The study focuses on Sulaym in the crucial transition period from Jahiliyya to Islam, and hence it contributes to the study of the Prophet and his time. Most of the study concentrates on the Arabian Peninsula, although a few leading families are followed into the Islamic conquests and the early Umayyad period. The focus on one tribe makes it possible to collect a large amount of data from a variety of sources: biographical dictionaries, genealogical literature, geographical literature, sira and adab compilations, poetry Diwans and Qur'an exegesis.