beliefs of the people of Arabia. Over the years, the concept of God’s oneness weakened its hold on people’s minds. The introduction of a physical symbol of the Divine power was the beginning of idolatry. As symbols increased in number, they came to be viewed as deities and partners with God. By the time Quṣayy was master in Makkah, pagan beliefs had spread throughout Arabia.
Quṣayy Assumes Leadership in Makkah
The story of Quṣayy’s ascendancy is worth telling. His father died when he was very young. His mother married a man from the tribe of Quḍāʿah, called Rabīʿah ibn Ḥarām. Rabīʿah took his wife and her young son to live with his tribe in the north of Arabia, close to the border with Palestine. Quṣayy lived there thinking that he was Rabīʿah’s own child. When he was a young man he learned that he belonged to the Quraysh and that his brother Zuhrah was the chief of the Quraysh. He therefore travelled to Makkah, where he joined his brother.
It was not long before the whole of Makkah recognized that Quṣayy was a young man of great promise. He combined a serious character with great sagacity and a noble heart. He made many friends. When he wanted to marry, his choice was none other than Ḥubbā, daughter of Ḥulayl ibn Ḥubshiyyah, chief of the Khuzāʿah and Master of Makkah who held the position of the custodian of the Kaʿbah. Ḥulayl recognized the qualities of leadership in Quṣayy and was very fond of him. He treated him like his own son. On his deathbed, Ḥulayl made it known that Quṣayy was his choice to succeed him as custodian of the Kaʿbah and ruler of Makkah. The transfer, however, was not completed without resistance from the Khuzāʿah. Quṣayy sought help from his brothers in the tribe of Quḍāʿah and they came over with speed and a large army to support him. He soon subdued the Khuzāʿah and was Master of Makkah.
Fighting broke out between the two sides, leading to much bloodshed. Arbitration was then agreed and the arbiter, Yaʿmur ibn ʿAwf, ruled in Quṣayy’s favour. When Quṣayy was the undisputed leader of Makkah, he called in all the clans of the Quraysh, which were scattered all over the place, to come and resettle there. He assigned to each clan their district so that they were in complete control of the whole city. All the Quraysh were extremely happy with Quṣayy’s leadership. They called him the Assembler because he had caused the Quraysh to regroup. They felt that he was a man of good omen. They honoured him to the extent that no man or woman from the Quraysh would be married, no consultation in any public matter and no declaration of war could be made unless it was done in his home. His request was an order and his word was a religion to them. He built a big hall close to the mosque to serve as a meeting-place for the Quraysh and called it Dār al-Nadwah. They assembled there for any occasion of joy or distress, held their consultations and arranged their parties and social events. Dār al-Nadwah was associated with Quṣayy and continued to serve its purpose after his death.
One of Quṣayy’s noble acts was the initiation of a practice which came to be known as Rifādah. He noted that pilgrims were always coming to Makkah from distant places. By the time they arrived they were weary, their camels or horses in a state of utter exhaustion. They were ill-fed and ill-clothed, especially those who were of limited means. He recognized that Makkah must be much more hospitable to them. He therefore called in the Quraysh notables and said to them:
People of Quraysh, you are God’s neighbours and the custodians of His House who live in this consecrated city. God has chosen you for this honour. In the pilgrimage season you welcome those pilgrims who have come to visit God’s House, revering its sanctity and performing its rituals. They are God’s guests in His House. The guests most worthy of hospitality are God’s guests. You must be hospitable to them. Let us, then, provide them with food and drink in the days of pilgrimage until they have left our city to return to their homes and families.
The Quraysh responded well to Quṣayy’s appeal and approved his suggestion. Every family subscribed a specific quantity of food and drink according to their means. They put it all at Quṣayy’s disposal and he supervised the arrangements by which all pilgrims were given enough to eat and drink. Quṣayy himself took part in the work and offered the pilgrims whatever the Quraysh prepared for them – bread, meat and various dishes. This increased the Quraysh’s prestige and enhanced Quṣayy’s honour. He in effect combined all the symbols of honour and leadership. No one could enter the Kaʿbah unless Quṣayy himself opened the door for him. During the pilgrimage season no one ate or drank anything except what Quṣayy provided. His honour was the Quraysh’s honour; they loved and revered their leader.
When Quṣayy died, the institutions he had established continued to prosper. The leader of the Quraysh was the most respected chief in Arabia. The Quraysh itself commanded a position of great respect.4
Quṣayy was succeeded by a number of able chiefs from his own offspring. They continued his traditions of looking after the tribe and taking care of pilgrims. That latter concern and the custody of the Kaʿbah were matters of great honour for the Quraysh. Hāshim, Quṣayy’s grandson, put hospitality to pilgrims on an unprecedented level. He was very wealthy and his hospitality was commensurate with his wealth. He told the Quraysh that he would not have asked them to contribute anything to the feeding of pilgrims had his own resources been sufficient for the purpose. That was great encouragement for his people to make generous contributions. Hāshim got his wealth through trade. When he was the chief of Makkah, he was eager that all the Quraysh should benefit from his commercial expertise. He started the biannual commercial trips which soon became a well-established tradition in the life of the Makkans. In the summer a large commercial caravan went from Makkah to Syria, and a similar one went to Yemen in winter. Each caravan was a joint enterprise in which all Makkan people shared. It brought profit to the people and prosperity to the city.5
ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib’s Leadership
Hāshim was succeeded by his brothers before his son, ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib, took over. ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib was the Prophet’s grandfather. He continued the traditions of the Makkan chiefs and proved himself a man of great integrity and an exceptional leader. His popularity in Makkah and in the whole of Arabia was unequalled by any of his predecessors.
ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib continued the institution of Rifādah, which meant supplying pilgrims with food during their stay in Makkah and their fulfilment of the rites of pilgrimage. Providing them with water to drink, however, was exceptionally difficult. There were only a few scattered wells in Makkah which hardly sufficed for the needs of its own population. Fetching the water from these wells and carrying it in leather sacks and containers was a hard task. ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib thought carefully about a solution to the problem. He would have given anything for any method which would guarantee the provision of enough water for the pilgrims.6
One night, as ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib was concentrating his thoughts on this problem, he was overtaken by sleep. In a dream, he heard someone saying to him: “ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib, dig the good one.” He asked: “What is the good one?” but received no answer. The following night he heard the same voice telling him: “ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib, dig the blessed one.” He asked: “What is the blessed one?” Again he received no answer. The third night the same voice told him to dig “the treasured one”. Again he received no answer to his question about what he was supposed to dig. All day long he thought about those cryptic messages. He felt very uneasy about the whole thing, which was becoming an enigma to him. He was reluctant to go to sleep the next night lest he should hear more of these mysterious words. He prayed that the whole question should be resolved one way or another.
In his sleep that night, ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib heard the same voice telling him “Dig Zamzam”. He shouted angrily: “What is Zamzam?” This time he received the answer he was seeking. The voice told him that it was the water spring which would be sufficient for the needs of pilgrims, and gave him enough signs to determine its exact position. ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib woke up very happy. He was full of hope.
The place was between the two hills of al-Ṣafā and al-Marwah, where pilgrims did their walking duty. In those pagan days, the Arabs had an idol placed on each hill. Isāf was the idol on top of al-Ṣafā and Nā’ilah was placed on top of al-Marwah. In pre-Islamic days, the Arabs made their sacrifice at that particular spot.
That