I had been telling you about the strain of Ubayyan al-Khudr of the Bani Sakhr in earlier posts. I stumbled upon a reference to this strain, as I was doing a new translation of the hujjah (certificate of authenticity) of the Arabian stallion Marhum. This was a desert-bred horse born in 1890 and imported from the Middle East by Hernan Ayerza of Argentina in 1898. Until now I had been laboring under the assumption that the signatories of the hujjah of Marhum were all ‘Anazah tribesmen. This assumption was based on an earlier translation I had done for Al Khamsa Arabians III (2008). Upon taking a closer look, they turn out of to have been tribal leaders of the Bani Sakhr. Here is my new translation of the hujjah, followed by some commentary: In the Name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate, and prayers and peace upon the Prophet of the Envoys. After the Fatiha and prayers and peace upon our Prophet Muhammad the pride of the worlds, on the side of the bay horse Abu al-Janhan [four illegible words describing the horse] with a snip on his nose [three more illegible words], on [our] honor and good fortune and…
I looked up the mentions of the Bedouin tribe of Bani Sakhr in the Journals of Lady Anne Blunt. There are five of them, ranked below in chronological order. [Saw at the Tahawis] One bay Abeyan el Khudr from a tribe near the Bani Sakkhr beyond the Hauran… [A Shaykh of the Samaritans told us] that the Beni Sakkhr etc tribes were owners of remarkably good strains… It was Khuddr again, this time with a bay horse to sell, he calls it Abeyan from the Beni Sokkhr (a tribe whose horses I have not heard much good of) and this was a heavy going horse, not worth the looking at. On Monday, the mare […] was bought through Webb for 30 pounds. She is described as good, not first rate but with some style. There is a really fine certificate of parentage which describes her as a ‘Hamdanieh Samirieh”of the Beni Sokkr — a tribe whose name does not inspire me with confidence but they are said to have some thoroughbreds. I distrust as a rule any horse or mare said to be from the Beni Sokkhr but Major Huseyn says that the Ibn Faiz have got a mazbut strain…