Editing Quraysh (section)

===Control of Meccan trade===
Toward the end of the 6th century, the [[Fijar War]] broke out between the Quraysh and the [[Kinana]] on one side and various [[Qays]]i tribes on the other, including the [[Hawazin]], [[Banu Thaqif]], [[Banu Amir]] and [[Banu Sulaym]]. The war broke out when a Kinani tribesman killed an Amiri tribesman escorting a [[Lakhmid]] caravan to the Hejaz. The attack took place during the holy season when fighting was typically forbidden. The Kinani tribesman's patron was [[Harb ibn Umayyah|Harb ibn Umayya]], a Qurayshi chief. This patron and other chiefs were ambushed by the Hawazin at Nakhla, but were able to escape. In the battles that occurred in the following two years, the Qays were victorious, but in the fourth year, the tide turned in favor of the Quraysh and Kinana. After a few more clashes, peace was reestablished.{{Sfn|Fück|1965|p=883}} According to Watt, the actual aim in the Fijar War was control of the trade routes of [[Najd]]. Despite particularly tough resistance by the Quraysh's main trade rivals, the Thaqif of [[Ta'if]], and the Banu Nasr clan of Hawazin, the Quraysh ultimately held sway over western Arabian trade.{{Sfn|Fück|1965|p=884}} The Quraysh gained control over Ta'if's trade, and many Qurayshi individuals purchased estates in Ta'if, where the climate was cooler.{{Sfn|Watt|1986|p=434}}

The sanctuary village of Mecca developed into a major Arabian trade hub. According to Watt, by 600 CE, the leaders of Quraysh "were prosperous merchants who had obtained something like a monopoly of the trade between the Indian Ocean and East Africa on the one hand and the Mediterranean on the other".{{Sfn|Watt|1986|p=434}} Furthermore, the Quraysh commissioned trade caravans to Yemen in the winter and caravans to [[Gaza City|Gaza]], [[Bosra]], [[Damascus]] and [[al-Arish]] in the summer.{{Sfn|Watt|1986|p=434}}{{Sfn|Donner|1981|p=51}} The Quraysh established networks with merchants in these Syrian cities. They also formed political or economic alliances with many of the [[Bedouin]] (nomadic Arab) tribes in the northern and central Arabian deserts to ensure the safety of their trade caravans. The Quraysh invested their revenues in building their trading ventures, and shared profits with tribal allies to translate financial fortune into significant political power in the [[Hejaz]] (western Arabia).{{Sfn|Donner|1981|p=51}} In the words of [[Fred Donner]]:

<blockquote>[By the end of the 6th century,] Meccan commerce was flourishing as never before, and the leaders in this trade [the Quraysh] had developed from mere merchants into true financiers. They were no longer interested in "buying cheap and selling dear," but also with organizing money and men to realize their commercial objectives. There was emerging, in short, a class of men with well-developed managerial and organizational skills. It was a development unheralded, and almost unique, in central Arabia.{{Sfn|Donner|1981|p=52}}</blockquote>

The Banu Makhzum and [[Banu Umayya]], in particular, acquired vast wealth from trade and held the most influence among the Quraysh in Meccan politics.{{Sfn|Donner|1981|p=51}} The Banu Umayya and the [[Banu Nawfal]], another clan descending from Abd Manaf that had become wealthy from their commercial enterprise, split from the {{Transliteration|ar|al-Muṭayyabūn}} faction in 605 and engaged in business with the ''{{Transliteration|ar|al-Aḥlāf}}''.{{Sfn|Watt|1986|p=435}} Their financial fortunes had enabled them to become a force of their own.{{Sfn|Watt|1986|p=435}} During a commercial incident where a Yemenite merchant was robbed of his trade by al-As ibn Wa'il al-Sahmi, the {{Transliteration|ar|al-Muṭayyabūn}} reformed in the [[Hilf al-Fudul]], which consisted of the [[Banu Hashim]] and [[Muttalib ibn Abd Manaf|Banu Muttalib]], which, like the Banu Umayya, were descendants of Abd Manaf, and the Taym, Asad, Zuhra and al-Harith ibn Fihr clans.{{Sfn|Watt|1986|p=435}} The Banu Hashim held the hereditary rights surrounding the pilgrimage to the Kaaba, though the Banu Umayya were ultimately the strongest Qurayshi clan.{{Sfn|Hawting|2000|p=22}} According to Watt, "In all the stories of the [[pre-Islamic Arabia|pre-Islamic period]] there is admittedly a legendary element, but the main outline of events appears to be roughly correct, even if most of the dating is uncertain."{{Sfn|Watt|1986|p=435}}