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Hashim ibn Abd Manaf

Hashim ibn 'Abd Manaf
Born 464
Died 497
Known for Great-grandfather of Muhammad
Spouse(s) Salma bint Amr
Children Asad ibn Hashim (son)
Abdul-Muttalib
Parent(s) Abd Manaf ibn Qusai (father)
Atikah bint Murrah (mother)
Relatives Abd Shams ibn Abd Manaf (brother)
Muttalib ibn Abd Manaf (brother)
Nawfal ibn Abd Manaf (half-brother)

Hashim ibn 'Abd Manaf al Mughirah (Arabic: هاشم بن عبد مناف المغيرة‎‎; ca. 464 – 497) was the great-grandfather of the Islamic prophet Muhammad and the progenitor of the Banu Hashim clan of the Quraish tribe in Mecca.

His birth name was 'Amr al-ʻUlā (Arabic: عمرو العلا‎‎). At some point in his life, in all cases before his father's death, `Amr as a Hanif, meaning that his religion was the Hanifia, known as the "religion of Abraham" chose for himself the name Hashim, as it was the name God has used for Abraham. The narrations coming out from Islamic hagiographists to explain the name Hashim are different. Another narration suggests that `Amr was called Hashim because Hashim translates as pulverizer in Arabic - because as a generous man, he initiated the practice of providing crumbled bread in broth for the pilgrims to the Ka'aba in Mecca. One other narration for the story of this naming is that Hashim comes from the Arabic root Hashm, to save the starving, because he arranged for the feeding of the people of Mecca during a seasonal famine, and he thus became "the man who fed the starving" (Arabic: هشم الجياع‎‎).

Islamic hagiographists have an exotic narration concerning the birth of Hashim. Some consider it to be a very bloody and cruel one, indeed. This narration states that Hashim and 'Abd Shams were conjoined twins born with Hashim's leg attached to his twin brother's head. It says that they had struggled in their mother's womb seeking to be firstborn. Their birth was remembered for Hashim being born with one of his toes pressed into the younger twin brother's forehead. Legend says that their father, 'Abd Manaf ibn Qusai, separated his conjoined sons with a sword and that some priests believed that the blood that had flown between them signified wars between their progeny (confrontations did occur between Banu al'Abbas and Banu Ummaya ibn 'Abd Shams in the year 750 AH). The astrologers of Arabia predicted that Abd Munaaf had committed a grave error when he separated both of them by means of a sword. That which he had done was not regarded by them as a good omen.


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