Chapter One: Ancestors, Parents and Relatives — Part Four

Asad, Father of Khuwaylid, Member of Hilf al-Fudul

One of the prominent figures of the Arab world in the days before the Prophet's mission and the rising of Islam's world-illuminating sun was Asad, son of Abd al-Uzza.

He lived in Mecca about two decades before the start of the universal mission of the Prophet (Salla Allahu alayhi wa aalih), and was counted among the renowned and influential figures of his time; for example:

⚖️ 1)- Among his admirable deeds was his liberating, noble-minded effort to form a society for the defense of human rights, in a dark and gloomy age in which no rights or dignity were recognized for the human being, neither freedom, equality, security, nor the right to choose, to think, and to live as a conscious, independent being with sovereignty over his personal, family, social and political destiny. Only gold, force and deceit were the measure of personality and greatness and of access to opportunities and resources, and tyranny and domination ruled over homes and societies. Yes, in that age Asad, together with a group of his open-minded, freedom-loving and humanity-loving friends, founded a society in Mecca beside the House of God. Its charter and program was that if any wronged person sought justice in Mecca or its surroundings, they would rush to his aid with all their power and means, take his right from the oppressors and bullies, and grant him security and refuge.

🤝 Because its three central and main members were named "Fadl", this progressive human-rights society soon became famous as "Hilf al-Fudul", the Pact of the Chivalrous Men of Arabia.(1)

🤝 The grandfather of Lady Khadijah (Salam Allah alayha), Asad ibn Abd al-Uzza, was among the members of the famous pact "Hilf al-Fudul".(2) And as it has been said, this pact was the noblest and best pact concluded in the Age of Ignorance to secure the right of the oppressed from the oppressor.

1- Furugh-e Asman-e Hijaz: Khadijah (Salam Allah alayha), pp. 83-84.

2- Sirat Ibn Hisham, vol. 1, p. 141.

Zohra bint Amr ibn Hanthara, Mother of Khuwaylid

The mother of Khuwaylid is Zohra bint Amr ibn Hanthara, who is the grandmother of Lady Khadijah (Salam Allah alayha).(1) (paternal grandmother)

📜 وإياها عنى فضالة بن شريك الأسدي في قوله: "And it is she whom Fadala ibn Sharik al-Asadi meant in his words:"

أقول لغلمتي أدنوا ركابي أفارق بطن مكة في سواء وما لي حين أقطع ذات عرق إلى ابن الكاهلية من معاد

(Rough sense: "I tell my young men to bring my mount near, as I leave the valley of Mecca... and when I cross Dhat Irq, I have no return to the son of the Kahiliyya.")

1- Jamharat al-Nasab, p. 68; Nasab Quraysh, pp. 207-208; Ansab al-Ashraf, vol. 9, p. 419.

Likewise, Zohra bint Amr ibn Hanthara, the grandmother of Khadijah (the mother of Khuwaylid), belonged to the Banu Kahil clan.

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