You are (most likely) a descendant of the Prophet Muḥammad

NJ Bridgewater

4 January 2015

Introduction

The Mosque of the Prophet in Medina, Arabia

Mecca with the Kaaba in centre

If you a Western European, or a North American or, perhaps, from the Western world in some way, shape or form, you are most likely a descendant of the Prophet Muḥammad ibn‘Abdu’llāh (c. 570 – 632 AD), the Revealer of the Qur’ān, the Messenger of God and Seal of the Prophets (peace and prayers be upon Him and His family and companions). In my case, He is my 45^th-great-grandfather (or, in other words, my great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great- great-great-great-great-great- great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great- great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great- great-great-great-great-great-Grandfather, with a capital ‘G’), through a rather circuitous line via New England settlers, the Plantagenets and the Spanish royal family). In fact, anyone with any connection to Edward III of England or to the Spanish Royal Family is also descended through the same European route to antiquity, including Elizabeth II, Prince Charles, Prince William and Prince George.[i] Cole, a Middle East scholar, even goes so far as to call it ‘common knowledge to anyone interested in genealogy’.[ii] In an article published in the Guardian on 24 May 2015 (Sunday), Adam Rutherford  argues that every living European is a descendant of Charlemagne, the first Holy Roman Emperor.[iii] While this claim might appear astonishing to the layman, to the enthusiastic genealogist, it is a matter of common sense. Every human being has two parents—that is clear enough—and four grandparents. Very few of us, with the exception of genealogists, consider the generations which must inevitably precede these forebears. You probably know your parents and most, if not all, of your grandparents, and most or all of them will still be alive. In my case, both my parents and one grandparent (my maternal grandmother) are still alive. I knew three of my grandparents but never knew my paternal grandfather, even though he did sit me on his lap when I was a toddler. Nevertheless, I know the names, birth dates and marriage dates of all my grandparents and, for those that have died, their death dates. Furthermore, I know the names of all of my great-grandparents—there are 8 of these. It is fairly easy to get that far back in one’s family tree, at least in countries such as Britain and America where records of births, marriages and deaths, as well as census records, exist for the last century.

The Genealogy of the Prophet Muhammadin calligraphic form (Arabic) by İsmaʿil 
b. İbrahim Bosnavi (d. 1748)

When you get beyond that generation, it gets trickier, and parish records, historical records and other sources must be consulted. We each have 16 great-great-grandparents, excluding repetitions where inbreeding has occurred. We then have 32 great-great-great-grandparents, 64 great-great-great-great-grandparents and 128 great-great-great-great-great-grandparents. If we assume that each generation is roughly 30 years apart and my parents were born in the 1940s/1950s (I was born 30 – 40 years later), then my grandparents were born in the 1910s, great-grandparents in the 1880s, great-great-grandparents in the 1850s, and so on. The 128 5xgreat-grandparents were born around the 1760s, or the middle of the 18^th century. In other words, there were 128 people born in that era who were my ancestors. Each one of them lived an individual life, had hopes and aspirations, challenges and suffering and found a partner or spouse and had children, passing on their genetic legacy to today. If even one of these people had not lived, I would also not have been born. Imagine the amazing coincidences and/or destiny which brought each one of us into being. Let’s extend this further:

Chart 1: The Number of Ancestors by Generations

According to the chart above, the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh), being in the 48^th generation (and being my 45^th great-grandfather), He would have been one of 140 trillion, 737 billion, 488 million, 355 thousand, 328 potential ancestors who lived in the 570s of the Common Era. The total population of the world in 670 AD was roughly 277 million, 700 thousand—far less than one billion.[iv] That’s not the population for one continent but for the entire inhabited world. Of course, people didn’t marry very widely or diversely in the past and usually within a specific geographical area. As such, there are a huge, absolutely immense, number of repetitions in genealogy. 

Samuel Lincoln House, Hingham, Massachusetts

For example, a lot of my New England ancestors came from Hingham, Massachusetts, and many of the inhabitants of this town intermarried with their cousins, resulting in significant inbreeding. It was from this same town that Abraham Lincoln’s ancestors emerged, including our common ancestors, Samuel Lincoln (1622 – 1690) and Martha Lyford. Due to inbreeding, however, President Abraham Lincoln is both my 5^th cousin, five times removed, a 7^th cousin, five times removed and an 8^th cousin, four and five times removed. Such was the nature of human relations in the past. In fact, in many villages in rural areas across the world, including many Arab tribes, cousin marriage is still a common practice. It has been a common practice throughout history. Nevertheless, the common consensus is that, if anyone was alive during the 9^th century in Europe and you have any European ancestry, you are a descendant of that person.[v] In other words, if you are a European or North American of European descent, any famous king, ruler, duke, or any common peasant and farmer, any beggar on the street or, indeed, any priest or pope, who left a line of descendants continuing to the present day, is your ancestor—and that’s a fact.

The Link to Europe: The Umayyad Conquest of Spain (711 – 718 AD)

Expansion of the Islamic Caliphate

The question then, remains, how does the Prophet Muḥammad’s progeny relate to the above? The simple answer is, through the Umayyad conquest of Spain in the 8^th century (711 – 718). If you are descendant of every European who left a line of descendants continuing to the modern day, you are also a descendant of every Arab and North African Muslim settler of Spain who left descendants. But let’s go back to the beginning. The Prophet Muhammad (c. 570 – 632 AD) (pbuh) was the son of ‘Abdu’llāh, a merchant and senior member of the clan of Hāshim, and Āminah daughter of Wahb ibn ‘Abd-Manāf. ‘Abdu’llāh, who died two months before Muhammad’s birth, was the son of ‘Abdu’l-Muṭṭalib, son of Hāshim (the ancestor of the Hāshimite Clan, including the Abbasid caliphs, the twelve Imāms and the modern-day ruling dynasties of Morocco and Jordan). Hāshim was the son of ‘Abd-Manāf (Āminah’s grandfather), son of Quṣayy, son of Kilāb, son of Murrah, son of Ka‘ab, son of Lu’ay, son of Ghālib, son of Fihr, son of Mālik, son of An-Naḍr (also known as Quraysh, the ancestor of the Quraysh Tribe), son of Kinānah (ancestor of the Banū Kinānah, the largest Mudhari Adnanite tribe), son of Mudrikah, son of ’Ilyās, son of Muḍar, son of Nizār, son of Ma‘ad, the son of ‘Adnān.[vi] The famous Orientalist, Richard Francis Burton, quoted the well-known saying of the Prophet Muhammad: “Beyond Adnan none save Allah wotteth and the genealogists lie”.[vii] According to Burton, ‘Adnān is sometimes reckoned as being in the eighth generation from the Prophet Ishmael (pbuh), son of Abraham (upon whom be peace), through his son, Kedar, though Aṭ-Ṭabarī holds that He is in the fortieth generation from Ishmael.[viii]

An Arabic tree tracing the ancestry of Muhammad (pbuh)
back to Adam (pbuh), the Father of Mankind

That gives a bit of background on the ancestry of the Prophet and His tribe; this is essential as the descendants of the Prophet, as well as the Umayyad and Abbasid caliphs, are all from this tribe. In the year 595 AD, the Prophet Muhammad’s virtuous character and trustworthiness as a merchant had attracted the attention of a wealthy widow named Khadījah, the daughter of Khuwaylid ibn Asad (of the Asad clan of the Quraysh tribe), who was 40 years’ old at the time. Again, we see that the numerous intermarriages within a tribe, who are all close relatives, eliminate many of the millions or billions of potential ancestors who existed in the 48^th generation of our ancestors. This marriage, like every other union in history, was essential to the existence of His progeny. Had Muhammad chosen to marry someone else, we simply would not exist—at least I and the millions of other descendants of Muḥammad would not exist. They had two sons together—Qāsim and ‘Abdu’llāh, who both died in childhood, and a daughter, Fāṭimah. According to Sunni sources, they had three other daughters together: Zaynab, Ruqayyah, and Umm Kulthūm. Shī‘ī scholars, such as Abu’l-Qāsim al-Kūfī, argue that these were either Khadījah’s daughters by a previous marriage or her sister’s (Halah’s) daughters who were raised by Muhammad and treated as His own daughters. In any case, the only universally-agreed descendants of the Prophet are through His daughter, Fāṭimah (605 – 632 AD), known as Az-Zahrā’ (the ‘Shining One’) and Ummu’l-Ḥasanayn (the ‘Mother of the Two Ḥasans’, i.e. Ḥasan and Ḥusayn). She married ‘Alī, the son of Abū-Ṭālib, the son of ‘Abdu’l-Muṭṭalib (the grandfather of the Prophet). ‘Alī was thus a member of the Hāshimite Clan and a first cousin of the Prophet, who was his father-in-law. ‘Alī, who later became the Fourth of the first First Caliphs of Islam (and the first Imām by Shī‘ī reckoning), married Fāṭimah circa 622/623 AD, and they had two sons: Ḥasan and Ḥusayn, and two daughters: Zaynab and Umm-Kulthūm (who were named after the aforementioned aunts of the same name). Zaynab married her cousin, ‘Abdu’llāh ibn Ja‘far, ‘Alī’s nephew, and had four sons: ‘Alī, Muhammad, ‘Awn and ‘Abbās. Umm-Kulthūm initially married the second of the first Four Caliphs, ‘Umar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb, with whom she had a son named Zayd and a daughter named Ruqayyah. After his death, she married ‘Awn ibn Ja‘far, brother of ‘Abdu’llāh ibn Ja‘far and, after his death, his brother Muḥammad.

The Descendants of ‘Alī and Fāṭimah

The name of Imam 'Ali (may God be pleased with him)

The principal descendants of ‘Alī and Fāṭimah, however, are those via their two sons Ḥasan and Ḥusayn, whose tragic lives inspired the formation of Shī‘ism, and who are the ancestors (in the direct male line) of the Idrisid and Alaouite dynasties of Morocco, the Hashemite Royal Family of Jordan (1921 – present) and, formerly, Iraq (1920 – 1958), the Al Qassimi dynasties of Sharjah and Ras al-Khaimah in the United Arab Emirates (18^th century – present), as well as the Fatimid Caliphate of Egypt (909 – 1171 AD), the Twelve Imāms of Twelver Shī‘ism (632 – 872), the Sharīfs of Mecca (1201 – 1923), the Nizari Ismaili Imams (799 AD – present), and numerous families of Sayyids, Sharīfs and Ashrafs scattered throughout the world.

The name Muhammad, repeated 4 times, in Kufic script

Chart 2:

THE PROPHET MUḤAMMAD [45x Great-Grandfather) to ZAIDA [28x great-grandmother]:

49. The Prophet Muḥammad ibn ‘Abdu'llāh (570-632) = Khadījah bint Khuwaylid

48. Fāṭimah bint Muḥammad (c. 605 – 632) = ‘Alī ib Abī-Ṭālib (601 – 661), 1^st Imām, 4^th Caliph

47. Ḥasan ibn ‘Alīib Abī-Ṭālib (625 – 670), 2^nd Imām of Shī‘ī Islam = Umm-Isḥāq bint Ṭalḥah

45. Al-Ḥusaynal-Athram ibn Ḥasan

44. Zahrā’ (Zohra) = Abū-Fārisī al-Lakhmī, descendant of the Lakhmid Dynasty

43. Na‘īm al-Lakhmī (or ‘Aṭṭāf)

42. Na‘īm al-Lakhmī

41. ‘Aṭṭāf al-Lakhmī

40. ‘Amr al-Lakhmī

39. ’Aslam al-Lakhmī

38. ‘Umar al-Lakhmī

37. ‘Abbād al-Lakhmī

36. Quraysh al-‘Abbādī

35. Ismā‘īl al-‘Abbādī

34. ’Abu’l-Qāsim Muḥammadibn Ismā‘īl (984 – 1042), Ruler of Seville, first Abbadid ruler

33. ‘Abbād IIal-Mu‘taḍid (1042 – 1069), Ruler of Seville

32. Muḥammadal-Mu‘tamid (1069 – 1095), Ruler of Seville, Ruler of Cordoba (from 1071 – 1081)

31. Zaida (Isabel) = King Alfonso VI de León y Castile (1040-1109)

Notable descendants of ‘Alī and Fāṭimah include Imām Ja‘far Aṣ-Ṣādiq (c. 700 – 765), the Sixth Shī‘ī Imām and Founder of the school of Ja‘fari jurisprudence, Al-Ḥākim bi-’Amri’llāh (985 – 1021), the Fāṭimid Caliph referred to in Western literature as the “Mad Caliph” (as he ordered the destruction of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in 1009 AD), the Sufi saint ‘Abdu’l-Qādir al-Jīlānī (c. 1077 – 1166 AD), the founder of the Qadiriyya Order, Muhammad Ahmad al-Mahdi (1844 – 1885), who proclaimed himself the Mahdi on 29 June 1881 and became the Ruler of Sudan in 1885, Mirza Sayyid Mohammad Tabatabai (1842 – 1920), a leader of the Iranian Constitutional movement, King Idris I of Libya (r. 1951 – 1969), Aga Khan IV (b. 1936), who is the current Nizari Ismaili Imam, Sayyid Kāẓim Rashtī (1793 – 1843) (the second leader of the Shaykhi School), Sayyid ‘Alī-Muḥammad Shīrāzī (known as ‘the Bāb’) (1819 – 1850), who was the Founder of the Bābī Faith, SayyidYaḥyā Dārābī (known as ‘Vaḥīd’) (1811 – 1850), a famous Bābī and their military leader during the battles of Nayriz, Mīrzā Muhammad-Husayn and MīrzāMuhammad-Hasan (d. 1879), collectively known as the Nūrayn-i-Nayyirayn (‘Twin Shining Lights’), who were famous Bahā’ī martyrs from Esfahan martyred in 1879, and Shoghi Effendi Rabbānī (1897 – 1957), the Guardian of the Bahā’ī Faith, as well as the other members of the Afnān Family who descend from the Bāb’s maternal uncles. The Safavid dynasty of Persia (r. 1501 – 1736) also claimed descent from Imām Ḥusayn, though the veracity of their claim is disputed by historians. A dynasty of sayyids did hold power for a time in northern Iran, the Zaydids of Tabaristan, who ruled over the northern regions of Tabaristan, Daylam and Gilan along the Caspian Sea from 864 – 900 and 914 – 928 AD while, in Arabia, the Ukhaydhirites ruled Najd from 862 until the mid-11^th century and the Sulaymanids of Yemen held power from 1063 – 1174.

The Lakhmids and the Abbadid Dynasty in Spain

Now, let’s take the line from ‘Alī and Fāṭimah to Europe. The eldest of their two sons, Ḥasan (also transliterated as Hassan) (625 – 670 AD), is regarded by Shī‘īs as the second of the Twelve Imāms, in succession to ‘Alī, whom Shī‘īs believe to be the appointed successor and infallible heir to the Prophet Muḥammad (pbuh).  Along with ‘Alī, Fāṭimah and Ḥusayn, he is regarded as being a member of the Ahl al-Bayt (the ‘People of the House’), referred to in Qur’ān 33:33. He is known to have married multiple times and may have had 15 sons and 9 daughters from 6 wives. His brother, Ḥusayn, is known to have had 6 sons and 4 daughters, though other sources say 4 sons and 2 daughters. One of Ḥasan’s numerous sons was known as al-Ḥusayn al-Athram, who only had descendants through his daughters.[ix] One of these, Fāṭimah, married the aforementioned Imām Ja‘far Aṣ-Ṣādiq, giving birth to Isma‘īl ibn Ja‘far, the 6^th Imām according to the Nizari Ismailis,[x] while other daughters include (according to the article on Arabic Wikipedia), Umm-Salmah bint al-Ḥusayn and Umm-Kulthūm bint al-Ḥusayn the latter of whom married Ismā‘īl ibn ‘Abdu’l-Malik ibn al-Ḥarb ibn al-Ḥakam and they had four children: Muslimah, Isḥāq, Muḥammad, and al-Ḥusayn.[xi] According to several pedigrees floating around the internet, al-Ḥusayn al-Athram had a daughter called Zahrā’ (usually spelled as Zohra) who married one Abū-Fārisī, though the source of that information is unclear. It appears, for instance, in Lineage of the Saints by Brian Starr, p. 277, as well as in Roderick W. Stuart’s Royalty for Commoners, published in 1998.[xii]  According to several of the pedigrees, Zahrā’ has a son named Na‘īm al-Lakhmī (i.e. ‘the Lakhmid’) who has also has son named Na‘īm al-Lakhmī. In Starr’s book, the first Na‘īm is listed as ‘Itaf, the son of Abu Farisi, son of Abu Abed, son of Qabus, son of Numan, son of Mundhir, son of Imrulcays, son of Numen, son of Imrulcays, son of Numan, son of Amr (b. c. 338), son of Imrulcays (d. c. 288), son of Amr (d. c. 268).[xiii]

The Lakhmids were descendants of An-Nu‘mān III ibn al-Mundhir, known as ’Abū-Qābūs, a Nestorian Christian ruler and the last Lakhmid King of Al-Ḥīrah, who succeeded his father in 580 AD.[xiv] He traced his line to ‘Amr ibn ‘Adī ibn Naṣr ibn Rabī‘ah ibn al-Ḥārith ibnMas‘ūd ibn Mālik ibn Ghanam ibn Namārah ibn Lakhm (d. 295), who reigned as the first Lakhmid king from 268 – 295 AD.  ‘Amr inherited his kingdom from Jadhīmah, his maternal uncle, the Tanukhid king, who was killed by Zenobia (240 – c. 275 AD), the Queen of Palmyra.

Muḥammad ibn ’Abbád al-Mu‘tamid

’Abu’l-Qāsim Muḥammadibn Ismā‘īl (984 – 1042) became the founder of the eponymous Abbadid Dynasty (1023 – 1091) and was the first independent Muslim ruler of Seville in Al-Andalus.[xv] He was appointed to that position by Yaḥyā ibn ‘Alī ibn Ḥamūd al-Mu‘talī (d. 1035), the Ḥamūddid Caliph of Cordoba.[xvi] In 1023, ’Abu’l-Qāsim proclaimed the Taifa of Seville independent from Cordoba, which then remained under the rule of the Abbadid Dynasty until 1091.[xvii]  His pedigree is given in the Arabic Wikipedia as: ’Abu’l-Qāsim Muḥammad ibn Ismā‘īl ibn Quraysh ibn ‘Abbād ibn ‘Umar ibn ’Aslam ibn ‘Amr ibn ‘Aṭṭāf ibn Na‘īm al-Lakhmī.[xviii] He was succeeded by his son, ‘Abbād II al-Mu‘taḍid (1042 – 1069), a poet, a skeptic and a man of treachery who habitually preserved the skulls of his enemies.[xix] ‘Abbād II’s son, Muḥammad al-Mu‘tamid (1069 – 1095) was the third and last of the Abbadids, succeeding, in 1071, to take control of Cordoba, before losing it permanently in 1081.[xx] The dynasty of the Abbadids has been described in The History of the Mohammaden Dynasties in Spain (p. 36) in the following terms: “I shall merely remind thee of the princes of the illustrious dynasty of the Bení ’Abbád, with whom, as God Almighty has said in his Korán, reside fruit, palm, and pomegranate, under whose reign every day was a solemn festivity, and who showed a greater passion for literature than was ever shown by the Bení Hamdán in Aleppo, and who became, together with their sons, relatives and Wizírs, the centre of eloquence both in prose and in verse, labouring assiduously and unanimously in the various departments of science; who left behind them brilliant traces, and everlasting fame, and whose history abounds in generous actions and noble deeds that will last through succeeding ages, and live for ever in the memory of man.”

Bautismo de la mora Zaida, José Luis Luna

Al-Mu‘tamid was the father-in-law or father of Zaida, a mistress and possibly wife of Alfonso VI (c. 1040 – 1109), King of León (r. 1065 – 1109) & King of Castile (r. 1072 – 1109).[xxi] According to Bernard F. Reilly (1988) in The Kingdom of Leon-Castilla under King Alfonso VI, 1065-1109 (Princeton University Press), p. 234: “The life and even the death of the Muslim princess Zaida, widow of Fath al-Mamun of Córdoba since March of the previous year, are problematic. Our best authority, Bishop Pelayo, wrongly makes her the daughter rather than the daughter-in-law of al-Mutamid of Sevilla but does identify her as the mother of Alfonso's only son. Her sepulchral inscription, variously reported, informs that she died in childbirth on either Monday, the 13th of September, or Thursday, the 13th of September, without reporting the year of her death. We cannot even be sure that it was the birth of Sancho Alfónsez himself.”[xxii] According to a book entitled "La familia de los Tellez de Meneses", Zaida’s tomb still exists and there is an inscription on the tomb which reads: "H.R. Regina Elisabeth, uxor regis Adefonsi, filia Benabet Regis Sevillae, quae prius Zayda, fuit vocata".[xxiii] This indicates that her Christian name was Elisabeth or, in Spanish, Isabel and that she was the daughter of ‘Benabet Regis Sevillae’, i.e. Benabet, King of Seville. Zaida was the mother of Alfonso VI’s only son (though illegitimate), named Sancho (c. 1093 – 1108), and possibly the mother of his two daughters: Elvira (d. 1135) and Sancha.[xxiv] Elvira married Roger II of Sicily in 1117, and they had five sons: Roger, Tancred, Alfonso, William I and Henry, as well as a daughter who died young.[xxv]I would imagine that Benabet is probably Ibn ‘Abbād, making her, in any case, a descendant of the Abbadid dynasty.

Maria Juana de Padilla

According to Flavio Rivera Montealegre’s Genealogía de la familia MONTEALEGRE, p. 237, Sancha, the daughter of Alfonso VI of Castile and Zaida, married Rodrigo González de Lara, “el Franco”, Señor de Liébana, Quintanilla, Ventosa, Cisneros y otras villas, y tuvo, además, los Gobiernos de Toledo, Segovia, Extremadura, Asturias de Santillana y otros.[xxvi] They had a son called Rodrigo Rodríguez de Lara (1123), Ricohombre, Señor de Peñalva, Quintanilla y Traspinedo.[xxvii] Rodrigo had a daughter named Doña Sancha who married Gonzalo Ruiz de Girón, Ricohomre del Rey Alfonso VIIII, de Enrique I y de Fernando III. Their daughter, Doña Maria Gonzalez Giron married Ramiro, Señor de Cifontes.[xxviii] They had a daughter named Aldonza Ramirez, Señora de Alcacines, who married Gonsalez Fernan.[xxix] Their daughter, Maria de Henestrona, married Juan Garciez de Padilla, Señor de Villagera, who fathered Maria Juana de Padilla (c. 1334-1361), who married PedroI “the Cruel” Alfonsez, King of Castile (1334-1369).[xxx] Their daughter, Princess Isabella (1355 – 1392), was married to Prince Edmund of Langley, 1^st Duke of York, (d. 1402), who was the son of Edward III, King of England. Here are the generations from Zaida to my 11x great-grandmother, Susan Clinton, Lady Fynes:

Edward III, King of England

Isabel de Castile y Leon, wife of Edmund, Duke of York

Chart 3

ZAIDA [28x great-grandmother] to SUSAN CLINTON, Lady Fynes [11x great-grandmother]:

31. Zaida (Isabella) = King Alfonso VI de León y Castile (1040-1109)

30. Sancha de Castile = Rodrigo Gonzales (“El Franco”), Conde de Liebana de Lara

29. Rodrigo Rodriguez de Lara (b. 1123) = Garcia de Azarga

28. Sancha Rodriguez de Lara = Gonsalo Ruis II Giron (d. 1234)

27. Aldonza Gonzales Giron = Ramiro, Señor de Cifontes

26. Aldonza Ramirez, Señora de Alcacines = Gonsalez Fernan

25. Maria de Henestrona = Juan Garciez de Padilla, Señor de Villagera

24. Maria Juana dePadilla (c. 1334-1361) = Pedro I “the Cruel”, King of Castile (1334-1369)

23. Isabel de Castile y León (c. 1355-1392) = Edmund Plantagenet, Duke of York (d. 1402)

22. Richard Plantagenet, 3rd Earl of Cambridge (1376-1415) = Anne de Mortimer

21. Richard Plantagenet, 3rd Duke of York (1411-1460) = Cecilly Neville

20. George Plantagenet, 1st Duke of Clarence (1449-1477/8) = Isabel Neville

19. Margaret Plantagenet, 8th Countess of Salisbury (c. 1469-1541) = Sir Richard Pole

18. Henry Pole, Lord Montagu (1492-1539) = Jane Neville, 4 x g-granddaughter of King Edward III

17. Catherine Pole, Countess of Huntingdon (1511-1576) = Francis Hastings, 2nd Earl of Huntingdon

16. Lady Catherine Hastings (1542-1576) = Henry Clinton, 2nd Earl of Lincoln, 10th Lord Clinton

15. Thomas Clinton, 3rd Earl of Lincoln (1571—1619) = Elizabeth Knyvett

14. Susan Clinton (b. c. 1602) [11x great-grandmother]

Edward Fiennes de Clinton, 1st Earl of Lincoln

The Plantagent Link to New England

According to “John Humfrey Massachusetts magistrate : did he marry the daughter of the third Earl of Lincoln!”  by Elroy McKendree Avery (1844-1935), published in 1912:  “George Plahtagenet, Duke of Clarence, married and had a daughter, Margaret, Countess of Salisbury, who married Sir Richard Pole, K. G., and had a son, Henry Pole, Baron Montacato, who married Lady Neville, and his daughter, Catharine  Pole, married Francis Hastings, second Earl of Huntingdon, and had a daughter, Catherine Hastings, who married Henry Clinton, second Earl of Lincoln. Thomas Clinton, third Earl of Lincoln, their son, married  and had a daughter, Susan Clinton, who married Gen. John Humphrey, sword bearer of the Court of Justice of Trial of Charles I., and afterward Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts.”[xxxi] This then needs to be connected with the next generation. According to the same source: ““James Savage speaks-" of the arrival of John Humphrey at  Boston in 1634, and says that "with him, besides his wife,  Susan, daughter of the illustrious Thomas Clinton, third Earl of Lincoln, and some children, Ann, Dorcas, and Sarah, he brought money, goods and cattle, for the Colony."[xxxii]

The Plantagent Royal Family Tree

His children are mentioned in the following source: ““At the time of his departure for England, it seems at least some of John Humphrey’s children remained in Massachusetts in the care of others.  Besides Anne, Dorcas, Sarah and possibly John, previously mentioned, there were the following baptized at Salem: Theophilus (having his name from his uncle, the 4th Earl of Lincoln), 1637; Thomas, 1638; Joseph, 1640 and Lydia, 25 1641. Savage adds mysteriously: “Perhaps he had another daughter who lost her reason… Perhaps, sooner or later, all but the one married [Anne] went to England; at least the father never came again.”  According to Lewis “they were much censured for leaving their children, but their intention of visiting the Bahamas, and the approaching inclemency of the season, rendered it imprudent to take them, and they undoubtedly intended to return, or send for them.””

This Thomas Humphreys, born in 1638, is my 10x great-grandfather. According to Lincoln’s History of Hingham: “Thomas (prob. s. of John and Susan, who came over in 1634), was at Dover, 1660; and is believed to have been the person of that name baptized in Hingham by Rev. Peter Hobart, July 19, 1660, being then an adult. ... it seems more than prob. that he may have been the Thomas Humphrey who afts. resided at Pemaquid; and this view is strengthened by the traditions which have been disseminated by the older members of the family. By the will of his father in law, George Lane, it appears that the sons of Thomas and Hannah Humphrey were George, William, Ebenezer, and Joseph.” This George Humphreys, born 1665/6, is my 9x great-grandfather, who went on to marry Elizabeth Carver, having at least 8 children, including my 8x great-grandfather, Hannah Humphreys (b. 1698), who married Simon Joy (d. 1789), and had a son named Nehemiah Joy (1726 – 1802), my 7x great-grandfather.[xxxiii] Now, we’re really reaching modern times—the dawn of the 19^th century. Nehemiah married Miriam Turner and had seven children, including my 6x great-grandmother, Lydia Joy (1748 – 1828).[xxxiv] Lydia married Jacob Loud in 1772 and had a daughter named Polly Loud, my 5x great-grandmother in 1781. According to the Hudson-Mohawk Genealogical and Family Memoirs: Thomas, Polly Loud married Captain Andrew Thomas on June 10, 1801 in Weymouth, Massachusetts.[xxxv] They had 12 children, including Nancy Thomas (1805 – 1905), my great-great-great-great-grandmother.[xxxvi] Nancy Thomas married Ensign Warren Shaw (1792 – 1870) and had a daughter named Belinda Shaw (b. 1830), my great-great-great-grandmother.[xxxvii]  She married Quincy Adams Tirrell, who was born in 1818, and they had a daughter named Mary Blanchard Tirrell (1855-1951), my great-great-grandmother.[xxxviii] Now that we’ve reached the twentieth century, I’ll stop there. Suffice it to say, four more generations later I appear on the scene.

Mary Blanchard Tirrell, my great-great-grandmother

Chart 4

SUSAN CLINTON [11x great-grandmother] to MARY TIRRELL [2x great-grandmother]:

14. Susan Clinton (b. c. 1602) = John Humphreys (they emigrated to America)

13. Thomas Humphreys (b. 1638) = Hannah Lane (b. 1639)

12. George Humphreys (b. 1665/6) = Elizabeth Carver (b. 1662/3)

11. Hannah Humphreys (b. 1698) = Simon Joy

10. Nehemiah Joy (1726 - 1802) = Miriam Turner

9. Lydia Joy (1748-1828) = Jacob Loud

8. Polly Loud (1781-1833) = Captain Andrew Thomas

7. Nancy Thomas (1805-1905) = Ensign Warren Shaw

6. Belinda Shaw = Quincy Adams Tirrell

5. Mary Blanchard Tirrell (1855-1951)

4, 3, 2, 1.

The point of the article above is not to definitely establish a line of descent from the Prophet Muḥammad to the present generation. There are some historical discrepancies, such as the enigmatic Zahra or Zohra who married into the Lakhmid line, and the identity of Isabel or Zaida, who married Alfonso VI of Castile. Rather, it is to show what such a line would look like or does look like, depending on its accuracy. The fact remains: anyone alive in Europe in the 9^th century who has descendants alive today is an ancestor of every European alive today. That is a fact which cannot be disputed. As such, if the Abbadids, a branch of the Lakhmids, had any descendants at all whose lines survive to the present day, then we are descended from that royal family. Furthermore, if there was even one descendant of the Prophet Muḥammad in Al-Andalus in Spain whose line of descent continues to the present day, then we are all descended from that individual and, hence, descendants of the Prophet. Yes, the actual amount of genes we possess from any one person in that era is rather small yet, if even one of them had not lived, we would not have been born.

A painting of the Holy Tomb of the Prophet Muhammad in Medina

Other Descendants of the Prophet in Al-Andalus

Examples of other descendants of the Prophet in Spain include Ibn Diḥyah al-Kalbī (1150 – 1235), born as ‘Umar ibn al-Ḥasan ibn Muḥammad ibn al-Jamīl ibn Faraḥ ibn Khalaf ibn Qumis ibn Mazlal ibn Malal ibn Badr ibn Diḥyah ibn Farwah, who was a Moorish scholar of Arabic and Islamic studies who descended from the Prophet on his mother’s side.[xxxix] He was born in Valencia and died in Cairo, Egypt. Likewise, the aforementioned Yaḥyā ibn ‘Alī ibn Ḥammūd, who appointed my ancestor, ’Abu’l-Qāsim Muḥammad ibn Ismā‘īl, as the ruler of Seville, was also a descendant of the Prophet. According to The History of the Mohammedan Dynasties in Spain extracted from Nafhu-t-Tíb min Ghosni-l-Andalusi-r-Rattíb wa Táríkh Lisánu-d-Dín Ibni-l-Khattíb by Ahmed Ibn Mohammed Al-Makkarí, Vol. II, Translated by Pascual de Gayangos (1843), p. 238: “On his taking possession of the throne, Yahya assumed the surname of Al-mu’tali (the exalted). Being proud of his noble origin, since he was descended on his father’s side from ‘Alí [Ibn Abí Tálib], and his mother also was a descendant of Fátimah, the daughter of the Prophet, Yahya began to treat the great men of his court with utter disregard, never admitting them to his presence, and passing his time in the society of low and contemptible men...” The Hammudids were descendants of the Idrisid dynasty through ’Idrīs ibn ‘Abdu’llāh, who founded the Kingdom of Morocco, which he ruled from 788 – 791.[xl] Al-Makkarí refers to the Idrisids thus (p. 395): “...the sovereigns of the house of Idrís, who reigned in Mauritania from one hundred and seventy to three hundred and seventy five of the Hijra, and who were the descendants of ‘Alí Ibn Abí Tálib”. Being a great-grandson of Imām Ḥasan, ’Idrīs was a descendant of the Prophet Muḥammad. If his descendants left any continuous lines in Spain, we all may be connected to that line, one way or another.  

The Early Muslim Leaders from the Quraysh Tribe

Another Link to the Quraysh Tribe: The Umayyad Connection

The Umayyad Caliphate: Map

The above line [charts 2, 3 & 4] from the Prophet Muḥammad through Ḥasan and then Zaida, via the Spanish royal line, is somewhat tenuous. However, another connection to the Quraysh tribe, to which the Prophet belonged, can be found in the Spanish link to the Umayyad Caliphate. The Umayyad Caliphate is one of three caliphates, besides that of ‘Alī himself, which descend from the Quraysh tribe, the other two being the Abbasids and the Fatimids, both of which belong to the Hashimite clan. The Umayyads, however, come from another clan within the tribe. Both the Prophet Muḥammad and the Umayyads (as well as the Abbasids) descend from ‘Abd-Manāf. Muḥammad (pbuh) was the son of ‘Abdu’llāh, who was the son of ‘Abdu’l-Muttalib, son of Hāshim, son of ‘Abd-Manāf. The Umayyads descend from ’Umayyah, son of ‘Abd-Shams, son of ‘Abd-Manāf. Before the Prophet Muḥammad passed away in 632 AD, He gave indications that authority should pass to His son-in-law and cousin, ‘Alī ibn ’Abī-Ṭālib.[xli] However, after His death, the senior members of the Muslim community elected ’Abū-Bakr as the first Caliph, followed by ‘Umar and, eventually, ‘Uthmān, who was a member of the Umayyad clan. When ‘Uthmān was assassinated in 656, ‘Alī was elected as the fourth caliph. Mu‘āwiyah I ibn ’Abī-Sufyān, Governor of Syria and a member of the Umayyad Clan, rebelled against ‘Alī, leading to the First Fitnah (i.e. Civil War) in the community. When ‘Alī  was assassinated by the Kharijites in 661, Mu‘āwiyah (602 – 680), who was a son of ’Abū-Sufyān, the avowed enemy of the Prophet up until just before the conquest of Mecca, became the first Caliph from the Umayyad Dynasty. Before passing on, he selected his son, Yazīd (647 – 683), as his successor, thus founding a hereditary dynasty. He was succeeded by his son, Mu‘āwiyah II (664 – 684) who abdicated in 684 and was succeeded by Marwān I ibn al-Ḥakam ibn ’Abu’l-‘Āṣ ibn Umayyah (623 – 685), from another branch of the clan. The former Umayyads were known as the Sufyanids while Marwān and his descendants are known as the Marwanids. It is from these that the line descends to Europe and, via the Spanish royals and, again, the Plantagenets, to New England.

The Caliphate of Cordoba in Iberia

Marwān was succeeded by his son, ‘Abdu’l-Malik ibn Marwān (646 – 705), the 5^th Umayyad caliph. He, in turn, was succeeded by his son, Al-Walīd I (668 – 715), who ruled as caliph from 705 – 715. Mūsā ibn Mūsā al-Qasawī (c. 790 – 862) was the leader of the Muwallad Banū Qasī clan and ruler of a semi-autonomous principality in the upper Ebro valley of northern Iberia.[xlii] The Banū Qasī descend from a Hispano-Roman or Visigothic nobleman named Cassius, who converted to Islam in 714 as the mawali (‘client’) of Umayyads, shortly after the Umayyad Conquest of Spain.[xliii] He travelled with the Muslim conqueror of the Iberian Peninsula, Mūsā ibn Nusayr, to Damascus, where he paid homage to Caliph Al-Walīd I.[xliv] There, he married Mūsā ibn Nusayr’s granddaughter, ‘Āṣimah (or ‘Ā’ishah) bint ‘Abdu’l-‘Azīz (b.c. 713/717), who was the daughter of ‘Abdu’l-‘Azīz ibn Mūsā and Egilona (also called Ailo or Ayluna), the last Visigoth queen of Spain.[xlv] ‘Abdu’l-‘Azīz ibn Mūsā ibn Nusayr was the second wali of Al-Andalus (r. 714 – 716).[xlvi] According to the "Family tree of Uthman" article on Wikipedia, Marwan I and his wife/cousin, Aisha bint Uthman, had a daughter (unnamed) who married Musa bin Nusayr, thus eventually connecting the Banū Qasī with the Umayyad dynasty in the subsequent generations. ‘Ā’ishah bint ‘Uthmān was the daughter of ‘Uthmān ibn ‘Affān (c. 574 - 656), the third Caliph of Islam, succeeding ‘Umar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb and preceding ‘Alī ibn ’Abī-Ṭālib.[xlvii] Her mother was Ramlah bint Shaybah the daughter of Shaybah ibn Rabī‘ah ibn ‘Abd-Shams, a champion of the pagan Meccan army who was killed by ‘Alī at the Battle of Badr.[xlviii] Fortún ibn Qasī was also thus a descendant both of the Umayyad caliph Marwān I and the third Caliph ‘Uthmān. According to Ibn Hazm, Count  Cassius had four sons: Fortún, Abu-Tawr, Abu-Salama, Yunus and Yahya. The Banū Qasī descend from the eldest son, Fortún. The Count ruled an area comprising Tudela, Tarazona, Borja and, probably, Ejea. Fortún’s son, Mūsā ibn Fortún ibn Qasī, gained notice in 788 when he put down a rebellion of the Banū Ḥusayn on behalf of Emir Hishām I of Cordoba.

Mūsā ibn Mūsā al-Qasawī

Íñigo Arista of Pamplona (c. 790 – 851/852) was the first Basque King of Pamplona. His family was connected with the Banū Qasī clan by virtue of Íñigo’s mother being also the mother of his half-brother, Mūsā ibn Mūsā al-Qasawī, and he is believed to have married a woman named Urraca, possibly a granddaughter of Mūsā ibn Mūsā al-Qasawī. This is gleaned from the fact that one of their sons was given the name Fortún, a common name within the Banū Qasī clan.[xlix] Urraca may have been the daughter of one of the sons of Mūsā, who included Lubb (Lope), Mutarrif and Fortún. Mūsā also had at least two daughters: Auria and another daughter, called “the most beautiful girl in Al-Andalus”.[l] Other sources state that it was King Íñigo Arista of Pamplona’s son, Fortún Garcés of Pamplona (d. 922), King of Pamplona, who married Auria (or Awriyah) bint Lubb, the daughter of Lubb ibn Mūsā al-Qasawī. They had five children: Íñigo Fortúnez, Aznar Fortúnez, Velasco Fortúnez, Lope Fortúnez, and Onneca Fortúnez.[li] In 862/863, Onneca Fortúnez was married off to ‘Abdu’llāh ibn Muḥammad (844 – 912), an Umayyad and the seventh Emir of Cordoba (r. 888 – 912). Íñigo Fortúnez married Sancha Garcés of the Jiménez dynasty. In about 880, Onneca Fortúnez abandoned her Muslim family and returned with her father to Pamplona where she married her first cousin, Aznar Sánchez de Laron. Together, they had a son and two daughters: Sancho, Toda and Sancha. Both Toda and Sancha became queens consort of Pamplona, with the eldest, Toda Aznárez, marrying Sancho I Garcéz, King of Pamplona, with whom she had six children, including García Sánchez I, King of Pamplona from 925 – 970 and Urraca Sánchez, queen-consort of León from 931 – 951.[lii]  The line of Toda Aznárez then descends through seven generations to Alfonso VI of Castile (who appears earlier in this article as the husband of Zaida, the purported descendant of the Prophet). Here’s the line:

Chart 5:

‘ABD-MANĀF [50x great-grandfather] to ALFONSO VI [30x great-grandfather]:

 ‘Abd-Manāf, the father of Hāshim and great-great-grandfather of the Prophet Muḥammad (pbuh)

‘Abd-Shams ibn ‘Abd-Manāf

’Umayyah ibn ‘Abd-Shams

’Abu’l-‘Āṣ ibn ’Umayyah

Al-Ḥakam ibn ’Abu’l-‘Āṣ

Marwān I ibn al-Ḥakam (623 – 685), Caliph of Islam = ‘Ā’ishah bint ‘Uthmān, dau. Caliph ‘Uthmān

Daughter (unnamed) = Mūsā ibn Nusayr, conqueror of Iberia (640 – 716)

‘Abdu’l-‘Azīz ibn Mūsā, wali of Al-Andalus (r. 714 – 716) = Egilona (Ailo/Ayluna)

‘Āṣimah (or ‘Ā’ishah) bint ‘Abdu’l-‘Azīz (b.c. 713/717) = Fortún ibn Qasī, son of Count Cassius

Mūsā ibn Fortūn ibn Qasī

Mūsā ibn Mūsā al-Qasawī (c. 790 – 862), ruler of the upper Ebro valley

Lope (Lubb) ibn Mūsāal-Qasawī

Oria (Auria /Aurea) = Fortún Garcés “the Monk” de Pamplona (d. c. 903)

Iñiga Fortúnez (b. c. 847) = Aznar Sanchez de Larron

Toda Aznárez de Larron = Sancho I García de Navarre (b. c. 885)

Garcia III Sanchezde Navarre y Pamplona (d. 970) = Andregota Galindez de Aragon

Sancho II AbarcaGarcés de Navarre (b. c. 935) = Urraca Fernandez de Castile

Garcia IV “ElTremulo” de Navarre (d. 1000) = Jimena Fernandez

Sancho I (III) “theGreat”, King of Castile, Navarre & Aragon (c. 970-1035)

Ferdinand, King of Castile (r. 1037-1065) = Heiress of León

Alfonso VI, King of Castile and León (r. 1072-1109)

The line then descends from Alfonso VI through his daughter, Theresa, to Princess Leonor of Castile, the wife of Edward I Plantagenet, King of England. From here, it descends through the de Courtenay line, then through the Drake family, to Quincy Adams Tirrell, the husband of Belinda Burrell Shaw (mentioned earlier), who was a descendant of Alfonso VI and Zaida. The two lines thus join together in their daughter, Mary Blanchard Tirrell (b. 1855), my great-great-grandmother.

Alfonso VI of Castile (30x great-grandfather)

Effigy of Sir Thomas Grenville (1449-1513)

Sir Bernard Drake (1528-1586), sea captain

The Grenville Family Tree

Chart 6

ALFONSO VI [30x great-grandfather] to MARY B. TIRRELL [2x great-grandmother]:

Alfonso VI, King of Castile and León (r. 1072-1109) = Ximena Nunez de Guzman

Theresa of Castileand León = Henry of Burgundy, Count of Portugal

Affonso I “TheConqueror” Henriquez, 1st King of Portugal = Matilde, dau. Amadeo III of Savoy

Urraca, Princess of Portugal = Fernando II, King of León (1137-1188)

Alfonso IX, King of Castile & León (1171-1230) = Princess Berengaria of Castile

Fernando III de Castile y León (1201-1252) = Jeanne de Dammartin de Ponthieu

Princess Leonor de Castile (1244-1290) = Edward I “Longshanks”, King of England (1239-1307)

Princess Elizabeth Plantagenet (1282-1316) = Humphrey VIII de Bohun (1275-1321)

Margaret de Bohun (1311-1391) = Hugh de Courtenay, Earl of Devon (1303-1377)

Edward Courtenay (1329-1364) = Emmeline Dawnay (1328-1368)

Sir Hugh Courtenay (1360-1425) = Maud Beaumont (1356-1467)

Margaret Courtenay (b. 1381) = Theobald Granville (1367-1381)

William Granville (1395-1450) = Philippa Bonville (b. 1405)

Sir Thomas Granville (1417-1483) = Elizabeth Gorges (b. 1421)

Sir Thomas Grenville (1449-1513) = Isabella Gilbert (b. 1445)

Sir Roger Grenville (1477-1524) = Margaret Whitleigh (Whitley) (b. 1474)

Anne (Amy)Grenville (1513-1577) = John Drake (1500-1588)

Sir Bernard Drake (1528-1586) = Gertrude Fortescue (1538-1601)

John Drake, MP for Devon (1566-1628) = Dorothy Button (1568-1631)

William Drake (b. 1596) = Margaret Westover (1599-1635)

Thomas Drake(1636-1692) = Millicent Carver (b. 1637)

Joseph Drake (1665-1719) = Elishama (1665-1718)

Jane Drake (1687-1754) = Ebenezer Vinson (1684-1764)

Mary Vinson (1713-1754) = Captain Thomas Pratt (1704-1754)

Elizabeth Pratt (1742-1835) = Jonathan Derby (b. 1743)

Elizabeth Derby (1769-1850) = Benjamin Tirrell (1760-1850)

Cyrus Tirrell (1789-1863) = Mary Blanchard (1792-1863)

Quincy Adams Tirrell (b. 1818) = Belinda Burrell Shaw (b. 1830)

Mary Blanchard Tirrell (1855-1951) [great-great-grandmother]

Conclusion

The Prayer Hall of the Great Mosque of Cordoba

From the above, I hope you have gleaned how descent from famous figures and Prophets in antiquity is not only plausible but inevitable, that descent from the Prophet Muḥammad (pbuh) is extremely common and very likely for those of European extraction, that every European of the 9^th century whose descendants are alive today is the common ancestor of all Europeans, and that we all hail from a mix of nations, tribes and ethnicities. There is no one person who can claim to be completely and thoroughly European. We all have connections, in the distant past, to Africa, the Middle East and Asia. Furthermore, we should reflect on the incredible legacy of our ancestors, who lived and strived in order that we may live and strive in this generation. If even one of these ancestors had not lived, pursued their dreams, found a partner or partners and had issue, we would not now exist. Europeans owe a great debt to the Islamic Golden Age for the expansion of science, philosophy and ideas which led to the rise of the Renaissance in Europe. This is part of the spiritual legacy of Islam—a legacy which continues to affect us to this day.

The Glorious Qur'an, in beautiful calligraphy

And if we are, indeed, descendants of the Prophet of Islam, should we not at least reflect—even a little—on the great book which He brought into this world, i.e. the Qur’ān? After all, the Qur’ān gives a strong message about the importance of family. Qur’ān 42:23 reads, for example: “Say: ‘No reward do I ask of you for this except the love of those near of kin.’ And if any one earns any good, We shall give him an increase of good in respect thereof: for God is Oft-Forgiving, Most Ready to appreciate (service).”[liii] Likewise, before He passed away, the Prophet told His followers that He had given them two legacies, the Qur’ān and His family. The family, in its narrowest sense, refers to His direct, male-line heirs (thus excluding the millions of descendants through female lines, such as myself and many Europeans). He is reported to have said: “I am about to answer the call (of death). Verily, I leave behind two precious things (thaqalayn) amongst you: the Book of God and my Ahl al-Bayt. Verily, the two will never separate until they come back to me by the side of the Pond.”[liv] The Ahl al-Bayt (‘People of the House’) specifically refers to ‘Alī, Fāṭimah and their two sons: Ḥasan and Ḥusayn, as well as the direct male-line descendants of that House. However, in its widest sense, ‘family’ embraces all one’s descendants and we are, although not members of the Ahl al-Bayt, nevertheless part of the wider family of His descendants. I will leave you with these words from the Qur’ān (38:29): “(Here is) a Book which We have sent down unto thee, full of blessings, that they may mediate on its Signs, and that men of understanding may receive admonition.”[lv]

View of the Arabian Desert

For more information on the Qur’ān, you may wish to read the following blog posts I have written: “Is Allah the Arabic Word for God”, “The Qur’ān’s Arguments for Belief in God”, and “5 Reasons the Qur’ān and US Constitution Can Co-Exist”. I have also written a short summary of the life of the Prophet Muḥammad, on a separate website, entitled: “Founders of the Divine Religions, Section 8: MUHAMMAD”, which I wrote back in 2004. A clear and easy, free-to-download translation of the Qur’an by Talal Itani can be found at ClearQuran.com or at Quranful.com. For those who wish to delve into the Qur’an in a more scholarly way, the QuranicArabic Corpus is recommended.

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[i] AFP (2013) French expert links UK royal baby to Muhammad, The Local, 06 Jul 2013. URL: http://www.thelocal.fr/20130706/uk-royal-baby-related-to-muhammad-french-expert (accessed 03/01/2016).

[ii] Juan Cole (2008) Burke’s Peerage: Queen Elizabeth II Descended from the Prophet Muhammad, Informed Comment, Feb. 28, 2008. URL: http://www.juancole.com/2008/02/burkes-peerage-queen-elizabeth-ii.html (accessed 03/01/2016).

[iii] Adam Rutherford (2015) “So you’re related to Charlemagne? You and every other living European...”, The Guardian, 24 May 2015. URL: http://www.theguardian.com/science/commentisfree/2015/may/24/business-genetic-ancestry-charlemagne-adam-rutherford (accessed 03/01/2015)

[iv] Source: http://www.scottmanning.com/archives/World%20Population%20Estimates%20Interpolated%20and%20Averaged.pdf (accessed 03/01/2016).

[v] Rutherford (2015).

[vi] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Family_tree_of_Muhammad (accessed 03/01/2015).

[vii] Pilgrimage, ii. 344.

[viii] Burton.

[ix] Wilferd Madelung (1997), The Succession to Muhammad: A Study of the Early Caliphate (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press), p. 384.

[x] See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Family_tree_of_Husayn_ibn_Ali (accessed 03/01/2016).

[xi] See: https://ar.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D8%AD%D8%B3%D9%8A%D9%86_%D8%A8%D9%86_%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AD%D8%B3%D9%86_%D8%A8%D9%86_%D8%B9%D9%84%D9%8A (accessed 03/01/2016).

[xii] See: http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/read/PLANTAGENET-DESCENDANTS-PROJECT/2002-07/1027484026 (accessed 03/01/2016).

[xiii] Starr, p. 228.

[xiv] See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al-Nu%27man_III_ibn_al-Mundhir (accessed 03/01/2016).

[xv] Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abu_al-Qasim_Muhammad_ibn_Abbad ; https://ar.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D8%A3%D8%A8%D9%88_%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%82%D8%A7%D8%B3%D9%85_%D8%A8%D9%86_%D8%B9%D8%A8%D8%A7%D8%AF (accessed 03/01/2016).

[xvi] Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yahya_ibn_Ali_ibn_Hammud_al-Mu%27tali (accessed 03/01/2016).

[xvii] Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taifa_of_Seville (accessed 03/01/2016).

[xviii] See: https://ar.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D8%A3%D8%A8%D9%88_%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%82%D8%A7%D8%B3%D9%85_%D8%A8%D9%86_%D8%B9%D8%A8%D8%A7%D8%AF (accessed 03/01/2016).

[xix] See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abbadid_dynasty (accessed 03/01/2016).

[xx] See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abbadid_dynasty (accessed 03/01/2016).

[xxi] See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al-Mu%27tamid_ibn_Abbad (accessed 03/01/2016).

[xxii] Source: http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/read/PLANTAGENET-DESCENDANTS-PROJECT/2002-07/1027484026 (accessed 03/01/2016).

[xxiii] See: http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/read/GEN-MEDIEVAL/2001-06/0992615842 (accessed 03/01/2016).

[xxiv] See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zaida_of_Seville (accessed 03/01/2016).

[xxv] See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elvira_of_Castile,_Queen_of_Sicily (accessed 03/01/2016).

[xxvi] Montealegre, p. 237.

[xxvii] Montealegre, p. 237.

[xxviii] See: http://www.hull.ac.uk/php/cssbct/cgi-bin/gedlkup.php/n=royal?royal11076 (accessed 03/01/2016).

[xxix] See: http://www.hull.ac.uk/php/cssbct/cgi-bin/gedlkup.php/n=royal?royal11076 (accessed 03/01/2016).

[xxx] See: http://www.hull.ac.uk/php/cssbct/cgi-bin/gedlkup.php/n=royal?royal11078 (accessed 03/01/2016).

[xxxi] Source: https://archive.org/details/johnhumfreymassa00aver (accessed 03/01/2016).

[xxxii] See: https://archive.org/stream/johnhumfreymassa00aver/johnhumfreymassa00aver_djvu.txt (accessed 03/01/2016).

[xxxiii] See: http://aleph0.clarku.edu/~djoyce/gen/report/rr08/rr08_423.html#P19183 (accessed 03/01/2016).

[xxxiv] See: http://www.ancestry.com/genealogy/records/miriam-turner_41896509 (accessed 03/01/2016).

[xxxv] Source: http://www.schenectadyhistory.org/families/hmgfm/thomas-1.html (accessed 03/01/2016).

[xxxvi] Source: http://www.schenectadyhistory.org/families/hmgfm/thomas-1.html (accessed 03/01/2016).

[xxxvii] Source: http://www.geni.com/people/Belinda-Tirrell-Shaw/6000000007720276228 (accessed 03/01/2016).

[xxxviii] Source: http://www.geni.com/people/Quincy-Adams-Tirrell/6000000007720196385 (accessed 03/01/2016).

[xxxix] See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ibn_Dihya_al-Kalby (accessed 03/01/2016).

[xl] See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Idris_I_of_Morocco (accessed 03/01/2016).

[xli] See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_event_of_Ghadir_Khumm (accessed 04/01/2016).

[xlii] See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Musa_ibn_Musa_ibn_Qasi (accessed 04/01/2016).

[xliii] See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banu_Qasi (accessed 04/01/2016).

[xliv] See: https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort%C3%BAn_ibn_Qasi (accessed 04/01/2016).

[xlv] See: https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Egilona (accessed 04/01/2016).

[xlvi] See: https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abd_al-Aziz_ibn_Musa (accessed 04/01/2016).

[xlvii] See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Family_tree_of_Uthman (accessed 04/01/2016).

[xlviii] See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shaybah_ibn_Rabi%27ah (accessed 04/01/2016).

[xlix] See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garc%C3%ADa_%C3%8D%C3%B1iguez_of_Pamplona (accessed 04/01/2016).

[l] See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Musa_ibn_Musa_ibn_Qasi (accessed 04/01/2016).

[li] See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auria (accessed 04/01/2016).

[lii] See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Onneca_Fort%C3%BAnez#Marriage_to_Aznar_S.C3.A1nchez_de_Laron (accessed 04/01/2016).

[liii] See: http://corpus.quran.com/translation.jsp?chapter=42&verse=23 (accessed 04/01/2016).

[liv] Source: Muslim, al-Sahih, (English translation), book 031, numbers 5920-3. See:
http://www.al-islam.org/nutshell/beliefs/1.htm (accessed 04/01/2016).

[lv] See: http://corpus.quran.com/translation.jsp?chapter=38&verse=29 (accessed 04/01/2016).