Another version of the Abbas Pasha Manuscript?
I have been aware of the existence of another version of usul al-khayl, a.k.a the Abbas Pasha Manuscript for some time now. Hamad al-Jassir, in the introduction of his book usul al-khayl al-arabiyah al-khadithah (“Origins of the modern Arab horses”), wrote that he accessed a copy then with his friend Khair al-Din al-Zarkali (photo below) during a visit to his house in Beirut. Zarkali, a Syrian by birth, was a leading Arab intellectual, a diplomat, and Saudi Arabia’s envoy to League of Arab States.
For a long time, I thought Zarkali’s manuscript was identical to the one Gulsun Sherif had inherited from her family, translated into English, and beautifully published with Judith Forbis, under the title The Abbas Pasha Manuscript: And Horses and Horsemen of Arabia and Egypt During the Time of Abbas Pasha, 1800-1860.
Hamad al-Jassir’s Arabic book quoted liberally from the Abbas Pasha Manuscript. I never paid much attention to these, always preferring to go back to the original text. Recently, after rereading the original manuscript cover to cover, I realized that it did not include several accounts of strains that Hamad al-Jassir had attributed to the text of the Manuscript.
One of these accounts is that of the strain of Kuhaylat Ibn Nawmah. It is absent from the current version of the Abbas Pasha Manuscript. Hamad al-Jassir writes that:
Tha’lab ibn Shirri of the Shaykhs of ‘Abidah reported that: “She is Kuhaylat al-‘Ajuz, ancient. She was the mare of ‘Ijl Ibn Hunaytim (with an N) the Shaykh of al-Mughirah. He raided Qahtan, but they took her from him in war (qilaa’ah), and she became with Ibn Nawmah.
The same for Kuhaylat Khanfar, Kuhaylan Mushayriq and Kuhaylat al-‘Amouda. Hamad al-Jassir references a version of the Abbas Pasha Manuscript in his summary of their accounts. This is likely to be the Zarkali version, because they are not mentioned in the version published in Arabic by the King Abd al-Aziz Public Library and in English by Gulsun Sharif.
Guess what: I am going to try and trace this other version…
Oooh, manuscript intrigue! I hope you can track down the Zarkali version – it will be interesting to compare it to the Gulsun Sherif one. (Can you tell my little philologist heart is going pitter-patter with excitement right now?)
I’m with Kate here. This is the kind of stuff I find very thrilling, so I’m super excited to see what you are able to turn up.
Furusiyya Vol I has a brief section by al-Jasir re the APM. It also mentions some books he wrote – the titles translate to ‘A dictionary of the names of Arabian horses and their riders’ and ‘The days of the Arabs.’ Is anyone familiar with either of these books?
Yes. I know them. al-Jassir was a compiler, essentially..
Edouard – do you know of any English translations re the al-Jasir books?
I don’t know of any, no. I don’t find him a reliable source of horses by the way. He was certainly not a horse person but more interested in the tribes, the people, etc. He was the historian of the Saudi royal family.
Yes you must so. That is what I was trying to tell you, Hamad al-Jassir information didn’t always match the known manuscript and Al-Zarkali copy is different. Finding this copy will be a big thing.
Everything that advances our understanding of this breed we love and the culture that created it is important!