The House that stood alone (Part VI)

By Yusuf Bulafu

Assalam alaykum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh

Cont’d …

The rise of Quraysh and the power of the Ilaf

With Abraha’s destruction, Quraysh emerged as the uncontested stewards of Arabia’s most sacred space. Word of the miracle spread rapidly across the Peninsula. Tribal poets, merchants, and pilgrims carried the story of the birds and stones with reverence and awe. Makkah, once a modest trade post nestled among rocky hills, had now been cast in a divine light. The city was no longer merely a symbolic spiritual center — it had been proven to be under direct protection of the Divine. And Quraysh, as its custodians, became the undisputed leaders of Arabia’s spiritual imagination.

Yet this rise did not happen in a vacuum. Quraysh, particularly through the lineage of ‘Abd Manaf, had already been sowing the seeds of regional influence before the Year of the Elephant. After the passing of Qusayy ibn Kilab, who had consolidated power in Makkah and established key institutions around the Kaʿbah, it was his descendants — particularly Hashim ibn ‘Abd Manaf — who transformed Makkah from a city of prestige into a commercial powerhouse.

Hashim was not a king, but he possessed the two qualities Arabia admired most: noble lineage and visionary leadership. He understood that the sanctity of the Kaʿbah attracted people from across Arabia, but if Makkah were to endure and flourish, it needed economic muscle to match its religious significance. He saw that Quraysh’s survival could not depend solely on seasonal pilgrimage. It needed year-round commercial viability, trade networks, and protection.

To this end, Hashim masterminded a system known as the ilaf — a network of trade agreements and tribal alliances that secured Quraysh’s caravans across the most dangerous and lucrative routes of Arabia. The term “ilaf” itself denotes a pact, a bond of mutual interest and security. These were not merely business contracts, but diplomatic and strategic arrangements that ensured Qurayshi caravans could pass through hostile territories, enter foreign markets, and do so without fear of robbery or exploitation.

Hashim sent his brothers on diplomatic missions to establish these bonds across the region. His brother ‘Abd Shams traveled to Yemen, negotiating with Abyssinian governors and local Arab tribes under their sway. Nawfal journeyed to Iraq and the frontiers of the Persian Empire, securing access to Mesopotamian goods and trade protections. Al-Muttalib went north to the Levant, striking arrangements with the Ghassanid Arabs and the Byzantine-aligned provinces. Hashim himself focused on the internal Arabian tribes, winning trust through generosity and negotiation.

These efforts bore extraordinary fruit. Quraysh established two major annual caravans:

• In winter, they traveled south to Yemen, trading in perfumes, spices, leather, and textiles.
• In summer, they traveled north to Greater Syria, accessing markets under Byzantine influence, trading in wheat, oil, weaponry, and luxury goods.

These caravans did more than enrich Quraysh materially — they connected Makkah to the global trade arteries of the ancient world. Quraysh were no longer just desert dwellers; they became brokers between civilizations — linking Africa, Persia, Rome, and India through the veins of their caravans.

The Qur’an references this unique situation directly in Surat Quraysh (106). After recounting the miracle in Surat al-Fil, the next surah shifts to the implications:

“For the protection of Quraysh — their protection during the journeys of winter and summer —
Let them worship the Lord of this House,
Who fed them against hunger and secured them against fear.”

Here, Allah links their economic stability and security to His divine favor. The two journeys — rihlat ash-shitaʾ (winter) and rihlat as-saif (summer) — were not purely the result of Qurayshi genius, but a gift from Allah, facilitated through diplomacy, divine protection, and the strategic value of the Kaʿbah. They were meant to lead Quraysh to gratitude and exclusive devotion to the Lord of the House.

But Quraysh, once again, failed to heed the call. The very favours Allah gave them — security, wealth, and prestige — were turned into tools of arrogance. They used their influence to reinforce their tribal power, tighten their economic grip, and further entrench idol worship around the Kaʿbah.

Yet Allah allowed them to flourish — for a time. Because within Quraysh, in the family of Hashim, in the clan of Banu Hashim, was a man destined to change everything. A man who, raised in the shadows of the Kaʿbah, educated through trade journeys to Syria and Yemen, tempered by orphanhood and loss, would one day stand before the idols and declare:

“Say: He is Allah, One. Allah, the Eternal Refuge. He begets not, nor was He begotten. And there is none like unto Him.” (Surat al-Ikhlas)