What is a hujjah?

The following piece appeared in Al Khamsa Arabians III (2008) as a box, and is reproduced here to answer this important question.

“Certificates of origin (singular hujjah, plural hujjaj) of horses written in the Arab world follow a clear and uniform pattern that seldom varies. The first part of these certificates is always a religious invocation that includes passages from the Quran (the holy book of Islam) and quotations of the Hadith (the approved and authenticated collections of the deeds and sayings of Muhammad, the Prophet of Islam). In general, the shorter the religious preamble the greater the chance that the hujjah was written by a Bedouin and the greater the probablity that the horse was Bedouin owned at the time of the sale. Conversely, the longer a hujjah gets, the greater the likelihood that the certificate is the work of a townsman. There are several reasons for this situation, and at least a few words may be said of these.

First, Bedouins tend to be less pious, or at least to have a different kind of piety, than townsfolk. At the time these certificates were being written, Bedouins were still poorly acquainted with the
Quran and even less with the Hadith. Usually a phrase like “In the name of God” and one or two short quotations from the Quran will suffice as an introduction to Bedouin certificates. Townsmen, on the other hand, are usually more pious and more vocal about their piety. They know how to express it in more elaborate and “refined” language.

Second, Bedouins generally tend to be more simple and straight to the point than townsmen in everything they do, from the way they talk to how they live, eat and behave. All this is reflected in the phrasing of the horse certificates they issue.”