The Recovery of ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib’s Rights

Nawfal wrongfully seized his nephew Abd al-Muttalib's inherited lots; Abd al-Muttalib sought help from his maternal uncles Banu al-Najjar, who restored his right — and Khuza'a and Banu Hashim allied against Banu Abd Shams.

When al-Muttalib died, Nawfal leapt on Abd al-Muttalib's inherited lots and seized them. Abd al-Muttalib asked men of Quraysh for help against his uncle, but they said: we will not come between you and your uncle — so he wrote verses to his uncles of Banu al-Najjar begging their aid ¹.

His uncle Abu Sa'd ibn Adi rode out with eighty riders until he halted at al-Abtah in Mecca; he drew his sword on Nawfal, who sat in the Hijr with Quraysh's elders, and said: by the Lord of this House, if you do not return my sister's son's lots I will make this sword reach you — and they were returned to him, with Quraysh's elders bearing witness ¹.

When Khuza'a saw Banu al-Najjar's aid to Abd al-Muttalib they said: we bore him as you bore him, so we are worthier of aiding him — Abd Manaf's mother being one of them. They entered Dar al-Nadwa and allied with Banu Hashim against Banu Abd Shams and Nawfal — the pact that later became a cause of Mecca's conquest, as will come ¹.