Al-Mughira ibn Abd Allah

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]

• Hinds, M. (1991). "Makhzūm". In Bosworth, C. E.; van Donzel, E. & Pellat, Ch. (eds.). Encyclopaedia of Islam. Volume VI: Mahk–Mid (2nd ed.). 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.