Banī ʿAdī ibn Kaʿb

Overview

The genealogists reckon this clan to ʿAdī ibn Kaʿb ibn Luʾayy, brother of Murra — from whom Kilāb and then Quṣayy are reckoned — and of Huṣayṣ, from whom Sahm and Jumaḥ are reckoned. That places Banī ʿAdī, as they arrange the tree, high on the Qurashī stem, closer to its trunk than several clans better known than it, and it is a useful illustration of how the Meccan clans sit relative to one another: the famous houses are cousins at varying and often considerable removes, not tiers of one household. In the division of Quraysh the clan is counted with the Aḥlāf, and the accounts that distribute the Meccan offices assign to it the embassy, the carrying of messages between Quraysh and others when a dispute or a war arose; the sources differ over the details of that distribution. ʿAdī in the lexicons goes back to ʿadā, to run, and al-ʿadī is the first body of foot to charge in battle. The name is common in the genealogies — ʿAdī ibn ʿAbd Manāt is named among the Ribāb, among others — and the nisba al-ʿAdawī attaches to more than one of them, so it does not by itself say which ʿAdī is meant. This page describes a historical clan and makes no statement about any modern family.

On lineage

Branch lists and affiliations here are given as reported by the classical genealogists, who themselves disagree. Nothing on this page establishes any living family's descent: a shared name may reflect descent, alliance (ḥilf) or clientage (walāʾ), and the sources usually say which only when they know.