He was generous to a fault, and it was his practical compassion in one year of drought that earned him his famous nickname of "Hashim, the Crusher". This was not for crushing or oppressing anyone, but because when the people were starving and emaciated he provided food at his own expense for the entire population of Mecca, personally fetching an immense stock of flour from Syria by camel-caravan, then slaughtering the camels and crushing the bread and meat to provide a soup-kitchen for his people. His descendants are still proudly called Hashemites to this day.