Mughirah ibn Abd Allah

Al-Mughira ibn Abd Allah ibn Umar (Arabic: المغيرة بن عبد الله بن عمر‎, romanized: Al-Mughīra ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿUmar) was a preeminent leader of the Quraysh tribe's Banu Makhzum clan in Mecca in the 6th century. His descendants, the Banu al-Mughira, became the principle house of the Makhzum for the remainder of the pre-Islamic period and in the centuries following the advent of Islam in the 620s.

Life and legacy

Al-Mughira was the son of Abd Allah ibn Umar and a great-grandson of the eponymous progenitor of the Banu Makhzum clan of the Quraysh tribe of Mecca.[1] He was likely active as a leader of his clan and tribe in the mid-6th century CE, a period in which Mecca, traditionally a pilgrimage center for the polytheistic Arabs during the pre-Islamic period, was becoming a political center as well.[2] Al-Mughira was a contemporary of Abd al-Muttalib of the Quraysh's Banu Hashim clan and the grandfather of the Islamic prophet Muhammad.[1] Anecdotes recorded by the 8th and 9th century historians Mus'ab al-Zubayri and al-Baladhuri mention that al-Mughira provoked a rebellion by the nomadic Banu Fazara tribe as a result of disbarring the Fazara's chieftain from making the pilgrimage to Mecca's religious sanctuary, the Ka'aba.[3]

The Makzhum became the Quraysh's strongest and wealthiest clan during the pre-Islamic period as a result of al-Mughira's leadership.[1] Under him or his sons, Mecca was introduced to trade with foreign markets, particularly with South Arabia and Abyssinia.[4] With the exception of the Ka'aba, the Makhzum controlled Mecca.[1] Al-Mughira's family, known as the Banu al-Mughira, became the preeminent household of the Makzhum and for the remainder of the pre-Islamic period and throughout the post-Islamic period most notable members of the Makhzum were descendants of al-Mughira.[5] The families of al-Mughira's at least nineteen brothers and cousins became cadet branches of the clan.[5] Al-Mughira had thirteen or fourteen sons, including Hisham, al-Walid, Abu Umayya, Abu Rabi'a and Hashim.[6] Seven or eight of al-Mughira's grandsons were slain at the Battle of Badr against Muhammad and his followers in 624.[7] Among his descendants who played a prominent role during the early Muslim conquests were Khalid ibn al-Walid, Ikrima ibn Abi Jahl and al-Harith ibn Hisham.[7]

References
  1. Lammens 1993, p. 171.
  2. Kister 1986, p. 49.
  3. Kister 1986, pp. 33–35.
  4. Hinds 1991, pp. 137–138.
  5. Hinds 1991, p. 137.
  6. Hinds 1991, p. 128.
  7. Hinds 1991, p. 138.

Bibliography
  • Hinds, M. (1991). "Makhzūm". In Bosworth, C. E.; van Donzel, E. & Pellat, Ch. (eds.). The Encyclopaedia of Islam, New Edition, Volume VI: Mahk–Mid. Leiden: E. J. Brill. pp. 137–140. ISBN 978-90-04-08112-3.
  • Kister, M. J. (1986). "Mecca and the Tribes of Arabia: Some Notes on their Relations". In Sharon, Moshe (ed.). Studies in Islamic history and Civilization in Honour of Professor David Ayalon. Cana and Leiden: E. J. Brill. pp. 33–57.
  • Lammens, Henri (1993) [1927]. "Makhzūm". In Houtsma, M. Th.; Wensinck, A. J.; Levi-Provençal, E.; Gibb, H. A. R.; Heffening, W. (eds.). E.J. Brill's First Encyclopaedia of Islam, 1913-1936, Volume 5 L–Moriscos (Reprint ed.). Leiden, New York and Koln: E. J. Brill. ISBN 90-04-09791-0.
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