Ah, this is exactly what I wanted to know! From Anwar-ul-Quran:[0] > Quraish was the name of our Holy Prophet’s tribe. Makkah did not possess cultivable land.

Ah, this is exactly what I wanted to know! From Anwar-ul-Quran:[0] > Quraish was the name of our Holy Prophet’s tribe. Makkah did not possess cultivable land. It lay in a valley surrounded by barren hillsides — a land that was devoid of food and so its livelihood depended on trade. ... > As they were the guardians of the Ka‘bah they were treated with great respect by all Arabia. And from Wikipedia:[1] > Ibn Kathir, the famous commentator on the Quran, mentions two interpretations among the Muslims on the origin of the Kaaba. One is that the shrine was a place of worship for Angels before the creation of man. Later, a house of worship was built on the location by Adam and Eve which was lost during the flood in Noah's time and was finally rebuilt by Abraham and Ishmael as mentioned later in the Quran. Ibn Kathir regarded this tradition as weak and preferred instead the narration by Ali ibn Abi Talib that although several other temples might have preceded the Kaaba, it was the first "House of God", dedicated solely to Him, built by His instruction and sanctified and blessed by Him as stated in Quran 22:26–29. A Hadith in Sahih al-Bukhari states that the Kaaba was the First Mosque on Earth, and the Second Mosque was the Temple in Jerusalem. > While Abraham was building the Kaaba, ... So yes, they and the Hebrews were siblings. 0) http://www.muslim.org/islam/anwarqur/ch106.htm http://www.muslim.org/islam/anwarqur/ch106.htm 1) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaaba https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaaba