A hujjah from 1722

Below is the text of a hujjah from the early eighteenth century. It was published in Thomas Pennant’s 1776 British Zoology. Note that the English consul was already aware of the fact that proof of ancestry was needed to confirm that a horse was truly an Arab. The horse that is the subject of this hujjah appears to be a Ma’naqi. The footnote to the hujjah also mentions pure in the strain breeding.

Taken before ABDORRAMAN, KADI of ACCA.

The Occaſion of this present Writing or Inſtrument is that at ACCA in the Houſe of Badi legal establiſh’d Judge, appear’d in Court Thomas Uxgate the Engliſh Conſul and with him Sheikh Morad Ebn al Hajj Abdollah, Sheikh of the County of Safad, and the ſaid Conſul deſir’d from the aforeſaid Sheikh proof of the Race of the Grey Horſe which he bought of him, and He affirm’d to be Manaki Shadûhi*, but he was not satiſfied with this but deſir’d the Teſtimony of the Arabs, who bred the Horſe and knew how he came to Sheikh Morad; whereupon there appear’d certain Arabs of Repute whoſe names are undermention’d, who teſtified and declar’d that the Grey Horſe which the Conſul formerly bought of Sheikh Morad, is Monaki Shadûki of the pure Race of Horſes, purer than Milk†, and that the Beginning of the Affair was, that Sheikh Saleh, Sheikh of Alſabal, bought him of the Arabs of the Tribe of al Mohammadat, and Sheikh Saleh ſold him to Sheikh Morad Ebn al Hajj Abdollah, Sheikh of Safad, and Sheikh Morad ſold him to the Conſul aforeſaid, when theſe Matters appear’d to us, and the Contents were known, the ſaid Gentleman deſir’d a Certificate thereof, and Teſtimony of the Witneſſes, whereupon we wrote him this Certificate, for him to keep as a Proof thereof. Dated Friday 28 of the latter Rabi in the Year 1135. (i.e. 29 January, 1722.)

Witnesses,

Sheikh Jumat al Falibau of the Arabs of al Mohammadat,
Ali Ebn Taleb al Kaabi,
Ibrahim his Brother,
Mohammed al Adhra Sheikh Afarifat,
Khamis al Kaabi.

* Theſe are the Names of the two Breeds of Arab Horſes, which are reckoned pure and true, and thoſe which are of both those Breeds by Father and Mother, are the most noble and free from Baſtardy. 

† A Proverbial Expression.

This is one of the oldest hujaj I have found in western sources that write about the Arabian horse.