Chief of the Prophets — Page 25
Chapter Two 25 The Custody of the Ka‘bah Back to the Descendents of Ishmael as The custody of the Ka‘bah remained with the Banū Khuzā‘ah for a long time. Qusayy bin Kilāb, a descendent of Ishmael as and a very wise and intelligent person earnestly wanted to restore the custody of Ka‘bah to the descendents of Ishmael as considering them the true heirs. So he came to Makkah and married Ḥubbā, the daughter of Ḥalīl bin Ḥabashiyyah, the chieftain of the Banū Khuzā‘ah. Ḥalīl made a will to transfer the custody of the Ka‘bah to his daughter Ḥubbā, (the wife of Qusayy bin Kilāb) after his death. Now, the management of the Ka‘bah was practically in the hands of Qusayy (through marriage and inheritance)—but he was not contented. He wanted full custody of the Ka‘bah as he considered himself the real heir. Banū Khuzā‘ah strongly opposed him and prepared for a battle. The two tribes fought for many years and finally the arbitration of the dispute was entrusted to ‘Amr bin ‘Auf. He made the judgment in favour of Qusayy and so after a very long time the custody of the Ka‘bah was restored to Banū Ismā‘īl, the rightful owners. The Drapes (Kiswah) of the Ka‘bah It is narrated that Tubba As‘ad, the king of Tubba (Yemen), once had a dream that he was draping the Ka‘bah. He decided to carry out the physical draping of the Ka‘bah. After the death of the king, it turned into a custom and continued during the Islamic era. Even today, every year an expensive Kiswah is draped on the Ka‘bah and the old one is taken off, and its pieces are either sold or distributed among the pilgrims. The Quraish The origin of the name Quraish is attributed to Fihr bin Mālik, who was one of the descendents of Ishmael as. There is disagreement regarding how this name came about. Some people hold the view that during the time of Fihr, Banū Ismā‘īl acquired tremendous strength and force, therefore, the tribe was named after a fish of large size that eats smaller fish. Others think that when Qusayy bin