Group Feeling and Purity of Lineage

9. Purity of lineage is found only among the savage

This is because of the poor life, hard conditions, and bad habitats that are peculiar to the Arabs.

They are the result of necessity that destined (these conditions) for (the Arabs), in as much as their subsistence depends on camels and camel breeding and pasturage.

The camels are the cause of the Arabs’ savage life in the desert, since they feed on the shrubs of the desert and give birth in the desert sands. 52

The desert is a place of hardship and starvation. But to the Arabs, it has become familiar and accustomed.

Eventually, they become confirmed in their character and natural qualities.

• No other nation shares their conditions.
• No other race felt attracted to them.

But Arabs would not give up their desert lifestyle even if they could find ways and means of fleeing. 53

Therefore, their pedigrees have not been mixed up nor corrupted. They have preserved pure in unbroken lines, such as that of the Mudar tribes:

• the Quraysh
• the Kinanah
• the Thaqif
• the Banu Asad
• the Hudhayl, and
• their Khuza’ah neighbors

Other Arabs lived in the hills and at the sources of fertile pastures and plentiful living. Among these Arabs were:

• the Himyar
• the Kahlan, such as:
  • the Lakhm
  • the Judham
  • the Ghassan
  • the Tayy
  • the Quda’ah and
  • the Iyad

Their lineages were mixed up. Their groups intermingled. They did not pay any attention to preserving the (purity of) lineage of their families and groups.

Geneaology 54 was done only by true Arabs.

‘Umar said= “Study genealogy, and be not like the Nabataeans of the Mesopotamian lowlands”

When one of them is asked about his origin, he says:

‘From such and such a village.’" 55

The Arabs of the fertile fields were affected by the general human trend toward competition for the fat soil and the good pastures. This resulted in intermingling and much mixture of lineages.

New Conquests led the Arabs to Lose their Group-feeling

Even at the beginning of Islam, people occasionally referred to themselves by their places of residence. They referred to the Districts of Qinnasrin, of Damascus, or of the ‘Awisim (the border region of northern Syria). This custom was then transferred to Spain.

This happened after they conquered new territories They eventually became known by such new places of residence.

These became a distinguishing mark, in addition to the pedigree, used by (the Arabs) to identify themselves in the presence of their amirs. Later on, sedentary (Arabs) mixed with Persians and other non-Arabs.

Because of this, the purity of lineage was completely lost. Its fruit, the group feeling, was lost and rejected.

The tribes then disappeared and were wiped out, and with them, the group feeling. But this did not happen to the Bedouins.

10. How lineages become confused.

A person of a certain descent may become attached to people of another descent, either:

• because he feels well-disposed toward them, or
• because there exists an (old) alliance or client(-master) relationship, or
• because he had to flee from his own people by reason of some crime he committed.

Such a person gets the same descent as those (to whom he has attached himself) and is counted one of them with respect to the things that result from (common descent), such as affection, the rights and obligations concerning talion and blood money, and so on.

When the things which result from (common) descent are there, it is as if (common descent) itself were there, because the only meaning of belonging to one or another group is that one is subject to its laws and conditions, as if one had come into close contact with it.

In the course of time, the original descent is almost forgotten. Those who knew about it have passed away, and it is no longer known to most people. Family lines in this manner continually changed from one tribal group to another, and some people developed close contact with others (of a different descent). This happened both in pre-Islamic and in Islamic times, and between both Arabs and non-Arabs.

If one studies the different opinions concerning the pedigree of the family of al-Mundhir 56 and others, the matter will become somewhat clearer.

The affair of the Bajilah and ‘Arfajah b. Harthamah is an(other) illustration. When ‘Umar appointed ‘Arfajah their governor, (the Bajilah) asked (‘Umar) to withdraw him, saying that he was a nazif 57 among them, that is, one who had come to them from outside and attached himself to them. They asked that he appoint Jarir (instead).

‘Umar asked ‘Arfajah about this, and he replied= “They are right, O Commander of the Faithful. I am from the Azd. I shed blood among my people, and joined (the Bajilah).” 58

This shows how ‘Arfajah had come to mix with the Bajilah, had become of their skin, and was known as one having the same descent as they, to the extent that he could eventually become a candidate for leadership over them, (and would have) had someone not remembered the genealogical ramifications.

Had they overlooked it and had (still) more time elapsed, (his foreign origin) would have been forgotten, and he would have been considered one of them in every respect. This should be understood and pondered as one of God’s ways with His creatures. Similar things occur frequently in our own times, and have always been frequent in former times.59