Banu Makhzum

The Banu Makhzum (Banū Makhzūm) was one of the wealthy clans of the Quraysh. They are regarded as being among the three most powerful and influential clans in Mecca before the advent of Islam, the other two being the Banu Hashim (the tribe of the Islamic prophet Muhammad) and the Banu Umayya. The Banu Makhzum were a major clan of the larger Quraysh tribal grouping which dominated Mecca. Though in Arab genealogical tradition, there are some twenty branches descended from the progenitor Umar ibn Makhzum, the line of al-Mughira ibn Abd Allah ibn Umar ibn Makhzum emerged as the principal family of the Banu Makhzum. According to the historian Martin Hinds, the "extent of the power and influence of Makhzum in Mecca during the 6th century A.D. cannot be established with any certainty". Based on the traditional Arabic sources, they formed part of the Ahlaf ("allies") faction of the Quraysh alongside the clans of Abd al-Dar, Banu Sahm, Banu Jumah and Banu Adi, in rivalry to the clans of the Banu Hashim and Banu Abd Shams. Toward the end of the 6th century, a scion of the Makhzum, Hisham ibn al-Mughira, grew to such prominence in Mecca that the Quraysh established a dating system that began with his death. His family, the Banu Hisham, thenceforth became the leading house of the Mughira line of the Makhzum. At the time, Hisham, his brothers al-Walid, Hashim and Abu Umayya and a number of their sons dominated Meccan trade with Yemen and Ethiopia. The Banu Makhzum were among the foremost opponents of the Islamic prophet Muhammad in Mecca in the early 7th century. One of their chieftains, Abu Jahl, led Meccan opposition to the Muslims and organized a boycott of Muhammad's clan, the Banu Hashim, in circa 616–618. The Muslims gained the advantage at the Battle of Badr, inflicting heavy losses on the Makhzum, with seven or eight nobles from the al-Mughira line slain and a roughly equal number from other cadet lines of the clan. The casualties the Makhzum sustained led to a significant weakening of their position in Mecca and they were passed in prominence by the Banu Abd Shams under the leadership of Abu Sufyan.