On Gassem Ali Zarqan, an early Bedouin leader and breeder from Iran
Lately, I have been digging into the origins of Iranian Arabian horses. Using authoritative works in the Arabic language such as ‘Abbas al-‘Azzawi’s monumental “Tribes of Iraq” in four volumes and other sources, I was able to identify several of the older, original horse breeders mentioned in the first studbook of the Asil Stud of Khuzestan (ASK), excerpts of which Jens Sannek shared with me. This is the precursor of the Iranian Arabian horse studbook.
Gassem Ali Zarqan (abbreviated GAZ in the ASK) is one these Arab tribal breeders. He is the breeder of a Meleihe (Mlayhan) stallion, Meleihe GAZ, which features prominently in early Iranian Arabian horse pedigrees. I found a reference to Gassem Ali Zarqan in Azzawi’s “Tribes of Iraq”:
عشائر اخرى متصلة بكعب وهذه العشائر منها فى العراق لا سلطة لامارة كعب عليها، ومنها فى الحويزة ولا تخلو عشيرة من عشائر خوزستان الا ولها أصل فى العراق ومن أشهرها
.الباوية : وأصلهم من ربيعة وليس بصواب عدهم من كعب. يسكنون فى شرقي نهر كارون. قال البسام: “فى جانب البصرة الشرقي الباوية. ألف خيّال تتبع شيخ كعب وهم منتشرون فى أنحاء أخرى من العراق
:وهذه أشهر طوائفهم: الزركان. رئيسهم جبار بن قاسم علي (يلفظ قسمه لي). ولهم نخوة خاصة وهى (طفلة). وأكد الكثيرون انهم من حمير
My translation:
“[There are] other tribes linked to [the large Arab tribe of] Kaab. Some of these tribes are in Iraq so the emirate of Kaab has no sway over them, while others are in al-Huwayzah [an area west of the large Arabestan/Khuzestan region of Iran, close to the Iraqi border]. There is no tribe among the [Arab] tribes of Khuzestan that does not have origins in Iraq. Most famous among these [tribes related to Kaab] are al-Bawiyah. Their origin is from [the tribe of] Rabi’ah so counting them among the Kaab is incorrect. They live east of the Karun river. [Najdi historian] Al-Bassam said of them: “On the east side of Basra are the al-Bawiyah. A thousand horsemen who follow the sheikh of Kaab, and are spread in other areas of Iraq as well.” Among their most famous groups/clans are al-Zarqan, their head is Jabbar son of Gassem Ali (his name pronounced Gassemali. Their have their own war cry: Tifla. Many [people] confirm that they are from Himyar [a Yemeni tribe].
Another source, Ali Nu’mah al-Hulu, the author of the book: “Ahwaz, its tribes and families”, 1970, section 4, pages 97-98, building on the previous one, adds that the Zarqan clan live near Ahwaz and that their leader Gassem son of Ali sided with the Ottomans in WW1 against the British. This source traces the arrival of the Zarqan to Ahwaz around the year 1800 CE, under a leader by the name of Jaafar al-Zarqani. This is the full text of al-Hulu in Arabic:
يقول علي نعمة الحلو في كتابة (الأحواز، قبائلها وأسرها)، الطبعة الأولى (1970)، الجزء الرابع ص 97، 98، يقول: الزركان، قبيلة عربية ذات عز وشموخ، وأصالة وشجاعة، وتعد من الباوية من ربيعة، ولكن البعض يدعي أنها من حمير من قحطان، وهي قبيلة كبيرة ذات بطون وفصائل وديارهم قرب الأهواز، شرقي نهر قارون ولا يزالون يحتفظون بتقاليدهم العربية. ولهذه القبيلة موقف مجيد مشرف أثناء الحرب العالمية الأولى، وشيخها قاسم بن علي في حربه ضد الأنكليز، وقد ذكرهم (ولسن) في عدة أماكن من كتابه مع العشائر العربية التي عارضت الإنكليز وعضدت الدولة العثمانية ويرجح علي نعمة الحلو تأريخ نزوح الزركان إلى الأحواز إلى حوالى عام 1800 م، على عهد الشيخ جعفر الزركاني (راجع عشائر العراق – الجزء الرابع ص 192). ونخوتهم طفلة، وكانت لهم نخوة عامة وهي (أولاد عامر). ومن فروعها التي ذكرها، السماق، آلبو حيّة، البو فاضل وغيرهم
Bottom line: Gassem Ali Zarqani is the leader of the Zarqan clan of the tribe of al-Bawiyah, an Arab tribe originally from either Rabi’ah or Himyar but later affiliated with the tribe of Kaab in Khuzestan, and living east of the Karun river in the vicinity of al-Ahwaz/Ahvaz.
Below, an excellent British map of Arabestan/Khuzestan from 1924, showing the location of the different Arab Bedouin tribes, and that of others like the Bakhtiari. I will writing about this map more in next posts.
John Lorimer’s 1908 ‘Gazetteer of the Persian Gulf, Oman and Central Arabia’ (formerly a classified government publication, apparently!) describes the Ahwaz District, listing where various sections of the Bedouin tribes were found at the time, and later goes into some detail on the different nomadic tribes. For the Bawiyah, he says:
“Singular Bawi باري . A large and powerful Arab tribe of Southern ‘Arabistan; they claim descent from Muhalhal, an Arab hero, and consider their ancestry superior to that of the Ka’ab. The Bawiyeh number perhaps 20,000 souls and occupy, along with certain small tribes dependent on them, the whole of the region between the Jarrahi on the east and the Kārūn on the west, from the confluence of the Haddam with the Gargar in the north to ‘Ali- ibn- al-Husain or even Marid on the Kārūn in the south. A few are found also on the right bank of the Kārūn. The tribe are mostly nomads living in tents and owning large flocks and herds ; but on the Kārūn they possess the permanent villages of Küt ‘Abdullah, Kūt Saiyid Salih, Kūt-al-‘Amaireh, Umm-at Tamair and Ghazzāwīyeh, also the more than temporary settlements of Kūt Saiyid Salih, Küt Saiyid ‘Anayeh and Moran. The residence of the chief Shaikh, at present Husain-bin-‘Ali whose father died at an advanced age in 1907, is at Kut-al-‘ Amaireh where he has a fort and house. The number of settled Bāwīyeh is probably about 1,500 souls, as against 18,500 who are nomads. The Farātiseh, Hamaid, Jāma’, Al Bū Kurd, Salāmāt, Shawakir and Zarqan tribes which are politically connected with the Bawiyeh are described elsewhere, and the detailed analysis which follows below relates only to the divisions of the Bawiyeh proper. From this table it would appear that the Bawiyeh have 2,710 fighting men, of whom 920 are mounted on horses (or rather mares) and 800 are armed with rifles, but in practice they seem unable to put as many as 2,000 warriors in the field; on the other hand the estimated fighting strength appears small in proportion to the alleged total number of the tribe.”
Am trying to find the description of the Zarqan, so far no luck, but the Gazetteer is a fascinating read regardless.
Ah, found the Zarqan!
“An Arab tribe of Southern ‘Arabistan, politically allied to the Bawiyeh; they occupy Qraneh on the Karun, the country inland from Qraneh, and, it is said, a small tract on the Jarrahi River. Their fighting men number about 420, of whom half are armed with rifles and about 180 are mounted: the total strength of the tribe may be about 1,500 souls. The Zarqan live principally by cultivating wheat and barley, but they also own a considerable number of sheep and goats … All sections alike dwell in huts, which are sometimes of mud and sometimes of matting; but some of the tribesmen at Qraneh inhabit mud houses. About 1/3 of the tribe is settled or semi-settled at Qraneh, while the remainder is still nomadic. The Zarqan are said to pay 500 Tumans a year as revenue to the Shaikh of Muhammareh.”
perfect, thank you. It’s interesting how tribes are classified and how coalitions form. Zarqan under Bawiyeh but they are not really Bawiyeh, and the Bawiyeh under Kaab but they are not really Kaab.