Tribes and Tribalism: Quraysh Tribe
TRIBES AND TRIBALISM: QURAYSH TRIBE
The tribe of the Prophet Muhammad and the leading tribe of Mecca in the Prophet's time.
Before being converted to Islam, the Quraysh provided the strongest opposition to Muhammad, because the monotheism preached by the Prophet appeared to undermine tribal wealth derived from the pilgrimage to the Kaʿba, then a house of idol-worship. In classical theory it was held that the leadership of the Muslim umma (community) should be held only by a descendant of the Quraysh tribe, and this idea has been used by political opposition groups in contemporary Saudi Arabia to challenge the legitimacy of the Al Saʿud family, who are of the Anaza tribe. It has also been used to strengthen the legitimacy of the Sharifian dynasty of Morocco, which claims descent from the Quraysh.
see also kaʿba.
eleanor abdella doumato