The Life & Character of the Seal of Prophets (sa) - Volume I — Page 119
III - Makkah, the Ka ‘ bah & the Quraish 119 Muṭṭalib After some time, Hāshim passed away during travel. At the time of his death, he had 4 sons: Abū Ṣaifī, Asad, Faḍlah and Shaibah. Since all of them were young of age and due to the fact that Shaibah was in Madīnah, Hāshim’s elder brother Muṭṭalib took over his place after his death. In other words, the responsibilities of Siqāyah and Rifādah were entrusted to Muṭṭalib. When Muṭṭalib was informed of his nephew Shaibah bin Hāshim’s intelligence and ingenuity, he immediately set out to Madīnah and brought Shaibah with him. When uncle and nephew both entered Makkah, the people thought that perhaps Muṭṭalib had brought a slave boy with him. For this reason, Shaibah became renowned as ‘Abdul-Muṭṭalib, meaning, ‘the slave of Muṭṭalib’. 1 This is the same ‘Abdul-Muṭṭalib who was the grandfather of the Holy Prophet sa and in whose care the Prophet sa spent the first eight years of his life. ‘Abdul-Muṭṭalib The position of Muṭṭalib was merely that of a guardian, therefore the offices in his custodianship which belonged to the ‘ Abdu Manāf dynasty were transferred to ‘Abdul-Muṭṭalib, because he was the most intelligent of his brothers. ‘Abdul-Muṭṭalib was an exceedingly wise and gifted individual. At that time he was a young man and had spent a portion of his life outside, so he was compelled to confront many difficulties initially in order to protect his position. Therefore, first of all, his uncle named Nawfal bin ‘Abdi Manāf quarrelled with him over the issue of ‘Abdul-Muṭṭalib’s inheritance. ‘Abdul- Muṭṭalib appealed to the Quraish but they refused to interfere in this issue. Upon this, ‘Abdul-Muṭṭalib sent word to his maternal family, the Banū Najjār, saying, “My uncle unjustly interferes with my inheritance”. Immediately, eighty brave men reached Makkah to the assistance of their grandson. When these people reached Makkah, Nawfal was sitting in the Ka‘bah with some men. As soon as they reached there, they immediately asserted, “Give our grandson, Shaibah bin Hāshim, all of his inheritance or the outcome shall be unpleasant”. Nawfal became frightened and retracted his intruding hand. Mention of the conflict between the Banū ‘Abdi Shams and Banū Hāshim has already been mentioned. Now relations with the Banū Nawfal also turned bitter. In other words, 1 As-Sīratun-Nabawiyyah, By Abū Muḥammad ‘Abdul-Malik bin Hishām, p. 114, Ḥilful-Fuḍūl, Mīlādu ‘Abdil-Muṭṭalib wa Sababu Tasmiyyatihī kadhālik, Dārul-Kutubil-‘Ilmiyyah, Beirut, Lebanon, First Edition (2001)