Tracing the Hadban strain back to 1650-60 CE

The below account of the origin of al-Hadb is an application of the way I propose to date the origin of Arabian horse strains. I translated it from the Arabic version of the Abbas Pasha Manuscript. My own notes follow.

The accounts of al-Hadb with al-Dhafeer:

In the presence of Sultan Ibn Suwayt and a crowd of people at the gathering, Shabat al-Mani’ of al-Suwayt, a man advanced in age, and ‘Ali al-Mani’ the son of Shabat’s brother, were queried about al-Hadb, how they came about, their origins, and which of the strains they trace back to.

The two aforementioned reported that: “Mani’ was at the time of Bani Lam. He was from our grandfathers. Between us, O those present here and Mani’, there are four grandfathers. We do not know how she passed to Mani’, except that we hear and know from our elders that there is no Hadbah other than the horses of Mani’.

She [the strain] traces back to Kuhaylat Umm Ma’aarif. The reason for her being called Hadbah is that there was a mare at Mani’s with profuse hair, so abundant that it covered her crest. For this reason, she was called Hadbah.

She [the strain] passed from Mani’ to Nzahi of al-Fudul, on the day they surrounded them at the hill of Maasil. She [the strain] was blessed at al-Nzahi and became Hadbat Nzahi. From al-Nzahi she [the strain] spread to the tribes. This was neither at our time nor at the time of our parents.

My notes, in no order:

1/ Sultan Ibn Suwayt: The paramount Shaykh of the Dhafeer around 1850.

2/ Aal Suwayt: the leading clan of the Dhafeer, until today. Originally a branch of the ashraaf, descendants of the Prophet. A rather regular practice of junior contenders for the leadership of Mecca in medieval times seems to have been to establish themselves as the leaders of a neighboring Bedouin tribe, and use that position to challenge authority of the incumbent Sharif. Sometimes the ruling Sharif would impose a younger brother or cousin as the leader of a vassal Bedouin tribe, as a way to expand his authority.

2/ Ma’asil: A place 330 kilometers west of Riyadh, where the battle between the two sister tribes of Dhafeer and Fudul took place. Both tribes were originally part of the larger tribe of Bani Lam.

3/ “Mani’ was at the time of Bani Lam“: Meaning he lived before Bani Lam disintegrated into several smaller, rival tribes: Dhafeer, Fudul, Aal Mughirah, Aal Kathir. When Mani’ was alive Dhafeer did not exist as a separate entity, so Mani’ was affiliated with the larger, orignal Bani Lam tribe.

4/ Kuhaylah Umm Ma’aarif: a mystery, really. Many strains seem to trace to back to this strain, which seems to have been a bit like the Kuhaylan ‘Ajuz fountainhead strain.

5/ Crest: in Arabic, saalifah. The upper part of the neck, behind the ears, where the two flat panels of the neck converge and narrow.

6/ “There is no Hadbah but the horses of Mani’ “: Meaning there were no Hadbans before Mani’. They became known as Hadban in the ownership of Mani’ Ibn Suwayt, who had a Kuhaylah mare with a profuse mane. She became known as Hadbah (hadbah in Arabic = the one with long, profuse mane/hair).

Now on to dating the Hadban strain. The text gives two clues. The first is the battle at Maasil. The Najdi written chronicles, organized by the years of the Hijri calendar, should help with that. Ibn Manqur’s Najdi chronicle mentions the battle of al-Ukaythaal in 1081 Hirji, equivalent to 1670-71 CE, and researchers from the tribe have noted how close the place known as al-Ukaythaal was to Maasil. If so, the Hadban strain would have passed from Mani’ of the Dhafeer to Nazhi of the Fudul in 1670.

The second clue is the number of generations between Shabat al-Mani’ and Mani’ the founder of the strain. The phrase “between us present here and Mani’, there are four grandfathers” is ambiguous for three reasons:

1/ First, it does not mention whether the four grandfathers are inclusive of the man reporting the story or exclusive of him. I would go for the latter because one first endpoint — the man reporting — is obviously excluded from the count of the four grandfathers, so the second endpoint — Mani’ — should be excluded too.

2/ Second, whether the father of the man reporting also counts as one “grandfather”, in the sense of one generation, is unclear.

3/ Third, there is one additional generation between Shabat al-Mani’ and his nephew ‘Ali. It is unclear whether the “us” in the phrase “us present here” refers to the former or the latter. The former is more likely, because he was the oldest of the two. In Bedouin society, the elders spoke first, so Shabat is more likely to have been the “us” reporting the story of the Hadbah. Be it as it may, the generations look as follows:

Shabat al-Mani’ 1850 –> his father 1817 –> his first grandfather 1784 –> his second grandfather 1751 –> his third grandfather 1718 –> his fourth grandfather 1685 (who may have been Mani’) –> Mani’ 1652.

If one were to account for the ambiguity about Mani’ being either the fourth or the fifth grandfather, this rough calculation would situate the height of Mani’ career between 1652 and 1685, with an arbitrary midpoint in 1668.

This is where external sources come in handy. Meccan chronicler al-Husayni reports that the Sharif of Mecca Hamud ibn ‘Abdallah sent six mares, one of them a Hadbah, as a present to the Ottoman governor of Cairo in 1078 Hijri. This date is equivalent to the year between June 1667 and May 1668 CE in the Gregorian calendar.

That the Hadbah gift mare that went to Cairo in 1667-8 was the original Hadbah of Mani’ — the Kuhaylah with the abundant mane — is possible, but unlikely. Had she gone to the Sharif then to Cairo, she would have been less likely to have produced the desert-bred horses which in turn produced the Hadban horses still alive today. The Hadbah sent to Cairo as a gift was more likely to have been one of the daughters of the original mare with the long mane. The strain would have been already firmly been established as a strain separate from the generic Kuhaylan strain by this time. This argues for a date for the foundation of the Hadban strain between 1650 and 1660. That date is very much in line with the date I proposed above for the peak of the career of Mani’ Ibn Suwayt, the “founder” of that strain.