Aqil ibn Abi Talib

Aqil ibn Abi Talib is said to have been born 10 years after his elder brother Talib ibn Abi Talib (the first son of Muhammad's paternal uncle and guardian Abu Talib and Fatima bint Asad), and 10 and 20 years before his younger brothers and , respectively. After the death of his father Abu Talib in , Aqil and his older brother Talib inherited great wealth. he always defended his brother Ali against any criticism leveled against him at Mu'awiya's court. Aqil was an expert on the genealogy of the Quraysh tribe (the leading tribe of Mecca, to which both the Hashimite and Umayyad families belonged). The second caliph Umar () appointed him to record the names of the members of the Quraysh in the clan register (the ), and to arbitrate disputes with regard to genealogy. He was married to Fatima bint Utba, with whom he had several children (the most famous of them being Muslim ibn Aqil). Contrary to their father, a number of his sons decided to fight for the Hashimite cause and were martyred along with their cousin Husayn ibn Ali at the Battle of Karbala . Aqil himself died in Medina, having become blind, either or (according to another report) . ==Legacy==

Multiple prophetic traditions (hadiths) were transmitted on Aqil's authority, and he also figured in hadiths related by others. According to one of those, Muhammad had expressed his twofold love for Aqil: one love for him because of his kinship with him, and another love because Aqil was favorite son (Muhammad himself had a close relationship with , who had adopted him after his own father Abdullah ibn Abd al-Muttalib had died a few months before his birth). One possible genealogical table may look as follows: • Aqil ibn Abi Talib • Darod • Darod clan • Samaale • Irir • Hawiye clan • Aji • Dir clan • (matrilineally) Isaaq clan • Sab • Digil • Rahanweyn clan These genealogical claims, which are part of what Sada Mire has called "the Somali Islamic myth of origin", are historically untenable. However, they do reflect the longstanding cultural contacts between Somalia (especially, though not exclusively, its most northern part Somaliland) and Southern Arabia. ==References==