Umar went to his sister’s house, gave Saeed a good beating, but ended up embracing Islam. 

While this story is well known, not many perhaps know that the brother in law whom Umar beat was none other than Saeed, the son of Zayd the Hanif.  Saeed was not only his brother in law, but his son’s cousin as well.  His cousin, Zayd bin Amr, was a Hanif who died a Hanif.

Unlike his colleague, Uthman bin Huwarith, who died a Christian, Zayd died a true Hanif.  He would have died a Muslim had he lived long enough to meet Muhammad as a prophet.  Alas, both of them died before Muhammad was anointed as a prophet. 

But while Zayd died a blissful death although he was murdered, since the Prophet mentioned that he was a dweller of Paradise, the same could not be said about his colleague, Uthman.

The other two Hunafa, i.e., Waraqah bin Nawfal and Ubaydillah bin Jahsh, managed to meet Muhammad when the latter assumed his prophethood.

We shall cover both of them in the final part.  Stay tune.

End of Part 3

Info Seerah: The Story of Four Hunafa (2/4)

In the first part, we have talked about the background of the Hanafiya Way, or the way of oneness of God.  This is the way of Prophet Abraham.  We have also introduced the four Hunafa who lived during Muhammad’s time.  In this part, let’s talk about the first of the four, Uthman bin Huwarith.

Uthman bin Huwarith was probably the most senior among them, and the most ambitious of all.  It is said that he was rich as well.  While living as a Hanif, he changed his way after one of his journeys to Sham (Syria). 

In that particular journey, he went to see the Roman Emperor there.  The place was most likely Caesarea, the capital of Judea, also the second headquarters of the Roman Empire after Constantinople.  He embraced the Trinitarian Christianity, the official religion of the Roman Empire, and promised the emperor to bring Christianity to Arabia. 

There was already a Christian community in the Arabian Peninsula, located in Najran, to the north of Yemen and far south of Makkah, but their number was small.  The ambitious Uthman promised the Roman Emperor that he could turn the paganistic Arabs into Christians if the Emperor made him the king of Arabs. 

The Arabs of the North (Sham, Iraq, etc) were already Christianized.  By Christianizing the Arabian Peninsula, not only that this region would pay homage to the Roman Empire, but the whole Arabs would become Christians.   All he needed was a letter from the Emperor anointing him as the King of Arab. 

Whatever went on in the mind of the Emperor is difficult to gauge, but putting his name on that piece of paper was no big deal.  So the Emperor gave him the letter, anointing him as the King of Arabian Peninsula. 

Upon his return to Makkah, Uthman boastfully showed the Emperor’s letter to his friends, the elders of Makkah.  He demanded them to pay homage to him as their king, for he was officially anointed by the Roman Emperor, he said.  They just laughed to his face.

He said the Roman army was behind him.  If they did not accept him as their king, and help him in Christianizing the Arabia, the mighty Roman army will come crushing.  And this army was not going to be like the Elephant army of Abrahah.

The episode with Uthman Huwarith most likely took place when Muhammad was a teenager, or perhaps in his early twenties, before his marriage.  The Abrahah army, which consisted of many elephants, commemorated the birth of the Prophet.  The Makkans were helpless when Abrahah came to demolish the Kaabah.  Thus, some degree of fear must have entered the hearts of the Quraysh leaders, for the Roman army was much bigger than the army of Abrahah.  A short surah (chapter) in the Quran talks about this Elephant army and what happened to them.

The fiercely independent outlook of the Arabs, of which the Quraysh was their leading tribes, however, rejected Uthman’s proposal outright.  One of the Quraysh leaders at that time was Abu Talib, the Prophet’s uncle.  He was also the Prophet’s custodian, for the Prophet’s father, mother and grandfather had already died. 

Cursing him for selling his soul to the Romans, they kicked him out of Makkah.  Uthman threatened them, saying that they had just signed a death warrant to the Arabs.  The Quraysh leaders replied that they would rather die than being subservient to anyone, including the mighty Romans.  Feeling desperate, Uthman went back to Syria, asking the Romans to invade the Arabian Peninsula.

The Roman Empire was big at that time.  It was the second of the two superpowers, with the Persian Empire its worthy rival.  They were co-equal.  They fought against each other from time to time.  Sometimes the Roman had the upper hand, sometimes the Persians.  But none could actually deal a fatal blow to another.

Included in their empire was Egypt, the fertile country rich with agriculture produce.  Egypt was the rice bowl for the Roman Empire. Also included in their Empire was Judea and Greater Syria (Sham).  These areas were also rich.  The Arabian Peninsula, with the exception of Yemen and a few small regions here and there, was a barren desert.  Yemen was already under the influence of Persia. The other regions were independent.

Both the Persian and the Roman empires were eyeing for Arabia.  Neither felt that the region was worth conquering, on account of its barren land, scarce in resources.  But should one empire make the move, the other will not sit still, for strategic and military reasons.  Seeing that Uthman had failed in his bid to convince his people to accept him as their king, in spite of the Emperor’s letter, the Roman Emperor decided that the venture was not worth taking.  He refused to help Uthman.

Rejected by his own people and neglected by his patron, Uthman died broken hearted.  Some said he was poisoned by the Romans, probably to keep him from pestering them to help him.  He was a Hanif who died a Christian.

Zayd bin Amr, Uthman’s colleague, led a different course.  He was a true Hanif through and through.  We shall talk about him in Part 3. Stay tune.

End of Part 2

Info Seerah: The Story of Four Hunafa (1/4)

Before the Prophet started his mission, there were four Hunafa in Makkah.  Muhammad would have been the fifth, except that he was not called a Hanif.

Hunafa were people who followed the way of Abraham (Nabi Ibrahim).  Hanif is the singular of Hunafa.  The way of Abraham is known as Hanafiya.

Before you wonder about the meanings of those terms, let me explain.  The way of Hanafiya is the way of Oneness of God.  Simply put, it is tawheed, i.e., monotheism.  Islamic way is, broadly speaking, the way of Hanafiya.  It is the way of all prophets, including Moses (Nabi Musa) and Jesus (Nabi Isa).

The ways of current Jews and Christians are of different matters altogether.  When Muhammad appeared, all those ways were null and void.  But we can discuss this issue later.

Prophet Abraham may be said as the first ancient prophet who appeared in the historic time.  All prophets who appeared before him, like Noah (Nabi Nuh), flourished in a prehistoric period. We know a lot more about Abraham as compared to his predecessors, but since he appeared in an ancient time, little is known about his way or his syariah. 

We don’t know the kind of rituals he practiced.  He must have circumambulated the Kaabah which he built with his son, Ishmael.  Circumambulation is English for tawaf.  But this would only be performed when he visited Mecca.  This tawaf performance could only be done occasionally, for he lived in Hebron, Canaan (currently Palestine).

Now, his descendants through Ishmael are said to continue living as Hunafa until the authority in Makkah was replaced by Banu Khuza’a, who were not of Ishmaelite extraction.  Under their leader, Amr bin Luhayy, idol worshipping was introduced.  It is said that he brought the idol called Hubal and placed it near Kaabah.  Thereafter, many new idol worshipping rituals were introduced, until finally people had forgotten the Way of Hanafiya. 

Amr bin Luhayy is said to have flourished sometimes in the early Christian Era, probably a few generations after Adnan, and most likely in the second century AD.  They flourished for about three hundred years before their power was wrested by Qusayy bin Kilab in the fifth century AD.  We have already mentioned about Qusayy in Muhammad’s Lineage.  He was the not so distant ancestor of our Prophet.

On the other side of Abraham’s lineage, that is through his grandson Jacob (Nabi Yaakob), this Hanafiya Way was established through Moses, who was given the Torah (Tawrat).  This probably took place some five or six hundred years, thereabout, after Abraham died. 

From Moses onwards, this Way was institutionalized and systematized.   Nowadays, we call it Judaism, but from Islamic perspective, this Way of Life pioneered by Moses is in reality Islam at that time.  After all, the Quran says that Abraham is neither a Jew, nor a Christian, but a Muslim.  As for Moses’ Way, it was nothing but a systematic institutionalization of Abraham’s Hanafiya Way, the Way of Tawheed.

We shall discuss this subject later, but for now, let’s focus on the Ishmaelite line.  From Ishmael down to Adnan, the first 40 generations, and a few generations after Adnan, it is said that they lived the Hanafiya Way.  When their supremacy in Makkah was replaced by the Banu Khuza’ah, a tribe said to hail from Yemen, the Hanafiya Way gave way to idol worshipping, all the way down to the time of the Prophet. 

It is said, however, that the direct lineage of the Prophet, as we have briefly narrated in our previous entry, did not indulge in idol worshipping.  For instance, his father Abdullah and his grandfather Abdul Muttalib were said to worship no idols.  They may not have practiced strict monotheism or tawheed either, for that way was already lost during that time.

With that background, let’s introduced the four Hunafa who lived during the Prophet’s time.  They are Uthman bin Huwarith, Zayd bin Amr, Waraqah bin Nawfal and Ubaydillah bin Jahsh.  They were all alive when Muhammad was born, but only two of them managed to meet him as the Prophet.  The other two died before Muhammad assumed his prophethood.

The two who knew Muhammad personally but did not meet him as a prophet were Uthman and Zayd.  The other two, of course, were Waraqah and Ubaydillah.

Although they were all Hunafa, each took a different route in their lives.  One started as a Hanif but died a Christian.  The other started as a Hanif and died a Hanif. Yet the other started as a Hanif, lived mostly as a Christian but died a Muslim. Still yet the other started as a Hanif, then became a Muslim, but in the end died as a Christian.

We shall briefly cover their interesting stories in the subsequent parts.  Stay tune.

End of Part 1

Info Seerah: Muhammad's Lineage

So far I have been making a thematic commentary on seerah and history.  But one would not be able to properly understand seerah or history without basic information. 

Information on seerah and history are plentiful in the net.  Too many actually, and often they are confusing, as some of my readers noted.  Bookshops sell many books and magazines, but not many people would have the time to read thick books, or have the patient and passion to do so.

Mindful of that, I have decided to create a section in this blog that provides more information and less commentary.  Tentatively, I will just call it INFO SEERAH.  To help the readers to digest the information better, I will present it in a summarized form with some perspective thrown into it.

The first entry shall be about the Prophet Muhammad’s lineage

The Prophet used to call himself the son of two sacrifices.  By that, he was referring to two of his ancestors.  The first is the immediate one, his father, Abdullah bin Abdul Muttalib, and the other, his far distance ancestor, Ismail bin Ibrahim (Ishmael the son of Abraham).  He did not meet any of them.

Being a posthumous child, his father died before he was born.  His distance ancestor, Prophet Ishmael (Nabi Ismail), died some 2,500 years before he was born. 

Both Ishmael and Abdullah were about to be sacrificed when they were still unmarried, but those sacrifices were averted. Needless to say, if those plans were carried out, Muhammad would not be born.  In the case of Ishmael, it was replaced by a ram.  In the case of Abdullah, it was replaced by 100 camels.  Ishmael turned out to be the father of 12 sons.  He is considered as the Father of Arabs, or more precisely, the Ishmaelite Arabs.  Abdullah, well, Muhammad was his only son.

Between Muhammad and Ishmael, they were separated by 60 generations.  Muhammad unequivocally said that he was the descendant of Abraham (Nabi Ibrahim) through Ishmael, but he said the names of his ancestors are only correct up to Adnan, one of his not so distant ancestors.  Between Muhammad and Adnan, they were separated by 20 generations.  So the names of his ancestors from Adnan up to Ishamel, comprising of 40 generations (assuming the number 40 is correct), may not be accurate. 

His great ancestor, Abraham, was the father of many nations, but the most well known and survive to the current days are the Ishmaelites and the Israelites.  The Ishmaelites, as we already note, are the descendants of Prophet Ishmael, while the Israelites are the descendants of the Prophet Israel, a name given to Prophet Jacob (Nabi Yaakob).  As we have earlier mentioned in the story of Joseph, Jacob was the grandson of Abraham.  In our time, they are respectively known as the Arabs and the Jews.  The name Jews is derived from the name of one of Jacob’s sons, Judah.

Adnan was the chieftain who lived around 100 BC.  Most likely, he was the contemporary of Prophet Zechariah (Nabi Zakaria), the father of John the Baptist (Nabi Yahya).  The two probably never met, because one was in the Arabian Peninsula and the other in Judea (Palestine/Israel).  Adnan was the father of Adnanite Tribe, which is a branch of Ishmaelite.

Halfway between Prophet Muhammad and Adnan, there was his ancestor called Fihr.  Between Muhammad and Fihr, they were separated by ten generations.  His ancestor called Fihr was popularly known as Quraysh.  It was from him that the tribe of Qurasyh was named.  Quraysh is a branch of Adnanite Tribe, and a sub-tribe of Kinanah.  Kinanah is Fihr's (Quraysh) great grandfather.

Quraysh and his descendents lived around Makkah, but they were scattered.  They were not the leaders of Makkah.  The dominant tribe that controlled Makkah during Qurasyh and his descendents  was called Khuza’a.

Halfway between Muhammad and Quraysh, there was his ancestor called Qusayy.  Muhammad was separated with Qusayy by four generations.  Qusayy was the first Qurasyh who had overtaken the control of Makkah.  Since then, it was the Quraysh who dominated and controlled Makkah. 

Qusayy had an older brother called Zuhrah.  Four generations down the road, Zuhrah had a descendant called Amina.  This Amina married Abdullah.  Through this marriage, Muhammad was born.  Thus, Abdullah and Amina were distant cousins.  They had a common ancestry in Kilab, the father of both Qusayy and Zuhrah

Qusayy had a son called Abdul Manaf, who in turned had sons called Amr and Umayyah.  Amr was popularly known as Hashim.  He was the great grandfather of Muhammad. His descendants are called Bani Hashim

Umayyah was the grandfather of Abu Sufyan, the archenemy of the Prophet before Abu Sufyan was defeated and became Muslim.  Umayyah was also the great grandfather of Uthman, the third caliph, and the great grandfather of Muawiyah, the son of Abu Sufyan, who established the Umayyah Dynasty.

Bani Hashim and Bani Umayyah were both the sub-clans of Bani Abdul Manaf.  They were the leading clans in Makkah. They vied with each other for supremacy. Bani Hashim was superior before the Prophet was born, but when Abdul Muttalib, the Prophet’s grandfather died, the Prophet’s clan had lost its dominant.  By then, both of these clans were about equal in dominant, and was being challenged by the clan of Makhzum, the clan of Abu Jahal.

Other than Abdul Manaf, Qusayy also had a son called Abdul Uzza.  This Abdul Uzza had a descendant called Khadijah binti Khuwaylid.  Muhammad married Khadijah.  Thus both had a common ancestry in Qusayy.

Like his father Abdullah who had married his distant cousin Amina, Muhammad too had married his distant cousin, Lady Khadijah.  His father and his mother had a common ancestry in Kilab, the father of both Qusayy, the great great grandfather of Abdullah, and Zuhrah, the great great grandfather of Amina.  As for the Prophet and his wife Khadijah, they both had a common ancestry in Qusayy.