Abdul Muttalib - Early Life

Early Life

His father was Hāshim ibn `Abd Manāf and his mother was Salmah bint `Amr from the Banū Najjār tribe in Yathrib (later called, Madinah). On his father's side he belonged to the distinguished Banū Hāshim clan, a subgroup of the Quraish tribe of Makkah which traced their genealogy to Ismā'īl and Ibrāhīm. His father died while doing business in Gaza, before he was born.

He was given the name "Shaybah" meaning 'the ancient one' or 'white-haired' for the streak of white through his jet-black hair, and is sometimes also called Shaybat al-Ḥamd ("The white streak of praise"). After his father's death he was raised in Yathrib with his mother and her family until about the age of eight, when his uncle Muṭṭalib went to see him and asked his mother Salmah bint `Amr to entrust Shaybah to his care. Salmah was unwilling to let her son go and Shaybah refused to leave his mother without her consent. Muṭṭalib then pointed out that the possibilities Yathrib had to offer were incomparable to Makkah. Salmah was impressed with his arguments, so she agreed to let him go. Upon first arriving in Makkah, the people assumed the unknown child was Muṭṭalib's slave, giving him the name `Abdu'l-Muṭṭalib (slave of Muṭṭalib). When Muṭṭalib died, Shaybah succeeded him as the chief of the Banū Hāshim clan.