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A Fortified Tower-House in Wādī Jirdān (Wāḥidī Sultanate) — I

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 December 2009

Brian Doe  and
R. B. Serjeant
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Extract

In September 1964 we were able, after considerable difficulty, to reach the village al-Jinainah (al-Junainah) of Wādī Jirdān (which we had already visited earlier in the year along the spectacular new road from Wādī ‘Amaqīn). In the afternoon of that day and early next morning before leaving to return to ‘Ataq we made a brief survey of the tower known as al-Muqaiyad—the subject of this article. The visit being so hurried and part of the work being carried out after dark, we were not able to record everything in quite the detail we should have wished. We are much indebted to Lt.-Col. Adrian Donaldson, D.S.O., M.B.E., the CO., and Major S. F. B. Francis, T.D., then of the 5th Battalion, Federal Regular Army, the latter escorting us to the mouth of Wādī Jirdān at ‘Ayādh, and for the generous hospitality they gave us at ‘Ataq. We acknowledge with pleasure the courtesy of Shaikh Ruwais b. Miḥsin b. Ḥasan Namārī Hilālī, Federal Councillor, who permitted us to survey the ḥuṣn and supplied us with much information on it, as also to his brother Ḥasan b. Miḥsin.

Type
Research Article
Information
Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies , Volume 38 , Issue 1 , February 1975 , pp. 1 - 23
Copyright
Copyright © School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London 1975

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References

1 cf. Serjeant, R. B., Prose and poetry from Hairamawt, London, 1951, Engl. pref., 11, Ar. text, 80. The Manṣab of al-Bāridah offered us it like a sort of treacle which we ate by dipping the forefinger in it. The Tāj al-'arŪs, n, 319, quoting the Takmilah, places it between wādis ‘Amaqin and Ḥabbān, spelling it Jurdān, and adding that it has some castles (quṣār).Google Scholar

2 Landberg, C. de, Études sur les dialedes del' Arable méridionale, I, Ḥađramoût, Leiden, 1901, 349, from Forskạl.Google Scholar

3 Arabica, v, Leiden, 1898, 235 f.

4 Philby, H. St. J. B., Sheba's daughters, London, 1939, 326.Google Scholar

5 For these two authors of. BSOAS, xiii, 3,1950, 689, xxv, 2, 1960, 244, xiii, 2, 1950, 292 f.

6 Hamilton, (R.) A. (B.), The kingdom of Melchior, London, 1949, 154. His suggestion that this is part of the ancient legal system of Ma'īn is fanciful. Families in which the office of appeal- judge is hereditary exist in other places besides al-Bāridah.Google Scholar

7 See Wissmann's, H. v. map, Aden Protectorate, Sheet 1, 1: 500,000, published by the Royal Geographical Society, London, 1957, co-ordinates 47°1’ X 14°14’. It was only possible partially to check the Arabic of the names of this map and this name supplied by Shaikh Ruwais should be substituted for al-'Alh of. the map. Additional names of hill features supplied by him are to the north, (for the map's J. Bazarah) to the south, and three names, to the west.Google Scholar

8 Rossi, cf. E.,’ Terminologia delle costruzioni nel Yemen‘, A Francesco Gabridī, Roma, 1964, 361–7, citing shujbah, a little window, and shij', a door.Google Scholar

9 Glossaire datînois, Leiden, 1920–42, 2699.

10 Serjeant, cf. R. B.,’ Star-calendars and an almanac from south-west Arabia‘, Anthropos, XLIX, 3–4, 1954, 456.Google Scholar

11 Arabica, v, 243.

12 cf. Mukhlis, F. A., Studies and comparison of the cycles of the Banū Hilāl romance, Ph.D. thesis. University of London, 1964.Google Scholar

13 Prose and poetry, 12.

14 Landberg, C. de, Arabica, iv, Leiden, 1897, 14 f.Google Scholar

15 This place, which has been seen in a MS vocalized as Burairah, is discussed by Wissmann, H. von,’ Al-Barīra in Ğirdān ‘, Le Muséon, LXXV, 1–2, 1962, 177–209.Google Scholar

16 cf. Naṣr b. Muzāḥim al-Minqarī, Waq'at Ṣiffin, second ed., Cairo, 1382/1962–3, 16, 99,passim.

17 cf. BSOAS, xiii, 2, 1950, 291.

18 For barakah in general cf. Westermarck, E., Pagan survivals in Mohammedan civilisation, London, 1933, ch. iv and v.Google Scholar

19 The Faḍlis also speak of 'alaaat siddah, i.e. a wooden door-lock.

20 cf. Landberg, Ḥaḍramoût, 690, qāshimah, boîte de la serrure en bois. It was described as,.

21 Lane, E. W., Manners and customs of the modem Egyptians, London, 1895, 38.Google Scholar

22 Perhaps equivalent to malsan of Gloss. dat., 2629, ‘ boucle ‘.

23 cf. Arabica, v, 89. Writing over 75 years ago, Landberg says the Ghuthaim make these locks in Ṣan’ā’; this is not so now, nor are they made at Ṣa'dah. He says they used to be made in Wādī ‘Ain in Baiḥān al-Asfal, and that traditionally there was an iron industry in Baiḥān and Ḥarīb, and suggests this is an ancient pre-Islamic industry. Cf. also Serjeant, R. B., ‘ A metal padlock and keys from South Arabia‘, Man, LIX, 1959, no. 65, p. 49.CrossRefGoogle Scholar Regulations for the manufacture of wooden locks may be found in Levy, R. (ed.), The Ma'ālim al-qurba… of… Ibn al-Ukhuwwa (‘ Gibb Memorial’ Series, NS, xii), London, 1938, Ar. text, 237 (288), Engl. abstract, 95.Google Scholar

24 Abū Bakr b. Aḥmad b. ‘Abdullāh al-Khaṭib al-Anṣārī al-Tarīmī (ob. 1352/1933–4), al-Fatāwā al-nāfi’ah fī masāil al-aḥwāl al-wāqi'ah, Cairo, 1960, 104, writes, , if this be the same word ?

25 For kabsh in this sense, cf. Ṭūlūn, Ibn, Mufākahai al-khillān fi ḥawādithal-zamān, Cairo, 1962-1964, n, 117.Google Scholar

26 cf. Serjeant, E. B., ‘ Building and builders in Ḥaḍramawt‘, Le Muséon, Lxii, 3–4, 1949, 281, 283, where the rakīzah has the shape of a formalized palm-tree.Google Scholar

27 The medical uses of ḥarmal are described by Yūsuf b. ‘Umar... b. Rasūl al-Ghassāni. al-Mu’tamad fī’l-adwiyat al-mufradah, second ed., Cairo, 1951, 92. The author, writing towards the close of the seventh/thirteenth century, does not, however, mention that it is used in tanning.

28 Damān in this sense does not appear to be reported elsewhere and its ordinary sense is ‘ dung ‘, which is used in tanning in, at least, parts of South Arabia.

29 Defined by Gloss. dot., 628, as ‘ terre mélée d'eau, boue compacte et visqueuse produite par la plnīe ou le sel’. A Yemeni informant described khulab ûsic] as al-lurāb al-ma’jūn bi'l-mā, in words similar to al-Jawhar al-shaffāf of ‘Abd al-Raḥmān al-Khaṭīb. SOAS photocopy, tale, 432. Bughl is a Mukallā word for a mixture of clay and dung.

30 cf. Naval, G. B. Intelligence Division, Western Arabia and the Red Sea, London, 1946, 482,595.Google Scholar

31 Arabica, v, 239. This appears to be an ancient word if the suggestion of Professor Beeston, A. F. L., ‘ The ritual hunt’, Le Muséon, Lxi, 3–4, 1948, 190, regarding inscription Philby 84, be accepted. It is Yemeni colloquial Arabic. Cf. al-Ānisī, Tarjī’ al-aṭyār, ed. ‘Abd al-Rahmān al-Iryānī and ‘Abdullāh... al-Aghbarī al-Fā’ishi, Cairo, 1369/1949–50, 312: -Google Scholar

32 From our notes it is regrettably not quite certain that the maqwā is the clay under the wooden sill, and the vocalization of musā'id is also dubious.

33 Farkh commonly means a bastard, as well as a chicken.

34 The Museum of Ethnology, Cambridge, has an example of this kind of nail.

35 cf. Bowen, R. LeBaron and Albright, F. P., Archaeological discoveries in South Arabia (Publications of the American Foundation for the Study of Man, ii), Baltimore, 1958, 143–4 (Jamme 405). Cf. al-Fatāwā al-nāfi'ah, 269, where raim means saṭh, roof.Google Scholar

36 K al-ajnās, ed. Imtiyāz ‘Ali ‘Arshi, Bombay, 1938, 28.

37 Muḥ. b. Hāshim, Tārīkh al-dawlat al-Kathīrīyah, Cairo, 1948, 160, calls the mishwāf,

38 The slight discrepancy between our notes and the plan here, the latter showing three rooms, arises from our being unable to enter the looked rooms but on the basis of the doors two are assumed.

39 Saif al-Qu’aiṭī, al-Amthāl wa ‘l-aqwāl al-Ḥaḍramīyah, MS in Ḥaidarābād, India, 106, reports a proverb, ‘one who accompanies poultry will be taken by them into lavatories ‘. Hens are always to be seen in Ḥaḍramawt pecking around the foot of the ‘ long drop ‘. This may be why tribal people often regard them as unfit for eating. The sense of the proverb is presumably that if one keeps bad or worthless company it will bring one into trouble. Al-Qu'aiṭī calls the makhwāl ‘ bait al-ṭahārah ‘. The word is used in Tarīm.

40 A question sent to Saiyid ‘Alawī b. ‘Abdullāh... Āl al-Shaikh Bu Bakr in Aden produced the reply that bakrah was where the beam was placed to build the saqf, ceiling, which is a possible sense from other comparative material, but it is difficult to accept this here. He also considers marda' to be an error for m r d m which he defines as a hole in the bakrah, but this is also difficult to accept.

41 Berg, L. W. C. van den, Le Ḥadhramout et les colonies ardbes dans l' Arehipd indien, Batavia. 1886, 67, mur'āḍ. An alternative spelling is mir'āḍ, BSOAS, xxvii, 1, 1964, 47.Google Scholar

42 One hears of tribesmen seeking blood-revenge, lying in wait outside the ḥuṣn of their enemy to shoot him in the ṭahārah.

43 ‘Alawī b. Ṭāhir, K al-shāmil, Singapore, 1359/1940, 203, says that jubūḥ (plur.) are round hollow pottery (khazaf) which when joined end to end are used as pipes, the joins sealed with nūrah, i.e. lime beaten up with cotton and oil. Cf. Aḥ. b. ‘Alī al-Maqrizi, Naḥl 'ibar al-naḥl, ed. al-Din, Jamāl al-Shaiyāl, Cairo, 1365/1946, 20, 25, jibḥ, and 70, on differences in zakāt al-'asal.Google Scholar

44 For verses on bees see BSOAS, xxvii, 1, 1964, 64; Prose and poetry, Engl. pref., 21. Ibn Mājid (Ferrand, G., Instructions nautiques…, Paris, 1921-1928, I, 83a) alludes to nawb al-'asal al-musammā 'inda-nā al-d nī. Al-Subkī, Ṭabaqāt al-Shāfi'īyah, Cairo, 1964–7, ii, 202–3, has nūb. The anonymous al-Ḥayāt alsa'īdah fī Ḥaḍramawt, Singapore, 1953, 7, has the phrase ‘ Many bees and honey in every hive ‘. Ṣumār = jibḥ.Google Scholar

45 Shemesh, A. Ben, Taxation in Islam, I, Leiden, 1958, 34.Google Scholar Al-Balādhuri, trans. P. K. Hitti, The origins of the Islamic state, Columbia, Beirut, 1966, 87, cites the case where Thaqīf of al-Ṭā'if had failed to pay one skin of honey in ten—as they used to do to the Prophet. The Caliph ‘Umar ordered them to do so or their valley would not be protected, i.e. probably not remain a ḥimā.Google Scholar

46 Shemesh, A. Ben, Taxation in Islam, ii, Leiden, 1965, 39–40. Cf. al-Shāfi'ī, al-Umm, Cairo, 1321/1903–4—1326/1908–9, ii, 33. Abū ‘Ubaid, K al-amwāl, Cairo, n.d., 496–7, says that a qirbah of middling size is taken on every ten as 'ushr. Another source says a tenth is taken on honey from the plain but a fifth from mountain honey. Others say no ṣadaqah is payable on it at all.Google Scholar

47 Ziqq is given the usual sense o f ‘ wineskin ‘ by Ben Shemesh, and is called, inaccurately, a ‘ vase ‘ by Hitti, but the term is not restricted t o wineskins. South Arabians now store their honey in bottles or tins, but as late as 1954 in Ḍāli' they used to keep it in gourds with a tiny window cut out in the side, and the piece used as a stopper. In Daw' an tins of a circular shape are made from old kerosene tins by local tinsmiths to hold the circular comb.

48 Published on 8 December 1961, probably in Cairo. There is an amusing play on the word la'mīm which can be understood as ‘ nationalization ‘ or as ‘ imāmization ‘.

49 A certain Shaikh Ḥusain b. Muḥ. b. al-Ḥusain Ibrīq al-Ḥaḍramī al-Ḥabbāni composed in 1216/1801–2 Taḥrīd al-ikhwān al-kirām wa-badhl al-naṣīḥah fī 'l-taḥarruz min Yām al-li'ām wa-af 'āli-him al-qalīḥah; the original is in Tarim, but a photocopy is in the possession of R. B. Serjeant. Though this book is concerned with the north Yemen tribe of Yām, Makramīs, the author hails from the Wāhidi capital, and his book has much to say of the musket, its parts, and its employment.

50 Gloss. dot., 1393, markadah ‘ pierre de l'âtre’.

51 An interesting usage is that the ‘Awlaqīs apply the word bait to that part of the room shown in fig. 18 as shaded. In Ḥaḍramawt the corresponding term for this part of the room is dār.

52 cf. JSAS, 1951, 1–2, p. 39.

53 Arabica, v, 239.