Quraysh

Quraysh قُرَيْشٍ‎
Settled Adnanite tribe of Arabia
The purported Quraysh flag that was flown during the Battle of Siffin in July 657
Ethnicity	Arab
Nisba	al-Qurashī (الْقُرَشِي)
Location	Mecca, Hejaz, Arabia
Descended from	Fihr ibn Malik
Parent tribe	Kinana
Branches	See list: Banu al-Harith Banu Lu'ayy ibn Ghalib Banu 'Amir Banu Ka'b Banu Adi Banu Murra Banu Taym Banu Yaqaza Banu Makhzum Banu Kilab Banu Zuhra Banu Qusayy Banu 'Abd al-Dar Banu 'Abd Manaf Banu Abd Shams Banu Nawfal Banu Hashim Banu Mutallib Banu 'Abd al-Uzza Banu Asad Banu Husays Banu 'Amr Banu Sahm Banu Jumah
Religion	Arab polytheism (before 630) Islam (630–present)

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The Quraysh (Arabic: قُرَيْشٍ) are an Arab tribe who controlled Mecca before the rise of Islam. Their members were divided into ten main clans, most notably including the Banu Hashim, into which Islam's founding prophet Muhammad was born. By the seventh century, they had become wealthy merchants, dominating trade between the Indian Ocean, East Africa, and the Mediterranean.^[1] The tribe ran caravans to Gaza and Damascus in summer and to Yemen in winter, while also mining and pursuing other enterprises on these routes.^[2]

When Muhammad began preaching Islam in Mecca, the Quraysh initially showed little concern. However, their opposition to his activities quickly grew as he increasingly challenged Arab polytheism, which was prevalent throughout pre-Islamic Arabia.^[3][4][5] As relations deteriorated, Muhammad and his followers migrated to Medina (the journey known as the Hijrah) after negotiating with the Banu Aws and the Banu Khazraj to mediate their conflict.^[6][7] However, the two sides proved unable to reach a peaceful resolution, and the Quraysh continued to obstruct Muhammad's community's attempts to perform the Islamic pilgrimage at Mecca, prompting him to confront them through armed conflict, primarily by conducting raids on their caravans.^[8] These raids eventually escalated into several major battles, including those at Badr, Uhud, and "the Trench" (Medina's outskirts).^[9] Following these engagements and changes in Medina's political landscape, including the expulsion of three Jewish tribes, Muhammad reportedly shifted the focus of his military campaigns from Quraysh caravans to the northern Arab tribes, such as the Banu Lahyan and the Banu Mustaliq.^[10]

As Muhammad's position in Medina became more established, attitudes towards him in his hometown became more approving. The Treaty of al-Hudaybiya formalized a ten-year truce (beginning in March 628) with the Quraysh and allowed Muhammad to perform Umrah in Mecca in the following year. During this pilgrimage, Muhammad reconciled with his clan, as symbolized by his marriage to Maymuna bint al-Harith. Further, several prominent Meccans, such as Khalid ibn al-Walid and Amr ibn al-As, recognized Muhammad's increasing influence in Arab society and converted to Islam, thereafter coming to play a pivotal role in the early Muslim conquests.^[11]

According to Muslim sources, the Treaty of al-Hudaybiya was broken by the Quraysh approximately two years after it was ratified; a belligerent party within the tribe, acting against the advice of their chief Abu Sufyan, had supported one of their client clans in a conflict against the Banu Khuza'ah, who were allied with Muhammad, prompting him to march with an army of 10,000 men to besiege Mecca. Confronted by the incoming force, Abu Sufyan and others, including Muhammad's ally Khuza'i Budayl ibn Warqa, met with Muhammad to request amnesty for all Quraysh members who did not resist his advance. Thus, Muhammad and his troops entered Mecca virtually unopposed, and almost all of the city's inhabitants converted to Islam.^[12] After Muhammad's death in 632, leadership of the Muslim community traditionally passed to a person belonging to the Quraysh, as was the case with the Rashidun, the Umayyads, and the Abbasids, and purportedly with the Fatimids.