The Adnaniyans: They are the descendants of Isma'il, son of the Prophet Ibrahim.

The Adnaniyans: They are the descendants of Isma'il, son of the Prophet Ibrahim. A detailed account of the genealogy of this tribe will be given at a later stage, but, briefly speaking, the position is this: Prophet Ibrahim was ordained by Allah to settle his son Isma'il and his mother Hajar in the land of Makkah. He, therefore, moved them from Palestine to a deep valley (Makkah) which was absolutely barren. Almighty Allah was kind to them and favoured them with the spring of Zamzam.

Isma'il married in a tribe named Jarham, who had pitched their tents at a place near Makkah. His offspring were numerous. One of them was Adnan, who was removed a few generations from Ismai'l The descendants of Adnan were sub-divided into many tribes. The tribe which acquired fame from amongst them was that of Quraysh, and Bani Hashim formed a part of it. General Morals of the Arabs What we mean by this are the social morals and manners which prevailed amongst the Arabs before Islam.

Some of these customs were usually followed by all Arabs. The common and praiseworthy qualities of the Arabs may generally be summarised thus in a few sentences The Arabs of the Age of Ignorance (period before the advent of Islam) and especially the descendants of Adnan were generous and hospitable by nature. They seldom committed breach of trust. They considered violation of promise to be an unpardonable sin.

They were very much devoted to their faith and were fully endowed with the quality of eloquence. They possessed remarkably sharp memory. They could easily learn verses and speeches by heart. In the art of versification and poetry they excelled all others. Their bravery was proverbial. They possessed great skill in horsemanship and archery. They considered fleeing from the enemy to be very odious and abominable. We could also perhaps recount some more good qualities of theirs.

However, as opposed to this, a series of their immoral and mean habits which had, to some extent, assumed the shape of second nature with them, obliterated the splendour of all their achievements and, if a window had not been opened for them from the invisible, the scroll of their human life would have been rolled up and they would have fallen precipitately into the dreadful abyss of non-existence.