Abbas Pasha Manuscript — First page in Arabic

This document recently appeared on one of the discussion threads below. For those of you who know the Abbas Pasha Manuscript in its English edition, this is just the first page in one of the original Arabic editions..

This is a quick and dirty translation (writing from work, gotta go home soon), without the Quran verses in the reversed triangle:

“Warning/advice about breeding/mating horses; I say, about stallions to be mated; the first to be mated (yushabbi) is Duhayman Shahwan from the strain (rasan) of Kunayhir, and Duhaym al-Najib;  the second is Kuhaylan al-Mimrah; then al-Saqlawi al-Jadrani and it is from three branches, the dearest of which is the strain of al-Simniyyat, then the strain of al-Sudaniyat, then the strain of al-Abd; followed by the strain of al-Saqlawi al-Ubayri and al-Marighi, which are the same strain; and following that, Hadban al-Nzahi which consists of six strains: the first (ie, the best) is Hadbat al-Munsariqah; the second is Hadbat Mushaytib; the third is Hadbat Jawlan; the fourth is Hadbat al-Fard; the fifth is Hadbat al-Mahdi; the sixth is Habdat al-Bardawil which is not to be mated; following that is Kuhaylan al-Tamri; and after that, Shuwayman al-Sabbah; and after that, Hamdani Simri al-Khalis; and after that Ubayyan Sharrak; and after that Rabdan Khushaybi; and after that Kuhaylan Umm Arqub Shuwayh; then Kuhaylan Umm Junub.”

Check if my translation matches your English edition, by J. Forbis and G. Sherif..

Got lots of comments to make on this excerpt, including on “Khalis” in Hamdani Simri al-Khalis, but also on the notion of “to be mated” and “not to be mated”, and the resulting ‘rankings’ but not today.

Note that the incipient “I” refers to the personal preferences of the man who compiled the Abbas Pasha Manuscript – Ali Bey or Mustapha Bey or whoever it was – or even Abbas Pasha himself.

I would have drawn a different list [your favorite blogger would like to think he is Abbas Pasha..] and once again, it really is a question of personal preference.

I mean, damn it, where is Kuhaylan al-Jellabi, Kuhaylan Harqan, Kuhaylan al-Krush, Shawafan Bani Hussain, Wadnan al-Khursan, and other supposed Abbas Pasha favorites?? Why make such a big hoopla about Jellabiyet Feysul (more on her later) and the supposedly unobtainable Krush from Mutayr, if they did not even make it on this list??