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The Famous Grandfathers of the Prophet

Undoubtedly, we do not have much knowledge on all the ancestors who carried the Master of the Universe’s light as a Divine trust on their foreheads. The ancestors about whom we have the most knowledge are the ones who are closest in time. Here we will take a short glance at their lives and personalities.

Qusai

Qusai, the fourth grandfatherof the Holy Prophet and whose real name was Zayd, was a very important figure. He had only one male sibling by the name of Zuhra.

From these two siblings, Qusai was granted the honor of bearing the noor that came down from Hazrat Adam. From childhood, Qusai garnered much attention for his talents and grew up to be one of the leading figures of Mecca. In a short time, he gained much reliability amongst the people of Mecca for his fair decisions as well as his skills in governance and administration. For this reason, the governance of Mecca was given to him.  He divided Mecca into districts for the first time. He situated every tribe into the district that he allocated for them. The most important decisions of Mecca were discussed and decided in his home.  Important tasks such as safeguarding the Ka’aba, providing water for and hosting the pilgrims of Hajj, erecting the flag at times of war, and governing the Meccan assembly, were entrusted in him. The first house that was across from the Ka’aba and whose door faced the Ka’aba was specially constructed for Qusai. This house was a parliament, like a type of governmental building or the state of the Meccan city, where all sorts of works and issues were discussed. Historically, Qusai’s residency was known as “Daru’n-Nadwa” and it found fame with this name. It was conserved until half a century after the Hijra (migration).

Qusai was loved and respected by everyone without exception. The noor belonging to the Master of the Universe that he carried on his forehead, made him beloved to and the bosom friend of the Meccan people.

In accordance with the custom, Qusay handed over the role of the family chieftain to his oldest son, Abduddar when he got old and said, “My Beloved son, I appoint you as the chief of this tribe”.

However, Abduddar did not possess the skills to undertake such a great duty. Throughout his life he was unable to fill his father’s place because the noor of the Patron of the Universe was not shining on his forehead, but was on his younger brother’s, Abd Manaf who had four sons: Hashim, Abdusshams, Muttalib, and Nawfal.

Hashim

Hashim is the grandfather of the Holy Prophet from the second generation.

Hashim was a tradesman; he was one of the notables of Mecca’s gentry. As the birth date of the Holy Prophet was nearing, the noor of the Holy Prophet on his forehead was shining even brighter. In addition, he had eminent virtues.

He was extremely generous. During a year of drought, no bread could be found. He had snow-white bread made from the pure wheat he brought from Damascus, cut several camels and sheep, and offered a huge feast composed of bread, meat, gravy, and broth to the whole of Meccan people.

Because Hashim was of high moral character, aptitude, was wise, generous, virtuous, was loved and respected by everyone, and had a noble personality, his name became the title for his family and posterity. For this reason, they termed this great lineage that includes our master of the Universe as the “Hashemites”.

Hashim had four sons: Shaiba (Abdulmuttalib), Asad, Abu Sayfi, and Nadla.

Hashim’s progeny continued from his sons Shaiba and Asad. Shaiba is the Holy Prophet’s grandfather from the first generation whereas Asad is the uncle of Hazrati Ali’s mother, Fatimah.

However, when Hunain, who came from Asad’s progeny, did not have any descendants; every Hashemite was descended from Abdulmuttalib’s branch, proliferated, and spread across the Earth.

Shaiba (Abdulmuttalib)

Shaiba is the Holy Prophet’s grandfather from the first generation. Since he was born with white hair, the name “Shaiba” was given to him; he gained fame with his nickname, Abdulmuttalib and was mentioned more by this name.

The story of how he was given this nickname:

Shaiba stayed with his maternal uncles in Medina during his childhood. One day he and his neighborhood friends were throwing arrows with the other children in a public square in Medina. Amongst all the children, he was easily distinguished by the noor belonging to the Master of the Universe that shone on his forehead. There, a crowd of grownups gathered to watch the children compete.

It was Shaiba’s turn to throw an arrow. He placed the arrow in the bow and stretched the bow in a confident manner. For a moment, he stopped breathing and unleashed the bow. The arrow that sprung from the bow hit its exact aim. When everyone looked at him with amazement, he brought the following words to his tongue through the happiness and excitement that he felt with this success:

“I am Hashim’s son. I am Sir Betha’s son. Of course my arrow will find its target”.

The adults that came to watch heard Shaiba’s commendatory words. One of Harith bin Abd-Manaf sons came close to him and learnt that he was Hashim’s sons by cross-examining. On his return to Mecca, this man explained the situation to Muttalib and remarked that it was not right for such a talented and intelligent child to be left in a foreign province.

Upon hearing this news, Muttalib immediately went to Medina and brought Shaiba to Mecca. As Muttalib was arriving to Mecca with Shaiba on the back of his saddle, they asked:

“Who is this child?”

Muttalib was afraid that this child would be affected with the evil eye so the words “my slave” came out of his mouth.

When he arrived home, his wife, Khadija, asked the same question. Once more, the answer was “my slave”.

The next day Shaiba began to roam the streets of Mecca with the new and beautiful clothes that his uncle bought for him. Everyone became curious about his identity and began to ask questions. Those who knew answered, “Abdulmuttalib” (Abdulmuttalib’s slave).

Chapter: Supplications in Funeral Prayers

Abu Hurairah (May Allah be pleased with him) reported:

It has been narrated on the authority of Umm Salama that the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said:

In the near future there will be Amirs and you will like their good deeds and dislike their bad deeds. One who sees through their bad deeds (and tries to prevent their repetition by his band or through his speech), is absolved from blame, but one who hates their bad deeds (in the heart of his heart, being unable to prevent their recurrence by his hand or his tongue), is (also) fafe ( so far as God's wrath is concerned). But one who approves of their bad deeds and imitates them is spiritually ruined. People asked (the Holy Prophet): Shouldn't we fight against them? He replied: No, as long as they say their prayers.

Those who were saved from the darkness of polytheism, unbelief and oppression in the Era of Bliss had a completely different life after attaining the luminous light of Islam and they abandoned everything related to their old days. Anything that reminded them of their life before Islam caused them great suffering. This mood also affected Asim bin Thabit, who was a person from Madinah and who became a Muslim before the Pledge of Aqaba, in a different way.

After becoming a Muslim, Asim decided not to touch any polytheists and not to allow any polytheists to touch him. He always prayed to Allah Almighty to continue this decision.

Hz. Asim joined the Battle of Badr and killed many of the notables of the polytheists. After the Battle of Uhud, a congregation from the tribes of Adal and Qara came to the Messenger of Allah and asked him to send a delegation to them to teach them Islam. The Messenger of Allah sent a delegation headed by Asim to them. However, the people that came to the Messenger of Allah had evil intentions. They planned to trap the Muslims and sell them to Makkan polytheists; thus, they would get a lot of money from them. When they arrived in Raji, they revealed their plan and the Muslim delegates were surrounded by Bedouins with swords.

They said, "We do not want to kill you. Our intention is to sell you to Makkans and to get some rewards from them. Surrender!"

How could Hz. Asim and his friends who saw this betrayal with their own eyes could trust these cruel polytheists? Asim answered them as follows:

"I swore beforehand that I would never accept the protection of polytheists. By Allah, I will never believe in the protection and promise of the unbelievers and I will never surrender to unbelievers"

Then, he started to throw arrows at the polytheists by saying, "O Allah! Inform the Prophet about our situation!" When he threw arrows, he recited poems: "Death is true; life is empty and ephemeral / Whatever is written in fate (qadar) will happen /  People will go to Allah sooner or later. / If I do not fight you, let me die!"

Asim bin Thabit had seven arrows in his quiver. He killed one polytheist with each arrow. When he ran out arrows, he hit the polytheists with his spear. When his spear was broken, he drew his sword. He broke the sheath of his sword and prayed as follows:

"O Allah! I protected your religion at the beginning of today. Now protect my body at the end of today! "Do not allow the polytheists to touch my body."

Finally, he was wounded in two legs and fell down.

Sons of Lihyan martyred seven Companions including Asim bin Thabit by arrows.

The polytheists wanted to cut off his head; they wanted to take his head to Shuhayd's daughter and receive a reward from him. For, Hz. Asim had killed her father, who was a polytheist, at Badr. His daughter called "Sulafa" promised that she would give a reward to the person who cut off Asim's head and brought it to her.

The polytheists of Huzayl rushed in order to cut off Asim's head. However, a group of bees suddenly appeared around Asim. The bee community resembled a dark cloud and they clung to the faces of those approaching Asim’s dead body; they disturbed the polytheists and prevented them from approaching the dead body. The bees were protecting Asim's body. No matter how hard the polytheists tried, they could not cut off even a small part of the body of Asim. They said, "Let us wait for the evening. We will come and cut off his head after bees leave." However, Allah Almighty sent unexpected rain in the evening and it rained all the time; the flood caused by the rain took the body of Asim bin Thabit away. The polytheists could not reach their goal.

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