remoter cousins maintained that the rights should remain in the family of Abd ad-Dar.

While assembled at the Ka'aba, Hashim and his brothers and all their allies dipped their hands in a bowl of rich perfume with nutmeg powder and swore that they would never abandon one another, rubbing their scented hands over the stone of the Ka'aba in confirmation of their pact. Hashim and his allies were thereafter known as the "Hilf al-Mutayyabun" ("Alliance of the Scented Ones"), while their rivals also swore an oath of union and organised themselves