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The connection of 'Ali -- the commander of the faithful with the Nabi -- originated in the family of Abdul-Muttalleb, Ali having been the son of Abu Tâleb, the son of Abdul-Muttalleb, the son of Hâshem whose name was Umar, called Omrân the high, on account of his dignity.

During a year of famine and hardship Omrân had gone to Syria, and thence imported bread, on an infinite number of dromedaries, to the sanctuary, so that every day two camels were slaughtered and roasted; and the dry breads, having been moistened, were distributed twice daily. He was the first among the Arabs who invited guests to a repast prepared of moistened bread, and therefore surnamed Hâshem. Other chroniclers, again, have said that Hâshem means one who breaks bread in a cup to make it a kind of porridge, but the difference between the two meanings is obvious.

Hashem was proverbial for his liberality and unrivalled in gracefulness; the luminous beams of distinction radiated in such a manner from his forehead that whoever beheld his countenance had not the boldness to contemplate it, but looked to the ground. This the Christian sovereigns knew from their sacred books, and wished to enter into connection with him.

One of these was Harql (Heraclius, the Byzantine emperor), who sent him an ambassador and offered him a virgin whom he guarded in his private apartments, but Hâshem refrained from complying with his petition. Afterwards, however, he entered --in consequence of a dream he had -- into a matrimonial alliance, at Madinah, with Solma, one of the noblest ladies of the Bani Najjar, who was decorated with the ornaments of intellect and sagacity, on condition that her confinement should take place in her own house.

After the consummation of the marriage the lady was taken to Makkah, but on her becoming pregnant with Abdul-Muttalleb she was on account of the condition again conveyed back to Madinah, but after she had given birth to Abdul-Muttalleb, Hashem went to Syria, fell sick in the vicinity of Damascus, and gave directions in his last agony to surrender the bow to the Prophet Esma'il, the banner, and the key of the house of the Ka'bah, which he had inherited from his forefathers, to Abdul-Muttalleb, and having, though young, bidden farewell to his perishable world, he was buried in that country, where his tomb is still known and visited.

Some say that Hâshem went to Syria before the birth of Abdul-Muttalleb, and that he had himself given the just-mentioned articles to his brother Muttalleb, to whom he had also transferred the gubernatorial office, whilst the latter, in his turn, surrendered everything to Abdul-Muttalleb. But Muttalleb was the son of Abd Munâf whose name was [also] Moghairah and surname Abdush-Shams, but Munâf was likewise the name of an idol.

On account of his great beauty, he was also named Qamar [full moon], and because he had inherited the sovereignty from his father, the surrounding kings hastened to join Abd Munâf. He had four sons: one of them was Hâshem, about whom some circumstances have already been mentioned above. A

bdush-Shams was the ancester of the Bani Ummayya [called Ommiade Khalifs by European authors]; Naufil was the forefather of habib, the son of Mu'azim, and Muttalleb of Ali Shafa'i; the latter was thus surnamed because it is related that Hâshem and Abdush-Shams were twins, whose foreheads were connected at their birth and could not be separated, until at last the sword was resorted to. An intellignet man, who had been informed of this proceeding, considered it to be a sign that the descendants of the two brothers would decide their quarrels with the sabre, which prediction was actually fulfilled in the enmity between his lordship the Nabi (s.a.s.) and Abu Sufyan, between Ali (r.a.a.) the select and Mu'awiah, and between the Imâm Hussain (r.a.a.) and Yazid.

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