In the south western corner of Hijaz, amidst the double range of barren hills ,is situated the city of Mecca, it lies in the middle of the water less valley which forms the basin in the middle of which lies Mecca, hence Mecca was always known for its dryness, bareness and intense heat, its suffocating winds & its inhospitable climate, in such a place agriculture was not possible , industry could not flourish only trade could be possible for which Mecca became famous long before the rise of Islam.
According to an Arabian traditions , the arabs are divided into three races , they are firstly the Primitive Arabs who are called the Arab Baida , the second race of the Arab’s is Banu Qahtan also called the Himayarites or the Yamanies because their homeland was the Yamen or South Arabia, lastly there are the Northren Arabs called the Arab Mustariba the naturalized arabs ,they are the descended of Ismaile, the son of the prophet Ibraheem & Hajra one of his wife who was left by him along with her child in Hijaz at the place later came to know as Makah . Ishmael had a son named Adnan & two descendent known as Nizar & Modhar . the tribe of holy prophet Quraysh belonged to the Ismaelite group of the Arab race
Three factor determined the rise of Mecca to influence , power & wealth, firstly its wells among which the Zamzama is historically the most famous, which attracted the nomadic tribe around Mecca to come there , for water & settlement ,secondly its sanctuary of Ka’ba founded by Abraheem and his son Ismail which became gradually the national pantheon( all the gods of nation) of the ancient Arab
Thirdly its trading position because Mecca lay on the junction of great trade routes which traverse (to cross an area land or water) from Yaman to Syria and Iraq . these factor decide Mecca an important place especially after the fall of Yamani kingdom of Sana in th e fourth century A.D
When the ka’ba was founded by Abraheem & his son Ismail Mecca did not exist, for several cneturies after it was no more than a camping ground for the neighboring nomadic tribes, then probably in the first centuray of Christian era the Beni Jurhum acquired the guardianship of the Ka’ba & laid the foundation of city of Mecca, which was then more than permanent encampment of few huts., but it had then became a religio-commercial center of the increasing importance, the chives of Beni Jurham styled themselves as Kings or Maliks. In the beginning of the third century A.D a south Arabian tribe named Banu Khuza’a forced to leave their southern homeland overthrew the jurhumate power and became the masters of the Mecca & the guardian of its sanctuary , in the meanwhile a new rival was rising among the former Ismaillie tribe . It was the Bani Quraysh a junior branch of Adnanites , this tribe was also a nomadic wandered in the desert around Mecca.
The Quraysh are historically the decendend of Ibraheem son Ismail as per below Family tree it was divided between two major clans Hashmidees to whom Prophet(sm) belonged and Banu Ummayads whose chief at the time of Prophet was Abu Sufyan. The Quraysh administer Mecca in term of five important function as Nadwa, Liva,rifadha,Hijaba & siqaya among Hashmideese the family of Abu Mutlib hold function of Hijaba & Saqaya mean carrying key of ka’ba & providing water to pilgrims respectively , Abdul Matlib had twelves sons among them Abdullah was the father of Muhammad(PBUH)
The bnni Quraysh was the descendent of Fihar who was surnamed Quraysh. He lived in the third century A.D , he had a desendent named Qussay who flourished during the fifth century , he married the daughter of last Khuzait chief , after whose death he drove out Bani Khuza from power in Mecca, he invited the wandering families of his tribe to live in the center of the city around the Ka’ba while the less important families were settle in the Mecca. Although other tribes dwell in the Mecca but the wealth, government of Mecca with the guardianship of Ka’ba passed into the hands of the Quraysh, especially of the ten leading families of banu Quraysh living around the ka’ba.
Qussay laid the foundation of religious prominence & political power of the Quraysh by acquiring into his hands five kind of funcitions, they were the function of
Nadwa, Liva,rifadha,Hijaba & siqaya
Nadwa meant the power to summon the council of Quraysh tribe called the darul-Nadwa it was attended by the head of the families of Quraysh if they were above forty year old.. Qussay convoked & presided at this council a symbol of his political power.
LIWA: the power to command the army of Quraysh. Liwa was the standard of the Quraysh . Qussay knew the importance of pilgrimage to ka’ba which was performed by the thousands of Arab’s every year , in order to entertain the poor pilgrims ,he impressed upon the Quraysh the RIFADA: Poor Tax: necessity of paying the sort of poor tax called the Rifadha which he applied in feeding the poor pilgrims, hence the Rifadah became the power to impose and collect a Tax for the purpose of supplying food to the poor pilgrims
HIJABA:Qussay also held the keys of the Ka’ba called the hijaba & he presided at the worship of gods at the ka’ba. Lastly scarcity of water was actually felt at the time of pilgrimage when thousands of pilgrims assembled in the waterless valley of the Mecca. Qussay also assumed the SIQAYA:power of Siqaya or the supply of water from the wells of Macca & his vicinity. He thus united in his own person all the principle , political, military ,civil & religious functions of the little republic of Mecca & made his tribe its master. His eldest son Abdur-Dar exercise all these functions and powers. On the death of Abdur Dar I dispute broke out among his sons and the sons of Abdul Munaf a brother of Abdur Dar about the distribution of these functions and powers, this was the first of the dispute among the Quraysh. They were aggressive but shrewd people their disputes never ended into wars so they decided that the sons of Abdur Dar would perform the function of Hijaba,nadwa & liwa while the sons of Abd Munaf would exercise the function of Rifadah & siqaya , the eldest son of the Abd Munaf wa Abd Shamswho was a poor man & therefore could not perform these expensive duties , he entrusted them to his younger richer brother named Amr who soon come to known as Hashim
The Punjtni (پنجتنی) is a Sufi order of Sunni Islam founded by “Abul Husayn Ali Punjtni” in the 13th century and is followed by millions of people around the world.
Copyright© 2022. All Rights Punjtni Silsilah پنجتنی سلسلہ
