Jurhum
جرهم
A Yemeni Qahtani tribe that settled at Mecca in Ismail’s time and intermarried with him; it held authority over Mecca for nearly twenty centuries until Khuzaʾa expelled it in the mid-second century CE, whereupon it buried Zamzam and departed for Yemen.
At a glance
- Era
- Pre-Islamic Arabia
- Region
- Arabia
- Review
- Draft Completeness 1/5 · Help complete it
In space
Map: Natural Earth, public domain · places and route from the graph
Overview
Jurhum: the Yemeni tribe that settled Mecca by leave of Isma'il's mother, from which Isma'il married; it governed Mecca's affairs for some twenty centuries until Khuza'a expelled it.
Life
A Yemeni tribe — Jurhum — came and settled Mecca by leave of Isma'il's mother 1. Charge of Mecca passed after Isma'il's sons to their grandfather Madad ibn Amr al-Jurhumi; leadership moved to Jurhum and stayed in their hands, Isma'il's sons keeping a respected place for their father's building of the House 2.
Later their rule soured: they wronged the pilgrims and made free with the Ka'ba's property, so Khuza'a fought them with Banu Bakr ibn Abd Manaf's aid until driving them out in the middle of the second century CE 3. They sealed Zamzam and buried in it the Ka'ba's two golden gazelles and the corner-stone, then departed for Yemen grieving at what they had left 4.
For young visitors
Jurhum were Isma'il's first neighbours in Mecca; they ruled it a long age until Khuza'a drove them out — and they buried treasures in the well.
Connections
- Lived in
- Mecca
- Participated in
- The Expulsion of Jurhum from MeccaThe Settlement of Hajar and Ismail at Mecca
People and things also explored
MeccaHajar (Hagar)Ibrahim (Abraham)Ismail (Ishmael)The Settlement of Hajar and Ismail at MeccaPre-Islamic ArabiaThe Expulsion of Jurhum from MeccaThe Prophet's marriage to Khadija
Sources
- Sahih al-Bukhari
- Qalb Jazirat al-Arab — Fuʾad Hamza
- al-Raheeq al-Makhtum — Safi al-Rahman al-Mubarakpuri
- al-Sira al-Nabawiyya — Ibn Hisham
Cite this page
islam.museum contributors. “Jurhum”. islam.museum, https://islam.museum/en/group/jurhum/. CC BY-SA 4.0. Accessed 2026-10-12.