science

Qusayy ibn Kilab

Qusayy ibn Kilab is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Qusayy ibn Kilab rather than just read about it. In short: Qusai ibn Kilab ibn Murrah (Arabic: قصي بن كلاب بن مرة, Qusayy ibn Kilāb ibn Murrah; ca. 400–480), also spelled Qusayy, Kusayy, Kusai, or Cossai, born Zayd (Arabic: زيد), was an Ishmaelite descendant of Abraham. Orphaned early on, he would rise to become chief of Mecca, and leader of the Quraysh tribe.

Key takeaways

Qusayy ibn Kilab belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Qusayy ibn Kilab to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Qusayy ibn Kilab from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Qusai ibn Kilab ibn Murrah (Arabic: قصي بن كلاب بن مرة, Qusayy ibn Kilāb ibn Murrah; ca. 400–480), also spelled Qusayy, Kusayy, Kusai, or Cossai, born Zayd (Arabic: زيد), was an Ishmaelite descendant of Abraham. Orphaned early on, he would rise to become chief of Mecca, and leader of the Quraysh tribe. He is best known for being an ancestor of the Islamic prophet Muhammad as well as the third and the fourth Rashidun caliphs, Uthman and Ali, and the later Umayyad, Abbasid, and Fatimid caliphs along with several of the most prominent Hashemite dynasties in the orient.

Background His father was Kilab ibn Murrah who died when Qusai was an infant. According to Islamic tradition, he was a descendant of Ibrahim (Abraham) through his son Ismail (Ishmael). His elder brother Zuhrah ibn Kilab was the progenitor of the Banu Zuhrah clan. After his father's death his mother Fatimah bint Sa'd ibn Sayl married Rabi'ah ibn Haram from the Bani Azra tribe, who took her with him to Syria, where she gave birth to a son called Darraj. His uncle was Taym ibn Murrah, who was of the Quraysh al-Bitah (i.e. Qurayshis living near the Ka'bah in Mecca).

Life in Syria Qusai grew up treating his step-father, Rabi'ah, as his father. When a quarrel broke out between Qusai and some members of the tribe of Rabi'ah, they reproached him and betrayed the fact that they never regarded him as one of their own. Qusai complained to his mother, who replied "O my son," she said, "your descent is nobler than theirs, you are the son of Kilab ibn Murrah, and your people live in the proximity of the Holy House in Mecca." Because of this, Qusai departed from Syria and returned to Mecca.

Life in Mecca When Qusai came of age, Hulail ibn Hubshiyyah the chief of Banu Khuza'a tribe was the trustee and guardian of the Ka'bah. Soon Qusai asked for and married Hulail's daughter Hubbah. When his father-in-law died after a battle which ended in arbitration, he inherited the keys of the Kaaba to Hubbah. Hulail preferred Qusai as his successor from his own sons and according to Hulail's will, Qusai got the trusteeship of the Kaaba after him. Qusai brought his nearest of kin of Quraysh, and settled them in the Meccan valley besides the Sanctuary – his brother Zuhrah, his uncle Taym ibn Murrah, the son of another uncle Makhzum ibn Yaqaza, and his other cousins Jumah and Sahm, who were less close. These and their posterity were known as Quraysh al-Biṭāḥ ("Quraysh of the Hollow"), whereas his more remote kinsmen settled in the ravines of the surrounding hills and in the countryside beyond and were known as Quraysh aẓ-Ẓawāhir ("Quraysh of the Outskirts"). Qusai ruled as a King. He reconstructed the Kaaba from a state of decay, and made the Arab people build their houses around it. He is known to have built the first "town hall" in the Arabian Peninsula, a spacious dwelling which was known as the House of Assembly. Leaders of different clans met in this hall to discuss their social, commercial, cultural and political problems. Qusai created laws so that pilgrims who went to Mecca were supplied with food and water, which was paid for by a tax that the people paid. He distributed the responsibilities of looking after the visitors during pilgrimage, taking care of the Kaaba, warfare, and pacifying amongst myriad tribes living in Mecca.

Sons Qusai had many sons, some of them being Abd (matrilineal great-grandfather of Fatima bint Amr), Abd-al-Dar, Abd Manaf and Abd-al-Uzza. It was a marked characteristic of Qusai's line that in each generation there would be one man who was altogether pre-eminent. Among his four sons, his second son, Abd Manaf was already honoured in his lifetime. However Qusai preferred his first born, Abd-al-Dar, despite him being least capable of all and shortly before Qusai's death he invested all his rights, powers, and transferred the ownership of the House of Assembly to Abd-al-Dar.

Descendants The following dynasties claim descent from Qusai:

Hashemites Hummudid dynasty (through Idris ibn Abdullah) Hashemite dynasty (through Qatadah ibn Idris) Abbasid dynasty of the Abbasid Empire (through Abbas ibn Muttalib) Fatimid dynasty of the Fatimid dynasty including the later Agha Khans. (through Ismail ibn Jafar) Rassid dynasty of Yemen (through Ibrahim al Jamr bin Hassan al Muthanna) Mutawakkilite dynasty of Yemen (through Ibrahim al Jamr bin Hassan al Muthanna as cadets of the Rassid dynasty) Bani Shaiba, keyholders of the Kaaba. Umayyad dynasty of the Umayyad Caliphate (661–750) and the State of Córdoba (756–1031) Sufyanids Marwanids Africa

Aluoite dynasty of Morocco (through Muhammad Nafs az zakiyah bin Abdullah al Kamal ) Idrisid dynasty of West Africa (through Idris ibn Abdullah) Senussi dynasty of Libya (through Idris ibn Abdullah as cadets of the Idrisid dynasty Ishaqids: Tolje'lo dynasty of the Isaaq Sultanate (through Sheikh Ishaaq bin Ahmed) Guled dynasty of the Isaaq Sultanate (through Sheikh Ishaaq bin Ahmed) Ainanshe dynasty of the Habr Yunis Sultanate (through Sheikh Ishaaq bin Ahmed) Indo-Persia:

Safavid dynasty of Persia (through Abul Qasim Humza bin Musa al Kadhim) Alid of Tabaristan (through Zayd bin Hassan al Muthana) Zaydi dynasty of Tabarstan (through Zayd ibn Ali) Barha dynasty Including the later Nawabs of Samballhera (through Zayd ibn Ali) Rohilla dynasty including the later Nawabs of Rampur (through Zayd ibn Ali as cadets of the Barha dynasty) The Agha Khans (Through Ismail ibn Jafar as cadets of the Fatimid dynasty) Daudpota dynasty including the later Nawabs of Bhawalpur and Sindh (Kalhora) (through Abbas ibn Muttalib) The sultans of Mysore (through Qatadah ibn Idris as cadets of the Hashemite dynasty) Sabzwari dynasty (through Ali al Reza) Najafi dynasty of Bengal. Including the later Nawabs of Murshidabad and the Tabatabai family of Iran (through Ibrahim Tabataba ibn Ismail al Dibaj) Jalaluddin Surkh-Posh Bukhari descendant of Qusai Bin Kilab through the 10 Shia imam Ali Al Hadi. East Asia

Sultans of Siak (through Ahmad al Muhajir as cadets of the Ba alawi) Bendahara dynasty of Pahang and Terengannu (through Ahmad al Muhajir as cadets of the Ba alawi) Bolkiah dynasty of Brunei (through Ahmad al Muhajir as cadets of the Ba alawi) Jamal al layl dynasty of Perak and Perlis (through Ahmad al Muhajir as cadets of the Ba alawi) Sultans of Pontianak (through Ahmad al Muhajir as cadets of the Ba alawi)

Family tree

* indicates that the marriage order is disputed Note that direct lineage is marked in bold.

… excerpt ends here. Continue reading the full article.

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Qusayy ibn Kilab

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Qusayy ibn Kilab claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Qusayy ibn Kilab before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Qusayy ibn Kilab ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Qusayy ibn Kilab

In research: Qusayy ibn Kilab appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Qusayy ibn Kilab in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Qusayy ibn Kilab is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 400s births, 480 deaths, 5th-century Arab people, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Qusayy ibn Kilab outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Qusayy ibn Kilab in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Qusayy ibn Kilab means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
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Frequently asked questions

What is Qusayy ibn Kilab in simple terms?

Why does Qusayy ibn Kilab matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Qusayy ibn Kilab?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Qusayy ibn Kilab.