Maps

Abstract

Every child is born in the state of fit. ra [with a natural disposition for Islam]. Then his parents make him a Jew, a Christian, or a Zoroastrian. Muh. ammad, the Prophet One of the central challenges the early Muslim community faced was determining the relationship between kinship-based ways of organizing Muslim society and those that claimed to transcend kinship in the name of Islam. In the end, genealogy was put to many uses and provided a common vocabulary that expressed and mobilized modes of social organization. 1 Muh. ammad's family tree, enumerating his ancestors, descendants (known as sayyidso rsharīfs), and adoptive clients (mawālī), served as the most important paradigm. The families of sayyids and sharīfs were, and still are, accorded enormous prestige, as their lineages underwrote dynastic arrangements, provided access to patronage, and created power brokers and mediators. Converts who adopted familial connections to other Muslims as mawālī gained a sense of belonging to their new faith. And other forms of kinship, such as tribal lineages or descent from Sufi saints, conferred similar forms of belonging, prestige, and benefits, including access to office and positions of leadership. 1 Early Arab Muslims' fascination with genealogy can readily be seen in the Jamharat al-nasab of Hishām b. Muh. ammad al-Kalbī (d. ca. 204/819 or 206/821