Banī Sahm

Overview

The genealogists reckon this clan to Sahm ibn ʿAmr ibn Huṣayṣ ibn Kaʿb ibn Luʾayy, brother of Jumaḥ as they have it, and the two are paired in the Meccan record so consistently that either name tends to bring the other with it. Sahm in the lexicons is a single arrow of the sort shot in war, and by extension a share or lot of divided property, the two senses running side by side in Arabic usage; the arrows of the maysir carry both at once. In the division of Quraysh into Muṭayyabūn and Aḥlāf the clan is counted with the Aḥlāf. The accounts that distribute the Meccan offices assign to it arbitration and the consecrated properties set aside for the sanctuary, and as with every such list the sources differ over the details, so nothing should be built on the assignment beyond what the reports say. One caution belongs on this page in particular: Sahm is an ordinary Arabic word and recurs as an eponym in genealogies outside Quraysh, so the nisba al-Sahmī does not by itself place a bearer in this clan. 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.