Something to Help Memorize the Prophet’s Lineage

Shaykh ,

During his third lesson explaining Al-Fuṣūl, Ibn Kathīr’s biography of the Messenger ﷺ, Shaikh ʿAbd Al-Razzāq Al-Badr suggested the following mnemonic to help memorize his ﷺ lineage:

  عِهْ عَقُّكَ مُكَلٌّ غَفٌّ مِنْ كَخْمَأٍ مُنَمَّعٍ 

The letters in this mnemonic stand for each of the 20 grandfathers of Muḥammad ﷺ, the son of ʿAbd Allāh.   Not all the words in this mnemonic mean something in Arabic, however; roughly, they mean: “Understand this: your mistreatment is tiresome and dry, from a kakhmaʾin munammaʿin,” the last two words being meaningless in Arabic, serving only as an abbreviation.

عِهْ: “understand this”

1. عبد المطلب ʿAbdul-Muṭṭalib

2. هاشم Hāshim

عَقُّكَ: “your mistreatment”

3. عبد المناف ʿAbdul-Manāf

4. قصي Quṣayy

5. كلاب Kilāb

مُكَلٌّ: “is tiresome”

6. مرّة Murrah

7. كعب Kaʿb

8. لؤيّLuʾayy

غَفٌّ: “and dry”

9. غالب Ghālib

10. فهر Fihr

مِنْ: “from”

11. مالك Mālik

12. نضر Naḍr

كَخْمَأٍ: “a kakhmaʾin”

13. كنانة Kinānah

14. خزيمة Khuzaimah

15. مدركة Mudrikah

16. إلياس Ilyās

مُنَمَّعٍ: “munammaʿin”

17. مضر Muḍar

18. نزار Nizār

19. معدّ Maʿadd

20. عدنان ʿAdnān