Al-Qurashi
A family name (nisba) to Quraysh, the historical tribe of Mecca — recorded in the classical works for descent and for clientage alike.
- Type
- Tribal nisba
- Attributed to
- Quraysh (Mecca)
- Scope
- Historical — no modern attribution
- Recorded also for
- Clients, written al-Qurashī mawlāhum
Overview
Al-Qurashi (al-Qurashī) is the nisba of Quraysh, the tribe that held Mecca and the guardianship of its sanctuary before Islam. It is among the most frequent nisbas in the biographical and genealogical literature, because the earliest Islamic historiography is closely concerned with Mecca. This page describes a historical tribe and states nothing about the lineage of any modern family.
How the nisba was borne
The biographical works apply al-Qurashī to two different situations and mark the difference in the wording. A man recorded as ṣarīḥ in the line is called al-Qurashī plainly; a client is written al-Qurashī mawlāhum — Qurashī by clientage, not by descent. That the compilers kept the distinction is itself the point: a shared nisba may reflect descent, alliance (ḥilf) or clientage (walāʾ), and it is not on its own proof of shared descent. Sources differ over many individual attributions, and this reference records none for any living family.
Sources
- ابن حزم الأندلسي، جمهرة أنساب العرب، 456هـ — أنساب قريش؛ يُراجَع ويُوثَّق قبل إثبات التفاصيل
- القلقشندي، نهاية الأرب في معرفة أنساب العرب، 821هـ — باب قريش وما يُنسب إليها
This page is an educational, historical reference compiled from published sources. It is not an authority on lineage. Where sources differ, we report the difference without taking a position. Corrections are welcome via our contact page.
Last reviewed: 2026-08-31