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THE ORIGINS OF THE ISLAMIC STATE

According to abu-ʿUbaidah Maʿmar ibn-al-Muthanna, ʿAbd-al-Malik ibn-Ḳuraib al-Aṣmaʿi and others, ibn-ʿÂmir garden was the property of ʿUmar ibn-ʿUbaidallâh … ibn-Luʾai and was by mistake called ibn-ʿÂmir or the banu-ʿÂmir garden. In reality, it is ibn-Maʿmar's garden. Others say that it was so called after ibn-ʿÂmir al-Ḥaḍrami; still others, after ibn-ʿÂmir ibn-Kuraiz, and all that is mere guessing.

I was told by Musʿab ibn-ʿAbdallâh az-Zubairi that Makkah in pre-Islamic times was called Ṣalâḥ.

Ibn-Sibâʿ jail. The following was told to me by al-ʿAbbâs ibn-Hishâm al-Kalbi:—A certain Kindi inquired in writing from my father about the one after whom ibn-Sibâʿ jail of al-Madînah was named, about the story of Dâr an-Nadwah, Dâr al-ʿAjalah, and Dâr al-Ḳawârîr in Makkah. My father wrote back the following answer: "As for ibn-Sibâʿ jail, it was a house for ʿAbdallâh ibn-Sibâʿ ibn-ʿAbd-al-ʿUzza ibn-Naḍlah ibn-ʿAmr ibn-Ghubshân al-Khuzâʿi. Sibâʿ was surnamed abu-Niyâr and his mother was a midwife in Makkah. In the battle of Uḥud, he was challenged by Ḥamzah ibn-ʿAbd-al-Muṭṭalib who cried, 'Come, thou son of the female circumciser!'[1] and killed him. As Ḥamzah stooped on his victim to take his armor, he was thrust with a spear by Waḥshi. The mother of the poet Ṭuraiḥ ibn-Ismâʿil ath-Thaḳafi was the daughter of ʿAbdallâh ibn-Sibâʿ, an ally of the banu-Zuhrah.

Dâr an-Nadwah. As for an-Nadwah [council-chamber], it was built by Ḳuṣai ibn-Kilâb, and people used to meet in it and have the cases decided.[2] Later, Ḳuraish used to assemble in it to consult about war and general affairs, to assign the standard-bearers and to contract marriages. This was the first house established in Makkah by Ḳuraish.

  1. "An expression of contumely used by the Arabs whether the mother is really a female circumciser or not." (Tâj al-ʿArûs.)
  2. Azraḳi, pp. 65, 66; Diyârbakri, vol. i, p. 175; Ṭabari, vol, i, p. 1098; Iṣtakhri, p. 16.