Page 40 - History of The Quranic Text | Kalamullah.Com

20 THE HISTORY OF THE QUR'ANIe TEXT

power and pass custody of the House into the hands of his descendants"
The tribe of Quraish, scattered throughout the region, was finally brought
together in Makkah and forged into a single unity under his leadership."
Figure 2.1 (above) shows Qu~ayy's genealogy in brie£32

iv. Makkah: A Tribal Society

Though developed as a city-state, Makkah remained a tribal society up until
its conquest by the Prophet Muhammad. The mainstay of Arab society
around which all social organisation revolved, the tribe was based on the
concept that the sons of anyone clan were brothers and shared the same
blood. An Arab would not have understood the idea of nation-statehood
unless it was within the context of the nation-state of the tribe,

"which wasa nation-state of relationship binding the familyto the tribe,
a state based on flesh and bones, on flesh and blood, i.e. a nation-state
based on lineage. It was family connections that bound together the
individuals in the state and gathered them into one unit. This was for
them the religion of the state and its agreed and acknowledgedlaw."33

Every tribal member constituted an asset for the entire tribe, so that
the presence of an accomplished poet, an intrepid warrior, or someone of
famed hospitality within the tribe, generated honour and credit for all those
of his lineage. Among the prime duties of every stalwart clan was defence,
not only of its own members but also those who temporarily came under
its umbrella as guests, and in protecting the latter there was always much
honour to be gained. Thus Makkah, the city-state, welcomed people who
either sought to attend fairs, or perform pilgrimage,34 or pass through with
their caravans. Serving this demand required security and the appropriate

30 Ibn Hisham, Sira, ed. by M. Saqqa, 1. al-Ibyarland 'A. Shalabi, 2nd edition,
Mustafa al-Babi al-Halabi, publishers, Cairo, 1375(1955), vol. 1-2,pp. 117-8. This
book has been printed into two parts, part one covers volumes 1-2,while part two
covers volumes 3-4.The page numbering of each part runs continuously.
31 Ibn Qutaiba, al-Ma'ari], pp. 640-41.
32 Ibn Hisham, Sira, vol. 1-2,pp. 105-108. For the dates in the chart, see Nabia
Abbott, TheRiseif the North Arabic Script anditsKuranic Development, withafUllDescription
if the Kuran Manuscripts inthe Oriental Institute, The University of ChicagoPress, Chicago,
1938, pp. 10-11. Abbott hasmentionedsomedisagreement among Orientalists about
the dates.
33 Ibn Hisham, Sira, vol. 3-4,p. 315.
34 Bythis time the Ka 'ba was surroundedand housed with hundreds of idols.