Nusaybah clan

The Nusaybah Clan (Arabic: عائلة نسيبة‎‎; alternatively spelt Nusseibeh and Nuseibeh) is the oldest Arab family in Jerusalem. The Nusseibeh family has a long history and tight bonds with the Holy Land, Jerusalem, since the days their first forefathers arrived into Jerusalem in the 7th century.

According to tradition, the Nusaybah family took its name from a female companion or Sahabah of the Islamic prophet Muhammad named Nusaybah. She was a member of the Ansar who transferred their political power over Medina to the prophet. Nusayba fought along with Mohammed in battle and was an early example of women taking leadership roles in Islam. Since the arrival of Islam in Jerusalem in the seventh century, the Sunni Muslim family has held the keys of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre alongside the Joudeh Al-Goudia family. This arrangement emerged during the days of the second Muslim caliph, Umar Ibn al-Khattab, who hoped to avoid clashes among rival Christian sects for control over the church. Although symbolic, the arrangement has provided the stability the Christians of the city needed, and is a symbol of tolerance and inter-religious harmony, and gave the Nusseibeh family a visible role in Christian activities in Jerusalem, which include pilgrimages and visits by Western Christians.

Ancestors of the family arrived in Jerusalem with the arrival of Islam in AD 637. They included two companions of the prophet Mohammed—Abdullah bin Nusaybah and Mu'adh bin Jabal, and many others of the Prophet's companions and maternal uncles, descendents of Salma from Bani an-Najjar, a clan of the Khazraj, the wife of Hashim, forefather of the Hashemite Family and mother of its renowned leader Abdul Muttalib, grandfather of Mohammed. The Nusaybah family is a clan of the Khazraj tribe of Medina, known in Islam as al-Ansar, for their support and protection of Prophet Mohammed during his exile from Mecca.

...
Wikipedia