The Life & Character of the Seal of Prophets (sa) - Volume II — Page 556
Seal of the Prophets - Volume II 556 the Holy Prophet sa , so too, he was informed that the Khulafā’ who were to be appointed after his demise would be from the tribe of the Quraish. If this is understood as a prophecy, absolutely no room for objection remains, because in any case, the Khulafā’ were bound to be from a certain people; or from one tribe or another. Moreover, in light of the circumstances of that era, if all of them were from the Quraish, no objection can be raised in this respect. In addition to this, it should also be remembered that in accordance with the era under discussion, it was the tribe of the Quraish that was most worthy of leadership. Firstly, it was the tribe of the Holy Prophet sa , due to which it naturally possessed a deserved honour among the Muslims, and the people accepted its influence. Secondly, the tribe of the Quraish resided in the most central city of Arabia and it was also the guardian of the Ka‘bah, due to which it was looked upon with special regard and reverence throughout the land even in the era of the Jahiliyyah. The other tribes generally looked towards the Quraish in every matter and accepted their leadership. Thirdly, due to the administration which Qusayy bin Kilāb, their paramount forefather had instituted in Makkah, the people of the Quraish were well acquainted with the administration and method of governance. Except for them, no other tribe was so experienced in matters of administration. Fourthly, since the foremost pioneers of Islām were all from the Quraish, and they had received more opportunity than anyone else to live with the Holy Prophet sa and assimilate his teachings within themselves, they possessed much more capability than others in the Islāmic system of governance as well. On the basis of these reasons, the Quraish possessed a true and undeniable superiority over the other Arabian tribes of that era. If they had been excluded and the reigns of government had gone into the hands of the other tribes, this would have proven to be extremely detrimental for the country. Most definitely, no other tribe would have been able to run the administration of government with such skill and merit, as was done by the early Khulafā’ of Islām after the demise of the Holy Prophet sa. However, this does not mean that Islām had given a monopoly of leadership to the Quraish forever. Hence, if on the one hand the statement that, “After me Khulafā’ and Islāmic rulers would be from the Quraish,” has been recorded, on the other hand, the Holy Prophet sa has also stated that ultimately, the Quraish would lose their ability to rule and would become a means of destroying the Islāmic government. To this affect, there is a Ḥadīth :