Person
ancestor of Qusai ibn Kilab and Islamic prophet Muhammad
Maʿadd was an evolving term originally referring to the Bedouins of central Arabia during the pre-Islamic period. During the early Islamic period, as these Bedouins moved into the Fertile Crescent, the term denoted a tribal confederation, eventually specific 'northern' Arabs, distiguishing those originating from South Arabia. 'Ma'add' became the name of the mythic ancestor of these Arabs in the Arab geneological tradition which crystallized in the 8th century.
