Dating the Krush strain: a tough one

[This article was last revised on June 26]

My dive into the Abbas Pasha Manuscript — that bottomless treasure — for approximates dates of the beginning of the main strains of Arabian horses continues. The approach remains the same. After the Dahman Shahwan (ca. 1280 CE), Hamdani Simri (ca. 1670) and the Hadban and Harqan strains (both ca. 1650), now is the turn of the Krushan.

The Krushan strain is the subject of Chapter 11 of the Abbas Pasha Manuscript. This my translation of the opening testimony:

Al-Hamidi Al-Dawish, ‘Abd al-‘Aziz al-Dawish, Husayn Ibn Farz, and Mutlaq al-Dawish, a man advanced in age, were queried in the presence of a crowd from the Dushan and the Mutayr about the Krush. Which of the Kahaayil does she go back to? ?Who did she originally spread from?

The aforementioned reported: “She is a Kuhaylat ‘Ajuz; she is the first of the Kahaayil; she was was named Krush after Ibn Karshah of Qahtan, and al-Ghandur after al-Ghandur of the Buqum. She is a precious strain, [they are] authenticated and blessed horses. She first spread from Ibn Ramthayn of the ‘Abidah of Qahtan.

The Sharif Abu Srur al-awwal asked for her from Ibn Ramthayn, so Ibn Ramthayn ran away with her while she was a two year old. She turned three, then four. He spent three years fleeing with her from the Sharif. Then they fell upon hard times, so Ibn Ramthayn had to sell her to Ibn Karshah, and Ibn Karshah sold her to Hamud al-Ghandur of al-Buqum. Hamud died and his son Mukhaymir inherited her. She was blessed at Mukhaymir, and they became many horses. Al-Ghandur then fell on hard times, so he came down from Bishah, which is toward Yemen, to the Dawish. He stayed with Faysal al-Dawish, and became beholden to him [nazila qasiran].

The mare became impotent with Mukhaymir al-Ghandur. She would not stand until made to stand by several stout men. Faysal al-Dawish bought her from Mukhaymir al-Ghandur in the land of al-Wafrah on the shore of al-Kuwait […]

Another testimony on the Krush strain is that of Muhammad Ibn Qarmalah, the paramount Shaykh of the Qahtan around 1850 CE. It corroborates the first testimony of the Dushan but adds two more early owners to the chain of ownership of the strain:

Muhammad Ibn Qarmalah was queried about the Krush. What was she? From whom did she originally spread in old times? The aforementioned reported: She is Kuhaylat ‘Ajuz. The original source she spread from were the ashraaf of the people of al-Jawf in ancient times (mubti). She passed from the ashraaf to Aal Murra in old times. Then she passed from Aal Murra to Ibn Ramthayn of the ‘Abidah of Qahtan. Then she passed from Ibn Ramthayn to Ibn Karshah of Qahtan, by way of purchase. With him, she was named Krush. She passed from him to Hamud al-Ghandur of al-Buqum. She was named Krush al-Ghandur, but is otherwise Kuhaylat ‘Ajuz. There is no doubt about her.

Notes on the two texts:

1/ Dushan: plural of Dawish, the leading clan of the Mutayr Bedouin tribe. Around 1850 they were in North Eastern Arabia, in the hinterland of Kuwait.

2/ Kahaayil: generic plural form of Kuhaylah.

3/ “originally spread from“: an approximate translation of the Bedouin concept of ‘shiya’ah‘ in Arabian horses, which means something like “first known owner, from whom a line spread to others”. The root is the Arabic verb shaa’a, to spread, to radiate (as in shu’aa’ al-shams, the radiating of the sun). More later on this important concept in Bedouin Arabia.

4/ “The first of the Kahaayil“: the first chronologically, as in the oldest to have acquired a separate identity.

5/ ‘Abidah: An ancient Bedouin tribe, older than its mother tribe of Qahtan, and a wellspring of Arabian horse strains, together with the Bani Lam. Originally located in South West Arabia, then moved to Najd and other parts of central Arabia.

6/ Bishah: A mountainous place in South West Arabia, at the head of the riverbed of same name (Wadi Bishah). See the map below.

7/ “To become beholden to“: My approximate translation of the Bedouin concept of qasir. It is applied to someone in need who stays temporarily with another person or group, lives off them for a while, until he gets back on his feet. It is almost like seeking refuge, but for personal economic reasons rather than political or crime-related ones. In Arabic, qasir means “short“. In Bedouin society, to become someone’s qasir means something like to become in someone’s debt, or beholden to that person. It certainly does not mean “to stay for a short time”, as in the English translation of the Abbas Pasha Manuscript.

8/ al-Wafrah: a small oasis south of Kuwait in north eastern Arabia. Map below. I visited that place.

9/ Ashraaf of the people of al-Jawf: plural of Sharif, or descendants of the Prophet. In many parts of Arabia, such as the Hijaz province, and the Yemeni province of al-Jawf, the ashraaf were also the local rulers and strongmen. See map below on al-Jawf, and the photo of one of its main town Khab. I had an invitation to visit that place in 2004, with the Shaykh of the Bakil tribe.

10/ Aal Murra: the Bedouin tribe now in East Arabian (including Qatar) and South East Arabia. In older times, that tribe was first located in South West Arabia in the area of al-Jawf, now in Yemen.

11/ The Sharif Abu Srur al-awwal: Identifying this Sharif is central to dating the Krushan strain. He may or may not have been a ruler of Mecca. If he ruled Mecca, there would be a greater likelihood of a written record, which would make it easier to identify him. He certainly seems to have been a person of some importance, perhaps a local strongman: he demanded the original Kuhaylah, “no” was not a possible answer, so the mare’s owner had to flee from him for three years. The additional epitheth al-awwal provides an important clue: it means the ‘the first’, ‘the early one’, and implicitly: not the second, later, more recent one. There are at least three Sharif Srur in the family tree of the ashraaf of Mecca.

11a/ There was a Sharif of Mecca by the name of Srur, son of Musaa’id. The Sharif Musaa’id (Abu Srur) ruled Mecca from 1750 to 1770 CE, with a short hiatus in 1758. His son Srur ibn Musaa’id ruled from 1773 to 1788. One possibility could be that the Sharif Abu Srur (father of Srur) of the Abbas Pasha Manuscript was the Sharif Musaa’id father (abu) of Sharif Srur.

He would be the latest of the three, and the closest to the time of those giving the account of the Krushan strain in 1850. In others words, he is not al-awwal. Moreover, a date between 1750 to 1790 seems too late for the creation of a strain touted as the “first of the Kahaayil“.

11b/ A much earlier Sharif of Mecca, Muhammad Abu Numayy Ibn Barakat (born 1506-died 1584) also known as Abu Numayy II, ruled Mecca for sixty years from 1524 to 1584. This Abu Numayy II had a son named Srur among his several children. However, this Srur seems to have been of no particular importance. How long he lived, and whether he had any issue is also unclear. I see no reason why his much more famous father would have been called Abu Srur (father of Srur) after this inconsequential son. Abu Numay II certainly does not carry the nickname Abu Srur in historial sources.

11c/ My friend Yasser, who has been following this thread, tells me there was a third Sharif Srur: Srur ibn Baz ibn Ahmad ibn ‘Ali ibn Baz ibn Hasan (this Hasan a Sharif of Mecca) ibn Muhammad Abu Numayy II (also a Sharif of Mecca, the same as in 11b above). This third Srur is the ancestor of the ashraaf branch of Aal Srur or Dhawu Srur (‘those of Srur’), who were named after him. Their lineage extends to the present time.

This website (in Arabic) has the following testimony about the ashraaf of Aal Srur (the descendants of this third Srur), by one of their own, sharif Muhammad ibn Mansur ibn Hashim Aal ‘Abdallah ibn Srur:

The ashraaf Dhawu Srur live in Mecca and its suburbs. To the south of al-Sa’diyah [which is] the Miqat of the people of Yemen, they own dry farmland that is known after them as Tinat Dhawi Srur.

My notes on this account:

1/ Miqat of the people of Yemen: one of the five entry points the Prophet Muhammad has assigned around Mecca for pilgrims, beyond which profane activities are prohibited. The other four are the miqat of the people of Medina, that of the people of Iraq, that of the people of Najd, and that of the people of Syria. The miqat of the people of Yemen is at al-Sa’diyah, known in old times as Yalalam. It is 62 miles (100 km) south of Mecca.

2/ dry farmland: rough translation of mazari’ ‘athriyah, meaning arid farmland occasionally cultivated by itinerant sharecroppers.

3/ The ownership of land 100 km south of Mecca by the descendants of this third Srur ibn Baz constitutes an argument is favor of this Srur or one of his direct descendants being the one referred to in the account of the origin of the Krush strain. Such land is indeed in the direction of the old dirah (traditional homeland) of the ‘Abidah of Qahtan, further to the South, where Ibn Ramthayn the first owner of Krush hailed from. It certainly is evidence of the connection the ashraaf branch of Aal Srur to the South.

A rough counting of generations would situate the peak of the career of this Srur in the early 1700s, perhaps 1700-1710. The problem is, the name “Abu Srur” could apply to any of his descendants, making a precise identification of the beginning of the Krushan strain much more difficult. More research is certainly needed.