On the meaning of the phrase Hab El Rih and Nabt El Shih (“Bint El Shikh”)

I am grateful to my friend from Deir El Zor Okba al-Ruwaili for having recently clarified to me the meaning of the expression “Min Hab El Rih and Nabt El Shih”, which occurs in many hujaj (or Arabic authentication certificates).

Okba tells me that the expression is used by ‘nabati’ or settled folks from Syria as a metaphor for desert authenticity, not just to refer to desert-bred horses but for all things related to the desert.

Of course “nabt” means plant in ‘general’, and Okba tells me “al-shih” is an aromatic and medicinal plant specific to the desert (plural “shih”, singular “shiha”, cf. Lady Anne Blunt’s mare “Shieha”), also used to perfume tents into the present day. It’s English name is Artemisia, and below is a photo of one specimen from Saudi Arabia.

As to “hab el rih” it means the “wind that blows” as I have mentioned in previous posts devoted to clarifying the meaning of this expression. The meaning is the same, a metaphor for the desert.

Okba sent me the hujjah (the mare it refers to is irrelevant) in the photo below as an illustration, my translation below:

I the undersigned, Mr. Hamid Muhammad Ali al-Jassim from the people of Aleppo — Bab al-Nayrab, declare that the filly is from Hab al-Rih and Nabt al-Shih; her color is chestnut; with a star on her face; her age is three years; her name is Ghadir; her ‘marbat’ is Kuhaylah ‘Ubayyat Sharrak; her dam is from the same marbat Kuhaylah ‘Ubayyat Sharrak and her name is al-‘Anud, from the horses of the tribe of al-Ghbein; her sire is Kuhaylan Abu Jnub and his name is al-Muqsim bil-Lah from the horses of the tribe of al-‘Aqeydat; her grandsire from the side of her sire is Krush al-Baida and his name is al-Basha; the dam of the dam is from the same marbat Kuhaylah ‘Ubayyat Sharrak and her name is Furat; the certificate of purebred Arabian horse has been transmitted by way of purchase to Mr. Muhammad Hamad al-Badran, Shaykh of the tribe of al-Mawali.

Owner: Hamid al-Jassim (signature)
Witness: Faysal al-Shawwakh, son of Khalaf (fingerprint and signature)
Witness: ‘Abd al-Allah al-Man’u son of Rahim (fingerprint and signature)

The Head of the Arabian horses committee
[signature and seal marked: Shaykh Khamis al-Dari, head of the tribe of al-Zawba’ 1953 AD]

Stamp of Ministries of Local Authorities — Province of al-Raqqah

As you can see the reference to “Hab al-Rih and Nabt al-Shih” is separate from the names and strains of both parents, which are otherwise clearly identified. I will show more hujaj with the same phrase, to make the point that the reference to “Hab El Rih” and “Bint El Shikh” as the respective names for the sire and the dam of the Egyptian Royal mare El Samraa is in error, and is actually a reference to El Samraa’s origin from Syria, and specifically from the Euphrates valley where this phrase is most used.