ʿAqīl ibn Abī Ṭālib (lit. "Aqil the Son of Abu Talib"; full name , ), , was a cousin of the Islamic prophet

Muhammad Muhammad (8 June 632 CE) was an Arab religious and political leader and the founder of Islam. Muhammad in Islam, According to Islam, he was a prophet who was divinely inspired to preach and confirm the tawhid, monotheistic teachings of A ...

and an elder brother of Ali and

Ja'far ibn Abi Talib Jaʿfar ibn Abī Ṭālib ( September 629), also known as ''Jaʿfar aṭ-Ṭayyār'' (), was a companion and cousin of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, and an elder brother of Ali. Early life Ja'far was the third son of Abu Talib ibn Abd al-Mutt ...

.. Having fought on the side of the

Quraysh The Quraysh () are an Tribes of Arabia, Arab tribe who controlled Mecca before the rise of Islam. Their members were divided into ten main clans, most notably including the Banu Hashim, into which Islam's founding prophet Muhammad was born. By ...

i rulers of

Mecca Mecca, officially Makkah al-Mukarramah, is the capital of Mecca Province in the Hejaz region of western Saudi Arabia; it is the Holiest sites in Islam, holiest city in Islam. It is inland from Jeddah on the Red Sea, in a narrow valley above ...

against Muhammad and the early Muslims, he converted to Islam a few years before the death of Muhammad . Under the second caliph

Umar Umar ibn al-Khattab (; ), also spelled Omar, was the second Rashidun caliph, ruling from August 634 until his assassination in 644. He succeeded Abu Bakr () and is regarded as a senior companion and father-in-law of the Islamic prophet Mu ...

, he was appointed a position as an expert in the

genealogy Genealogy () is the study of families, family history, and the tracing of their lineages. Genealogists use oral interviews, historical records, genetic analysis, and other records to obtain information about a family and to demonstrate kin ...

of the Quraysh. During the rivalry between his brother Ali (who reigned as the fourth

caliph A caliphate ( ) is an institution or public office under the leadership of an Islamic steward with Khalifa, the title of caliph (; , ), a person considered a political–religious successor to the Islamic prophet Muhammad and a leader of ...

until his death ) and

Mu'awiya Mu'awiya I (–April 680) was the founder and first caliph of the Umayyad Caliphate, ruling from 661 until his death. He became caliph less than thirty years after the death of the Islamic prophet Muhammad and immediately after the four Rashid ...

(the first Umayyad caliph) Aqil first chose the side of his brother, but later may have deserted him in favor of Mu'awiya, as the latter is said to have offered him better financial incentives. He was noted by later authors for his eloquence as well as for transmitting a number of

hadith Hadith is the Arabic word for a 'report' or an 'account f an event and refers to the Islamic oral tradition of anecdotes containing the purported words, actions, and the silent approvals of the Islamic prophet Muhammad or his immediate circle ...

. Due to his close kinship with both Muhammad and with Ali, his descendants were sometimes reckoned among the (the extended family of Muhammad venerated by

Shiite Shia Islam is the second-largest branch of Islam. It holds that Muhammad designated Ali ibn Abi Talib () as both his political successor (caliph) and as the spiritual leader of the Muslim community (imam). However, his right is understood ...

Muslims) by later generations. Most notably, the great majority of

Somali clans Somali clans (; ) are patrilineal kinship groups based on agnatic descent of the Somali people. Tradition and folklore connects the origin of the Somali population by language and way of life, and societal organisations, by customs, and by a fee ...

claim to be descended from Aqil ibn Abi Talib, though this is historically untenable.

Biography

Aqil ibn Abi Talib is said to have been born 10 years after his elder brother

Talib ibn Abi Talib Ṭālib ibn Abī Ṭālib () was a first cousin of the Islamic prophet Muhammad and a brother of Ali. Family He was born in Mecca, the eldest son of Abu Talib ibn Abd al-Muttalib and of Fatimah bint Asad.Muhammad ibn Saad. ''Kitab al-Tabaqat a ...

(the first son of Muhammad's paternal uncle and guardian Abu Talib and Fatima bint Asad), and 10 and 20 years before his younger brothers and , respectively. After the death of his father Abu Talib in , Aqil and his older brother Talib inherited great wealth. Having initially fought against Muhammad at the

Battle of Badr The Battle of Badr or sometimes called The Raid of Badr ( ; ''Ghazwahu Badr''), also referred to as The Day of the Criterion (, ; ''Yawm al-Furqan'') in the Qur'an and by Muslims, was fought on 13 March 624 CE (17 Ramadan, 2 AH), near the pre ...

(624), in which he was taken prisoner and later bought free by his uncle

Abbas ibn Abd al-Muttalib Al-Abbas ibn Abd al-Muttalib () was a paternal uncle and sahabi (companion) of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, just three years older than his nephew. A wealthy merchant, during the early years of Islam he protected Muhammad while he was in Mecca, ...

, he converted to Islam around 629 or 630. He may have participated at the Muslim side in the battles of

Mu'tah Mu'tah (, ') is a town in Karak Governorate in Jordan. Mutah University is located in the city. History In Islamic Hadith, tradition, it is known for the Battle of Mu'tah in 629 Common Era, CE, the first military engagement between the Arab Mus ...

(629) and Hunayn (630). After the victory of the Muslims and the death of Muhammad , Aqil lived in the military encampments of

Kufa Kufa ( ), also spelled Kufah, is a city in Iraq, about south of Baghdad, and northeast of Najaf. It is located on the banks of the Euphrates, Euphrates River. The estimated population in 2003 was 110,000. Along with Samarra, Karbala, Kadhimiya ...

and

Basra Basra () is a port city in Iraq, southern Iraq. It is the capital of the eponymous Basra Governorate, as well as the List of largest cities of Iraq, third largest city in Iraq overall, behind Baghdad and Mosul. Located near the Iran–Iraq bor ...

for a while, supporting his brother Ali (who ruled from

Medina Medina, officially al-Madinah al-Munawwarah (, ), also known as Taybah () and known in pre-Islamic times as Yathrib (), is the capital of Medina Province (Saudi Arabia), Medina Province in the Hejaz region of western Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, ...

as the fourth

, ). However, later he may have abandoned Ali, as he moved to Syria in order to join the court of the first Umayyad caliph

Mu'awiya I Mu'awiya I (–April 680) was the founder and first caliph of the Umayyad Caliphate, ruling from 661 until his death. He became caliph less than thirty years after the death of the Islamic prophet Muhammad and immediately after the four Rashid ...

(). According to later tradition, Aqil's change of heart was motivated by the fact that Mu'awiya was more willing than Ali to pay his debts. While he may have given up the

Hashimite The Hashemites (), also House of Hashim, are the royal family of Jordan, which they have ruled since 1921, and were the royal family of the kingdoms of Hejaz (1916–1925), Syria (1920), and Iraq (1921–1958). The family had ruled the city of Me ...

claims to the caliphate and politically supported the rival claim of the Umayyads instead, he always defended his brother Ali against any criticism leveled against him at Mu'awiya's court. Aqil was an expert on the

of the

tribe (the leading tribe of Mecca, to which both the Hashimite and Umayyad families belonged). The second caliph

() appointed him to record the names of the members of the Quraysh in the clan register (the ), and to arbitrate disputes with regard to genealogy. He was married to Fatima bint Utba, with whom he had several children (the most famous of them being

Muslim ibn Aqil Muslim ibn Aqil al-Hashimi () was a relative of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. Muslim was the son of Aqil ibn Abi Talib and a cousin of Husayn ibn Ali, the third Shia Imam, who dispatched him to Kufa in Iraq to ascertain their support upon the ...

). Contrary to their father, a number of his sons decided to fight for the Hashimite cause and were martyred along with their cousin

Husayn ibn Ali Husayn ibn Ali (; 11 January 626 – 10 October 680 Common Era, CE) was a social, political and religious leader in early medieval Arabia. The grandson of the Islamic prophet Muhammad and an Alids, Alid (the son of Ali ibn Abu Talib ibn Abd a ...

at the

Battle of Karbala The Battle of Karbala () was fought on 10 October 680 (10 Muharram in the year 61 Hijri year, AH of the Islamic calendar) between the army of the second Umayyad Caliphate, Umayyad caliph Yazid I () and a small army led by Husayn ibn Ali, th ...

. Aqil himself died in Medina, having become blind, either or (according to another report) .

Legacy

Multiple prophetic traditions (

s) were transmitted on Aqil's authority, and he also figured in hadiths related by others. According to one of those, Muhammad had expressed his twofold love for Aqil: one love for him because of his kinship with him, and another love because Aqil was favorite son (Muhammad himself had a close relationship with , who had adopted him after his own father

Abdullah ibn Abd al-Muttalib Abdullah ibn Abd al-Muttalib (; ; ) was the father of the Islamic prophet Muhammad.Ibn Hisham note 97.Muhammad ibn Saad, ''Tabaqat'' vol. 8. Translated by Bewley, A. (1995). ''The Women of Madina''. London: Ta-Ha Publishers. He was the son of A ...

had died a few months before his birth). Aqil was often cited by later writers for his eloquence and his witty rejoinders, addressed both against his wife and against Mu'awiya. He seems to have been a rich man, owning multiple properties both in Mecca and in Medina. One of his properties in Medina, the (), appears to have contained a graveyard where a number of notable early Muslims (especially members of the Hashimite family, such as Muhammad's daughter and Ali's wife

Fatima Fatima bint Muhammad (; 605/15–632 CE), commonly known as Fatima al-Zahra' (), was the daughter of the Islamic prophet Muhammad and his wife Khadija. Fatima's husband was Ali, the fourth of the Rashidun caliphs and the first Shia imam. ...

) are said to have been buried. Aqil's descendants through his son Muhammad, known by the

name A name is a term used for identification by an external observer. They can identify a class or category of things, or a single thing, either uniquely, or within a given context. The entity identified by a name is called its referent. A person ...

al-ʿAqīlī, were sometimes seen by later generations as members of the (the extended family of Muhammad, whom

Shiites Shia Islam is the second-largest branch of Islam. It holds that Muhammad designated Ali ibn Abi Talib () as both his political successor (caliph) and as the spiritual leader of the Muslim community (imam). However, his right is understood ...

regarded as eligible for holding the title of

), much like the descendants of his brothers Ali (the

Alids The Alids are those who claim descent from Ali ibn Abi Talib (; 600–661 CE), the fourth Rashidun caliph () and the first imam in Shia Islam. Ali was also the cousin and son-in-law of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. The main branches are th ...

) and Ja'far (the Ja'farids), as well as the descendants of the three brothers' uncle (the

Abbasids The Abbasid Caliphate or Abbasid Empire (; ) was the third caliphate to succeed the Islamic prophet Muhammad. It was founded by a dynasty descended from Muhammad's uncle, Abbas ibn Abd al-Muttalib (566–653 CE), from whom the dynasty takes i ...

Claims of ancestry by Somali clans

Most notably, the great majority of

trace their ancestry to Aqil ibn Abi Talib. The northern

Darod clan The Darod (, ) is a Somali clan. The forefather of this clan is Sheikh Abdirahman bin Isma'il al-Jabarti, more commonly known as Darod. The clan primarily settles the apex of the Horn of Africa and its peripheries, the Somali hinterlands adjacent ...

trace their descent from Aqil directly through their purported forefather

Darod The Darod (, ) is a Somali clan. The forefather of this clan is Sheikh Abdirahman bin Isma'il al-Jabarti, more commonly known as Darod. The clan primarily settles the apex of the Horn of Africa and its peripheries, the Somali hinterlands adjacent ...

. Northern pastoralist clans such as the

Hawiye The Hawiye (; ) are one of the principal and largest of the Somali clans, tracing their lineage back to Sheikh Ahmed Bin Abdulrahman Bin Uthman, also known as Sheikh Hawiye, the eponymous figure of the clan. They are considered the earliest do ...

and the Dir trace their ancestry to Aqil through their common purported forefather

Samaale Samaale, also spelled Samali or Samale () is traditionally considered to be the common forefather of several major Somali clans and their respective sub-clans. His name is the source of the ethnonym ''Somali''.. As the purported ancestor of most ...

(whose name also lies at the origin of the name 'Somali'). The

Isaaq clan The Isaaq (, , ''Banu Ishaq'') is a major Somali clan. It is one of the largest Somali clan families in the Horn of Africa, with a large and densely populated traditional territory. The Isaaq people claim in a traditional legend to have desce ...

is sometimes regarded as having been descended from Aqil through a

matrilineal Matrilineality, at times called matriliny, is the tracing of kinship through the female line. It may also correlate with a social system in which people identify with their matriline, their mother's lineage, and which can involve the inheritan ...

connection with the Dir, but they themselves claim to be patrilineally descended from Aqil's brother

Ali ibn Abi Talib Ali ibn Abi Talib (; ) was the fourth Rashidun caliph who ruled from until Assassination of Ali, his assassination in 661, as well as the first imamate in Shia doctrine, Shia Imam. He was the cousin and son-in-law of the Islamic prophet Muha ...

instead. Finally, southern clans who practice agriculture such as the

Rahanweyn The Rahanweyn (, Northern Somali, Somali: , ), also known as the Digil and Mirifle () is a major Somali clan. It is one of the major Somali clans in the Horn of Africa, with a large territory in the densely populated fertile valleys of the Jubba ...

trace their ancestry to Aqil through their common purported forefather Sab. One possible

genealogical Genealogy () is the study of families, family history, and the tracing of their lineages. Genealogists use oral interviews, historical records, genetic analysis, and other records to obtain information about a family and to demonstrate kin ...

table may look as follows: *Aqil ibn Abi Talib **

***

***Irir **** Hawiye clan ****Aji *****

Dir clan The Dir () is one of the largest and most prominent Somali clans in the Horn of Africa. They are also considered to be the oldest Somali stock to have inhabited the region. Its members inhabit Djibouti, Somalia, Ethiopia ( Somali, Harar, Dir ...

******(matrilineally)

**Sab ***Digil **** Rahanweyn clan These genealogical claims, which are part of what

Sada Mire Sada Mire (born July 1976) ( Somali: ''Sacda Mire'', Arabic: سعدة ميرة‎) is a Swedish-Somali archaeologist, art historian and presenter from the Arap clan, who is currently a professor of Heritage Studies at University College London. ...

has called "the Somali Islamic myth of origin", are historically untenable. However, they do reflect the longstanding cultural contacts between

Somalia Somalia, officially the Federal Republic of Somalia, is the easternmost country in continental Africa. The country is located in the Horn of Africa and is bordered by Ethiopia to the west, Djibouti to the northwest, Kenya to the southwest, th ...

(especially, though not exclusively, its most northern part

Somaliland Somaliland, officially the Republic of Somaliland, is an List of states with limited recognition, unrecognised country in the Horn of Africa. It is located in the southern coast of the Gulf of Aden and bordered by Djibouti to the northwest, E ...

) and

Southern Arabia South Arabia (), or Greater Yemen, is a historical region that consists of the southern region of the Arabian Peninsula in West Asia, mainly centered in what is now the Republic of Yemen, yet it has also historically included Najran, Jazan, ...

.. Cf. the attempt at a historical reconstruction of Somali clan genealogy by , which does not even mention any Arab ancestry, but rather starts with Sab and Samaale (see p. 10).

References

Works cited

* * * * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Aqil ibn Abi Talib 580s births 670 deaths 683 deaths Companions of the Prophet Banu Hashim