Translation of the hujjah of the desert-bred mare Meshura
The below is my translation of a copy of the Arabic authenticity certificate (hujjah) of the Blunt desert-bred import Meshura, a Saqlawiyah of Ibn Derri. The copy is available in Lady Wentworth’s “The Authentic Arabian Horse”.
[beginning of translation]
This paper was prepared in Dayr on Monday the twenty eighth of the blessed [month of] Ramadan; 28 / 96; [twelve] ninety six in the presence of the Shaykhs of al-’Abdah of al-Saba’ah
We testify by God Most High / we who have written our names below that the bay mare the Saglawiyah the mare of Barghi Ibn Dirri of al-Masaribah [of] al-Gumassah [of] al-Saba’ah / and she is the one whose [oral] histories are written down in the tree below / that it is correct, from the stories of her owner and the sons of Dirri, and from the stories of Faysal ibn Sha’alan the one referred to / that she is Jadraniyah and that her great-grand dam is the [word equivalent to cherry-colored or wine-colored] chestnut with a stocking in her left [unrecognizable word, either meaning hand or leg]; she is the one which the agent of Abbas Pacha bought in the house of Shaykh Jad’aan ibn Mahayd through [illegible first and last name] the day Ibn Mahayd was camping in the vicinity of Bu K[illegible last syllable of place name] and Dayr Hafir.
al-Naddi ibn Dirri
[fingerprint]
Shuwaysh ibn Salman al-Muwayni’
[fingerprint]
Rashid ibn Barghi ibn Dirri
[fingerprint]
Shaykh Fadil ibn Mohammad ibn Muwayni’ al-Sabay’i
[fingerprint]
Shutayt ibn [illegible name]
Barghi ibn Dirri
[fingerprint]
[illegible first name] ibn Barghi ibn Darri
[fingerprint]
Shaykh Muhawis ibn Hadlan
[illegible first name, likely Huwaydir] ‘Abd ibn Muwayni’
We who have put our names on the below [document] on today’s date, came to His Excellency Ali Pasha [illegible last name, likely Sharifzad] in Dayr and this document was read [out loud] to us; as to me, o Jad’aan ibn Mahayd I know the granddam of this mare, the [word equivalent in meaning to cherry-colored] chestnut which Ali Bek bought for Abbas Pacha for 4000 ghazis in my house, and I know that she is Saglawiyah Jadraniyah as was said in these [oral] histories, and I testify by God about this; as to me, o Faris al-Jarbah, and me, o Turki Ibn Jad’aan, we testify by God upon the testimony of Jad’aan and others that she is Jadraniyah; and [may] peace [be upon you]. 22 Jumada the first [12]97
Jad’aan ibn Mahayd
[seal]
Faris al-Jarbah
[square seal]
Turki ibn Mahayd
[fingerprint]
The bay mare with a blaze and four stockings, [those of] her hind legs up to the feet, and [those of] forelegs below the feet, is Saglawiyah the mare of Barghi ibn Dagher ibn Dirri al-Masrabi al-Gumassi al-Sabay’i al-’Anazi, [as to] her age she is getting into her fifth year; her name is Hujaylah.
Her sire is the Ma’naqi Sbaili Hudruji the horse of [illegible first name] ibn Munir from al-Mawahib [of] al-Gumassah, he is bay with a blaze and stockings in his two hind legs which the [caretaker?] of the horses took to Nasir Beg ibn Rashid and he is of the strain of [illegible word] that is famous among the Saba’ah and others.
Her dam is the mare of Barghi who is [already] referred to; she is bay, with a blaze, and a stocking in her left leg, she fell and died in the raid against Sattam ibn Sha’lan the day of the flood / and that day she was under [illegible first and last name]
Her [maternal grand]sire is the Saglawi Marighi Ubayri the horse of ‘Ubayd al-Bal’aas of the Ruwalah and he is bay with a blaze and a stocking on his left hind leg.
Her dam, that means the granddam, is chestnut, with stockings and a blaze, the mare of Samdan from the Gumassah, [and] Dagher had sold her dam the chestnut and this one [i.e., the daughter] was returned to the house of Dirri by mathani [agreement] and after that ibn Samdan took a filly from her, and the dam the chestnut the description of which is upcoming was returned to Ibn Dirri.
Her [maternal great-grand] sire is the Hamdani Simri; the yellow, or gray one, he is the horse of Amr[ou] ibn Judayl of al-Bala’is [of] al-Ruwalah
Her [great grand] dam is chestnut [word equivalent in meaning to cherry-colored or wined-colored], and large with a stocking on her left [illegible word, either hand or leg] and a blaze, she came to us [in war] the day of Sabah [illegible proper name] and on that day the [illegible word, likely 'caretaker'] of the horses Abu Ghalib from the Gumassah was slain; and she belonged to Nimr ibn Shu’ayl of al-Frijah of al-Ruwalah, and this mare was bought by Abbas Pacha from the house of Dirri and she was sold in the house of Jad’aan in the presence of [illegible first name] ibn Dari and her price was 4000 ghazis
Muhammad Ali Sharif with Ali Bek when visited our camp in [three illegible words, including one place name] before the rising of Aleppo ([illegible word] the verification of the date of the year); and with the agent Ali Bey there was a and a grey from al-[illegible name], and a grey from Ibn Zubaynah, and a grey with on her hindquarter the marks of leopard’s wound, which was said to have come from Jabal Shammar, and with him there was an entirely red mare [brown] with white on her [unrecognizable word, either hand or leg], and the most [illegible word] was the chestnut referred to because she was very old.
Her [maternal great great-grand] sire according to the stories of al-Ruwalah, he is the Saglawi from her strain; the horse of ‘Ata [a word was scratched, likely al-Khadari or al-Khrisah] al-Ajfa’ of [the word al-Gumassah was scratched] al-Frijah who are already referred to.
Her [great great grand] dam: According to the [oral] histories of the al-Ruwalah, it is Faysal ibn Sha’lan who told Abbas Pacha that this strain is Jadrani, and based on this [testimony of Faysal's] he [ie Abbas Pacha] bought the chestnut referred to before, the one which came to us [in war] from the Ruwalah, so if the stories of Faysal ibn Sha’lan are acceptable then she is Saglawiyah Jadraniyah and it was not verified from which Saglawiat she was, and that she is Ubayriyah then after that, when Abbas Pacha bought her based on Ibn Sha’lan’s testimony, they started to mate its horses and the Saba’ah until this day mate them and the Ruwalah mate them
I came, me [illegible first name] al-Amir with Barghi ibn Dirri in Dayr, and I heard from him these stories written in this paper and I testify about Barghi.
21 [illegible month] 96
[illegible first name] al-Amir
[seal]
and I [illegible first name] ibn Sahab I testify about this [man], Barghi.
[seal]
I declare that I took part ina raid with a group of fourty five horsemen from the Fid’an, their military commander being Mashi [illegible name likely al-Sahim] al-Khrisi, and the raid was on Ibn [illegible] from al-’Issa from Ahl al-Shamal and with them Bani Sakhr and their [illegible word] and I was riding this Saglawia and she outraced all of them by far and I took the camels [away] and brought them back [to the camp] and the remaining horses [two illegible words, likely 'stayed behind'] / then my son [illegible, same name as that of son of Barghi ibn Dirri who put his fingerprint above] took part in a raid on her, with the Fid’an al-Wuld, and the Saba’ah, and he [two illegible words] / on Ibn Sha’lan and he killed [illegible first name, likely Mahbus] son Kunay’ir ibn Sha’lan, and the horses [taking part in the raid] were more than five hundred on that day, and Jad’aan Ibn Mahayd was present and she outraced all the horses, and my son took camels [away] and brought them back [to the camp] before the other horses entered [the camp] and she was only joined by a Kuhaylah al-Musinnah, a bay, the mare of Dahir ibn Shayi’ al-Mahaydi, and she was the one which Jad’an had bought and returned / and the raid was long and very far, so much that the [two illegible words, of which one verb] and the camels [taken in the raid] did not reach [our camp] / and other than these two raids, we did not raid on her because she is dear [to us] and [illegible word] among us.
Barghi ibn Dirri [seal]
[end of translation]
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