Once Qusayy had reunited the scattered groups of Quraysh, bringing them home from every corner, wrested control of the Sacred House from Khuzaʿah, expelled them from Mecca, and restored right to its rightful place, he became the undisputed leader of Quraysh. The rifādah (provisioning of pilgrims), the siqāyah (watering of pilgrims)—an institution he himself established—together with the custodianship and guardianship of the Kaʿbah, the Standard, and the Dār al-Nadwah that served as his council-house, all passed into his hands, as has already been set out. Hence the poet said:
Qusay—by my life!—was called “the Gatherer”;
Through him God gathered the clans of Fihr.
Qusay was the brother of Zuhrah; both were sons of Kilāb, who was the brother of Taym and of Yaqazah, the father of Makhzūm. These three were sons of Murrah, the brother of ʿAdī and Huṣayṣ, sons of Kaʿb. Kaʿb is the one who addressed his people every Friday, giving them glad tidings of the coming of the Messenger of God, may God bless him and grant him peace, and reciting poetry about it, as mentioned earlier.
Kaʿb was the brother of ʿĀmir, Sāmah, Khuzaymah, Saʿd, al-Ḥārith, and ʿAwf—seven brothers in all, sons of Luʾayy, the brother of Taym al-Adram. Luʾayy and Taym were sons of Ghālib, the brother of al-Ḥārith and Muḥārib; these three were sons of Fihr. Fihr was the brother of al-Ḥārith; both were sons of Mālik, who was the brother of al-Ṣalt and Yakhlud. They were the sons of al-Naḍr, to whom, according to the soundest opinion—as we have already shown—the whole of Quraysh traces its lineage.
Al-Naḍr was the brother of Mālik, Milkān, ʿAbd Manāh and others, all of them sons of Kinānah, the brother of Asad, Asadah, and al-Hawn, the sons of Khuzaymah, the brother of Hudhayl. Hudhayl and Khuzaymah were sons of Mudrika (ʿAmr), the brother of Ṭābikhah (ʿĀmir) and Qamaʿah; these three were sons of Ilyās. The brother of Ilyās was ʿAylān, the father of all the Qays tribes; Ilyās and ʿAylān were the sons of Muḍar, the brother of Rabīʿah.
Muḍar and Rabīʿah are called “the two pure lineages” among the descendants of Ishmael. Their brothers, Anmār and Iyād, migrated south to Yemen. All four were sons of Nizār, the brother of Quḍāʿah—according to those who regard Quḍāʿah as a Ḥijāzī, ʿAdnānī tribe—and, as explained earlier, both Nizār and Quḍāʿah were sons of Maʿadd ibn ʿAdnān.
This pedigree, in the form just set out, is unanimously accepted by the scholars: every tribe of the Ḥijāz ultimately traces back to it. For that reason Ibn ʿAbbās and others, commenting on the Almighty’s words, “Say: I ask of you no recompense for it, save love for kinship” (Qur’an 42:23), said, “There was not a single clan of Quraysh to which the Messenger of God, may God bless him and grant him peace, was not related.” Ibn ʿAbbās spoke the truth, and I would even add: every ʿAdnānī Arab tribe is linked to him on the paternal side, and many of them on the maternal side as well.