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Hāshim and the Musabba'āt

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 December 2009

Extract

The Musabba'āt played an important part in the history of the Kordofan/Dār Fūr region in the late seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. This article attempts to define who they were and to examine the careers of three generations of Musabba'āt sultans, in particular that of the grandson, their most famous sultan, Hashim b. ‘Isāwī al-Musabba'āwī.

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Copyright © School of Oriental and African Studies 1972

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References

1 We are grateful to Professor P. M. Holt of the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, for having read the article in draft and making several valuable suggestions.

2 See Hill, R. L., A biographical dictionary of the Sudan, second ed., London, 1967, 93, 206Google Scholar, for brief notices on all three. Koenig seems never to have written an account of his travels in the Sudan, but letters from him were published in the Bulletin de la Societé de Géographie de Paris, 1824, 81, 335; 1825, 152, 158, 370; 1826, 169, 402. We are grateful to Mr. R. L. Hill for these references.

3 There are Musabba'āt villages or communities east and north of al-Fāshir and near Nyala, in Dār Fūr; at al-Nuhūd, Abū Zabad, al-Ubayyid, Bāra, al-Rahad, and Dilling in Kordofan; also several villages near Sinnār and Sinja and also in the al-Qadārif/Kasala region (‘Awad Hāmid Jabr al-Dār, interview, 30 August 1969). Several of the Musabba'āt communities in Dār Fūr are Fūr-speaking (Ādam al-Zayn Muhammad, interview, 12 February 1970).

4 James Bruce, the Scottish traveller, thus seems to have confused the Musabba'āt with the Fūr; the error may lie with his informants in the southern Gezira. See Murray, A., Life and writings of James Bruce, Edinburgh, 1808, 425Google Scholar. It is noteworthy, however, that in some of the Funj documents the title Sultān Fūr al-Musabba'āt appears, which suggests that the people of Sinnār were aware of the origin of the Musabba'āt sultans. See Salīm, Abū (ed.), al-Fūnj wa 'l-ard, 60, 63, 66Google Scholar.

5 The word baasi may appear elsewhere; the royal clan of the Berti, a tribe living in north-eastern Dār Fūr, is called Basanga; see Holý, L., ‘Social consequences of dia among the Berti’, Africa, xxxvii, 4, 1967, 466–79CrossRefGoogle Scholar. There are also among the Fur themselves several groups called Bassinga.

6 There are several variants of the genealogical link between the Basna and the Keira; see Cadalvène, and Breuvéry, , L'Égypte et la Turquie, ii, 199Google Scholar; Muhammad, b. 'Umar al-Tūnisī, Tashhīdh al-adhhān bi-sīrat bilād al-'Arab wa 'l-Sūdān, ed. Mus'ad, Mustafā Muhammad, 'Asākir, Khalīl Muhammad, and Ziyāda, Muhammad Mustafā, Cairo, 1965, 83Google Scholar, and in the French translation by DrPerron, , Voyage au Darfour, Paris, 1845, 67Google Scholar; Muhammad, b. ‘Umar al-Tūnisī (Mohammed el-Tounsy) Voyage au Ouaday, Paris, 1851, 73Google Scholar; Nachtigal, G., Sahara und Sudan, 3 vols. (i–ii, Berlin, 18791881, iii, Leipzig, 1889), iii, 363–4Google Scholar; MacMiehael, , Kordofan, 55–6Google Scholar, and History, ii, 154–5. See table 1 (above) for the genealogy of the Musabba'āt sultans recorded by MacMiehael from Hāmid Jabr al-Dār.

7 It is very unlikely that the Keira exercised any control east of Jabal Marra before the reign of ‘Umar Lel (1159–67/1746–7–1753–4), and it is probable that a system of administration was not established east of the mountains until well into the reign of Muhammad Tayrāb (1176–1200/1762–3–1785–6). Similarly it is unlikely that the Sinnār sultanate's sphere of influence in Kordofan, as exercised through their protégés, the Ghudiyāt, extended west of al-Ubayyid, since its main interest was in the slaving region of the Nuba mountains. This left an enormous area for the Musabba'āt to operate within.

8 Nachtigal, , Sahara und Sudan, iii, 366Google Scholar, and MacMichael, , Kordofan, 62Google Scholar. Nachtigal records the tradition that Janqal was defeated by Musa. in two battles fought at Tine and Kolge, both west of Jabal Marra, which appears to confirm that the Keira had little or no control east of the mountains at this time.

9 ‘Awad Hāmid Jabr al-Dār, interview, 30 August 1969, giving the tradition that Janqal gave the nihās, i.e. the copper kettledrums that were a symbol of authority, to many tribal leaders in Kordofan; a clear sign of ‘imperial’ pretensions.

10 Dayfallāh, Wad, Kitāb al-tabaqāt, 164Google Scholar, where Janqal is said to have advanced from al-Kāb. Suddayq locates al-Kāb in western Dār Fūr. More probably al-Kāb was a general name referring to the series of hills just east of the present Dār Fūr/Kordofan provincial boundary. Thus in an ‘Abdallābī waqfiyya, dated 1149/1736 there is reference to a region delimited by al-Kāb in the west, Sawākin in the east, Ethiopia in the south, and Aswān in the north; see al-Khartūm, December 1967, 58 (we are grateful to Professor Holt for this reference). It is said that one of these hills, Jabal Bishāra Tayyib, was known originally as Kāb Balūl; see MacMichael, , Kordofan, 74—5 and 98Google Scholar, where Kāb is translated as ‘fort’. See also Cadalvène, and Breuvéry, , L'Égypte et la Turquie, ii, 202Google Scholar.

11 Dayfallāh, Wad, Kitāb al-tabaqāt, 164Google Scholar, and Cadalvène, and Breuvéry, , L'Égypte et la Turquie, II, 202Google Scholar; the latter source dates Janqal's death to 1603, but this seems far too early. Mukhtār's father, Muhammad Jawdatallāh, was the pupil of Muhammad al-Qaddāl; during the year of famine, Umm Lahm, 1095/1683–4, al-Qaddāl sought refuge with his pupil in Kordofan, but was brought back to Umm Talha by the Funj ruler, Unsa b. Nāsir (1092–1103/1681–2–1691–2), who was unwilling for so distinguished a holy man to live under the rule of Malik Kunjāra, which probably refers to Janqal; see Dayfallāh, Wad, Kitāb al-tabaqāt, 23, 45Google Scholar.

Makk was the title of the Funj ruler. It has been erroneously regarded as a corruption of the Arabic malik, and forms a plural, mukūk.

12 Dayfallāh, Wad, Kitāb al-tabaqāt, 164Google Scholar, says Janqal left about 50 sons, nearly all of whom, except ‘Isāwī, died fighting one another.

13 Bruce, James, Travels to discover the sources of the Nile, 5 vols., London, 1790, ii, 637Google Scholar; Bruee's account of Khamīs, whom he calls a ‘Prince of Dar Fowr’, is very muddled and the above is only a possible interpretation.

14 See Bruce, , Travels, ii, 637Google Scholar. If Khamīs left Dār Fūr as a result of the succession dispute following the death of sultan Ahmad Bukr in 1141/1728–9, there may be confirmation of this date in Salim, Abū (ed.), al-Fūnj wa ‘L-ard, 138Google Scholar, where Khamis, described as Sultān Fūr, appears as a witness on a document dated Rajab 1141/Febraary–March 1729. Later members of Khamls's family in Sinnār carried the title, Sultān Fur al-Musabba'āt; see the discussion in Salīm, Abū (ed.), al-Fūnj wa ‘L-ard, 44–5Google Scholar.

15 See Busayli, (ed.), Makhtūtat Kātib al-Shūna, 21Google Scholar; MacMichael, , History, ii, 365Google Scholar; and for the Ethiopian version, see Guidi, I. (ed.), Annales regum lyasu II et Iyo'as, Paris, 1910, 114–15Google Scholar.

16 Cadalvène, and Breuvéry, , L'Égypte et la Turquie, ii, 202Google Scholar; Nachtigal, , Sahara und Sudan, iii, 370Google Scholar. Pelpelle and his brother belonged to the Awlad Ahmad Bukr, the numerous sons of the great sultan Ahmad Bukr; the Awlād Ahmad Bukr played an active part as a faction or series of factions in mid- and late-eighteenth century Dār Fūr. The situation at the time of ‘Umar Lei's accession in Dār Fūr was very confused, but possibly the fact of ‘Umar succeeding his father, Muhammad Dawra, was in some sense a usurpation, therefore conversely the Awlād Ahmad Bukr might be regarded as the ‘legitimist’ faction among the Keira.

17 Cadalvène, and Breuvéry, , L'Égypte et la Turquie, ii, 203Google Scholar, who date the battle to 1751. Busayli, (ed.), Makhtūtat Kātib al-Shūna, 24Google Scholar, mentions neither ‘Isāwi nor an ‘Abdallābi governor, but says that the Musabba'āt invaded central Kordofan and there were two battles, in which the Funj under the wazīr Wad Tūma and accompanied by the ‘Abdallābī ‘Abdallāh, were defeated, although they were finally rallied by Muhammad Abū Likaylik. For the ‘Abdallābī version, see Penn, A. E., ‘Traditional stories of the ‘Abdullab tribe’, Sudan Notes and Records, xvii, 1, 1934, 6970Google Scholar, where the invasion is ascribed to a Fūr sultan.

18 Nachtigal, , Sahara und Sudan, iii, 370–1Google Scholar; there is reference to a similar practice by the later Keira sultan, ‘Abd al-Rahmān al-Rashīd (1200–15/1785–6–1800–1); al-Tūnisi, , Tashhīdh, 101Google Scholar, and Darfour, 89. ‘Isāwi's demand was probably morally outrageous, but it may also have had political implications.

19 Cadalvène, and Breuvéry, , L'Égypte et la Turquie, ii, 204–5Google Scholar; Nachtigal, , Sahara und Sudan, iii, 371Google Scholar. Their versions vary slightly.

20 Cadalvène, and Breuvéry, , L'Égypte et la Turquie, ii, 207Google Scholar, is the only source for this episode. They also say that ‘Isāwī was murdered by his uncle, Mustafā, on his return to Kordofan. Another tradition asserts that he died naturally in the Kāja/Katūl region; ‘Awad Hāmid Jabr al-Dār, interview, 30 August 1969.

21 Ādam al-Zayn Muhammad, interview, 12 February 1970, and his collection of Jugujugu Musabba'āt tradition, al-Turāth al-sha'bī li-qabīla al-Musabba'āt, mimeograph, Khartoum, 1970. The exact date of Muhammadayn's return to Dār Fūr is not clear, but it was probably before Tayrāb's invasion of Kordofan in 1200/1785–6.

22 'Awad Hāmid Jabr al-Dār, interview, 30 August 1969, who also gave the tradition that Hāshim and Muhammad Tayrāb were cousins, since their mothers were sisters, daughters of the sultan of the Mima, a small Arabized tribe, who live around Wadā'a, south-east of al-Fāshir. A similar tradition was also recorded from Sabil Ādam Ya'qūb, interview, al-Fāshir, 4 June 1970. These traditions appear to contradict Nachtigal, , Sahara und Sudan, iii, 375Google Scholar, that Tayrāb's mother was the sister of the sultan of Zaghāwa Kobē, in north-western Dār Fūr. The traditions would make better sense, in that chronologically Tayrāb appears to belong to an older generation than Hāshim, if we assume that one of Tayrāb's wives was a daughter of the Mīma sultan, the sister of Hāshim's mother. Since we know Tayrāb campaigned in eastern Dār Fūr, a matrimonial alliance with the Mima was very likely. The Keira link, whatever its exact nature, and a period of residence in Dār Fūr, probably gave Hāshim an excellent understanding of the politics of the sultanate; see also p. 329, n. 53.

23 See MacMichael, , Kordofan, 74–5, 98Google Scholar; although no date is given for the episode, it would seem likely that Hashim occupied Jabal Bishāra Tayyib early in his career. On the importance of the Kāja/Katūl region, see Born, M., Zentralkordofan, Marburg, 1966, 68, 71Google Scholar.

24 Al-Tūnisī, , Tashhīdh, 76–7Google Scholar, and Darfour, 58–9; Naehtigal, , Sahara und Sudan, iii, 376Google Scholar.

25 'Awad Hāmid Jabr al-Dār, interview, 30 August 1969.

26 Murray, , Bruce, 425Google Scholar, from Brace's diary in Sinnār, dated 1 August 1772. There can be little doubt that Bruce was referring to Hāshim's invasion, although he mentions neither Hāshim nor the Musabba'āt. Bruce says that a Fūr army advanced from Rīl, which suggests a large measure of Keira involvement in Hāshim's plans; this is confirmed by Cadalvène, and Breuvéry, , L'Égypte et la Turquie, ii, 209Google Scholar.

27 For example, see Burckhardt, J. L., Travels in Nubia, London, 1819, 278Google Scholar; Cailliaud, F., Voyage à Méroé, au Fleuve Blanc, 4 vols., Paris, 1826, ii, 23–4Google Scholar. After the fall of Sinnār, the royal families of the ‘Adlānāb and Hannīkāb came to adopt Shāiqiyya ancestry: interviews, Muhammad ‘Uthmān al-Hasan, Shaykh ‘Assūm, 30 December 1969; al-Zayn Idrīs, 11 January 1970, of the ‘Adlānāb; al-Hājj Taha Hamad, 15 January 1970, and ‘Uthmān Sa'īd, Shaykh al-Masāwī, 10 January 1970, of the Hannikāb. For convenience, this usage will be retained in the present discussion.

28 Spaulding describes aspects of the social and dynastic history of the northern Funj kingdom in his Ph.D. thesis, Kings of sun and shadow: a history of the ‘Abdallāb provinces of the northern, Sinnār sultanate, 1500–1800 A.D., Columbia University, 1971Google Scholar.

29 Mānjil or mānjilak (there are varying vocalizations) was the title of the ruling chief of the Abdallāb, who served as the viceroy of the Funj sultan over the northern provinces.

30 The descent of the ‘Adlānāb kings from the family of Muhammad al-Simayh is described in a document preserved by the former nāzir of the Shāīqiyya, al-Zayn Idrīs, which was copied by Spaulding at Merawī, 11 January 1970.

31 Cailliaud, , Voyage, ii, 195Google Scholar. The ‘Adlānāb were later to receive the ‘Abdallāb heartlands as a reward for collaborating with the invading Turco-Egyptian forces.

32 Murray, , Bruce, 432Google Scholar.

33 The tradition recorded in the Shuqayr, Na'ūm, Ta'rīkh al-Sūdān al-qadīm wa ‘l-badīth wa-jughrafiyyatuhu, Cairo, n.d. [1903]Google Scholar, reprinted Beirut, 1957, 3 vols. in 1, 425, deriving both the Sa'dāb and the Awlād Nimr from Idrīs III b. al-Fahl surely errs. When Bruce visited Shandī in 1772, Idrīs III was still young and probably under the regency of his mother; Bruce, , Travels, iv, 526, 529Google Scholar. In the same year malik Sa'd was campaigning in Kordofan; see below, p. 326. In 1772 the people of Shandī were terrified lest Abū Likaylik—and malik Sa'd—return from Kordofan and devastate the province; Bruce, , Travels, iv, 531Google Scholar. Obviously both the Sa'dāb and their conflict with Shandī were in existence before Idrīs III b. al-Fahl reached maturity.

The difficulty can be resolved by reference to Cailliaud's Ja'aliyūn king list, a confusing document which fails to distinguish between the two dynasties; Cailliaud, , Voyage, iii, 106–7Google Scholar. It suggests that conflict broke out among the sons of an earlier malik, ‘Abd al-Salām, after his death at the hands of the Funj. His successor and son, al-Fahl, the only recorded malik of that name, who is said to have ruled for 15 years, was assassinated by a second brother, Diyāb, so that a third, Idrīs II, could rule. After six years Idrīs II was killed by the Kawāhla on the Atbara and Diyāb succeeded, followed by four brothers. Meanwhile a son of al-Fahl, Idrīs III, is known to have been ruling Shandī under the tutelage of his mother; Bruce, , Travels, iv, 526, 529Google Scholar. Therefore all the brothers of al-Fahl must have ruled elsewhere, presumably at al-Matamma. This would have been the origin of the Sa'dāb state. The next malik of al-Matamma was the Sa'd mentioned above; he was indeed the son of Idris, but not Idrīs III b. al-Fahl, but of Idrīs II b. 'Abd al-Salam, the first to benefit from the murder of the original al-Fahl.

34 Muhammad Hijayba (Abū Likaylik faction) and Shaykh Rahma (‘;legitimist’ faction), interviews Berber, 30 January, 1970.

35 Cadalvène, and Breuvéry, L'Égypte et la Turquie, ii, 256–7Google Scholar; interview, Nūrī, 3 January 1970, Muhammad Sulaymān Hammadtū, from the leading fakī family of Nürī, who accurately described the eighteenth-century wars of the Shāīqiyya with Berber, Shandī, and the ‘Abdallāb but denied that hostilities had ever taken place with the Sa'dāb because, he said, there were close family ties between the two groups.

36 Bruce, , Travels, iv, 515Google Scholar.

37 Bruce, , Travels, iv, 531Google Scholar.

38 Busaylī, (ed.), Makhtūtat Kātib al-Shūna, 27Google Scholar.

39 Busaylī, (ed.), Makhtūtat Kātib al-Shūna, 32Google Scholar.

40 Busaylī, (ed.), Makhtūtat Kātib al-Shūna, 31Google Scholar.

41 Cadalvène, and Breuvéry, , L'Ègypte et la Turquie, ii, 209Google Scholar.

42 Busayli, (ed.), Makhtūtat Kātib al-Shūna, 31Google Scholar.

43 Busayli, (ed.), Makhtūtat Kātib al-Shūna, 32Google Scholar; Cadalvène, and Breuvéry, , L'Égypte et la Turquie, ii, 210Google Scholar.

44 Cadalvène, and Breuvéry, , L'Égypte et la Turquie, ii, 210Google Scholar.

45 Al-Tūnisī, , Tashhīdh, 76–7Google Scholar, and Darfour, 58–9; Nachtigal, , Saliara und Sudan, iii, 375Google Scholar. Tayrāb's campaigns are further discussed in O'Fahey's, Ph.D. thesis, The growth and development of the Keira sultanate of Dār Fūr, University of London, 1972Google Scholar.

46 Al-Tūnisī, , Tashhīdh, 86Google Scholar, and Darfour, 68.

47 Nachtigal, , Sahara und Sudan, iii, 376Google Scholar; Shuqayr, , Ta'rīkh al-Sūdān, 450Google Scholar.

48 'Awad Hāmid Jabr al-Dār, interview, 30 August 1969, gave the tradition that some three or five years after the battle at Jabal al-Hilla, Tayrāb gathered a huge army and marched on Kordofan; an army so huge that when it camped it drank the wells dry. This refers, no doubt, to the invasion of 1200/1785–6, so we may date Hāshim's forays to the period 1780–5.

49 Al-Tūnisi, , Tashhīdh, 84Google Scholar, and Darfour, 67.

50 In Old Dongola and Dār al-Shāīqiyya, a sword was called a ‘djellabé’ and some 40 years later, in a similar fashion to Hāshim, the maqdūm Musallim assembled the Danāqla merchants of Bāra to resist the Turco-Egyptian invasion of Kordofan; Cadalvène, and Breuvéry, , L'Égypte et la Turquie, ii, 260 and 220Google Scholar.

51 See Pallme, I., Travels in Kordofan, London, 1844, 13Google Scholar. The exact date of the foundation of Bāra is unknown, but it already existed in 1200/1785–6 when Tayrāb encamped and later died there.

52 The prosperity of Khandaq and al-Dabba under Shāīqiyya rule, as well as the flourishing market towns of the Shāīqiyya homeland, contradict the ‘received tradition’that the Shāīqiyya looked upon merchants as mere bearers of potential loot; see de Bellefonds, M. A. Linant, Journal d'un voyage à Méroé dans les années 1821 et 1822, ed. Shinnie, M., Khartoum, 1958, 30, 73Google Scholar; Cadalvène, and Breuvéry, , L'Égypte et la Turquie, ii, 288–99Google Scholar.

53 For the preparations for the campaigns and Tayrāb's order of march, see Shuqayr, , Ta'rīkh al-Sūdān, 449–51Google Scholar. The description suggests that Tayrāb had more in mind than a mere punitive raid. Tayrāb wrote to Hāshim telling him to keep the peace; see al-Tūnisī, , Tashhīdh, 86Google Scholar, and Darfour, 69, quoting the letter, or more probably an imaginative reconstruction, in which Tayrāb addresses Hāshim, as ‘cousin’ (yā ibn ‘ammī), see p. 323, n. 22Google Scholar.

54 Cadalvène, and Breuvéry, , L'Égypte et la Turquie, ii, 211Google Scholar; the traditional account is to be found in MacMichael, , Kordofan, p. 63, n. 3Google Scholar; the several traditions in MacMichael relating to Hāshim's career appear in short individual paragraphs. Their sequence cannot be reconciled with what is known of Hāshim's career from other sources; we have thus regarded each paragraph as a discrete and independent tradition, arranging them in an order which conforms to the outline established by documentary sources.

55 Cailliaud, , Voyage, ii, 315–38Google Scholar.

58 MacMiohael, , Kordofan, p. 63, n. 3Google Scholar.

57 MacMichael, , Kordofan, 1415Google Scholar.

58 Al-Tūnisī, , Tashhīdh, 88Google Scholar, and Darfour, 70; Shuqayr, , Ta'rīhh al-Sūdan, 451Google Scholar.

58 Al-Tūnisi, , Tashhīdh, 93–8Google Scholar, and Darfour, 76–85; Nachtigal, , Sahara und Sudan, iii, 377–8Google Scholar; Shuqayr, , Ta'rīkh al-Sūdān, 453Google Scholar.

60 Al-Tūnisī, , Tashhīdh, 104–9Google Scholar, and Darfour, 98–100; Nachtigal, , Sahara und Sudan, iii, 380–1Google Scholar.

61 Cadalvène, and Breuvéry, , L'Egypte et la Turquie, ii, 211Google Scholar; al-Tūnisī, , Tashhīdh, 128Google Scholar, and Darfour, 120.

62 The presence of the Shāiqiyya with Hāshim may be argued from the attempt of the ‘Abdallāb mānjil, during Hāshim's absence, to reconquer Old Dongola and Dār al-Shāīqiyya in 1790, while the homeland was denuded of warriors. It was treachery within the mānjil's own forces, resulting in his assassination and a civil war, rather than the Shāīqiyya warriors, which brought about the ‘Abdallāb failure: see Busaylī, (ed.), Makhtūtat Kātib al-Shūna, 37–8Google Scholar; MacMichael, , History, ii, 372Google Scholar; Perm, A. E. D., ‘Traditional stories of the 'Abdullab tribe’, Sudan Notes and Records, xvii, 1, 1934, 75–7Google Scholar.

63 The chronology of events in Dār Fūr at this time is unclear; a probable reconstruction is: 1787, death of Tayrāb; 1787–8, return of ‘Abd al-Rahmān to Dār Fūr; 1788–91, civil war; 1791, the foundation of al-Fāshir and the expedition to Kordofan. Al-Tūnisi, , Tashhīdh, 128Google Scholar, and Darfour, 120, mentions only Kurra as commander, but Cadalvène, and Breuvéry, , L'Égypte el la Turquie, ii, 211Google Scholar, mention both, which seems the more probable in that Ibrāhīm, a leading Fūr notable, may have been sent to keep an eye on Kurra.

64 Al-Tūnisi, , Tashhīdh, 128Google Scholar, and Darfour, 120; Cadalvène, and Breuvéry, , L'Égypte et la Turquie, ii, 211Google Scholar; Nachtigal, , Sahara und Sudan, iii, 383Google Scholar.

65 See the remarks in Pallme, , Travels, 1116Google Scholar, and Cuny, C., Journal de voyage de Siout à El-Obeid, Paris, 1858, 177Google Scholar.

66 Cadalvène, and Breuvéry, , L'Égypte et la Turquie, ii, 211Google Scholar.

67 MacMichael, , Kordofan, 63Google Scholar.

68 MacMichael, , Kordofan, 63Google Scholar.

69 Cadalvène, and Breuvéry, , L'Épte et la Turquie, ii, 211Google Scholar.

70 Cadalvène, and Breuvéry, , L'Égypte et la Turquie, ii, 211Google Scholar.

71 Browne, W. G., Travels in Africa, Egypt and Syria, London, 1799, 219Google Scholar.

72 Browne, , Travels, 228Google Scholar.

73 It is possible to follow Keira administrative changes in Kordofan from Cadalvène, and Breuvéry, , L'Égypte et la Turquie, ii, 211–14Google Scholar; in 1796, Ibrāhīm was recalled and replaced in northern Kordofan by Musallim. In 1799, the wazir, Muhammad b. ‘Alī Dokumi, was sent to Kordofan to investigate and recall both Kurra and Musallim. A little later Musallim returned, accompanied by a Musabba'āwi amīr, Tayma, perhaps to draw the Kordofan Musabba'āt loyalties away from Hāshim. About the same time Muhammad b. ‘Alī Dokumi became governor of southern Kordofan, to replace Kurra, who had cleared his name and still kept the supreme administrative title, Abbo Shaykh Daali, and with it, probably general overlordship of Kordofan and eastern Dār Fūr affairs. After ‘Abd al-Rahmān's death in 1215/1800–1, the situation remained the same until Kurra's own death in rebellion in Rajab 1219/October-November 1804. With the recall of Muhammad b. ‘Alī, Musallim was left in sole charge.

74 Cadalvène, and Breuvéry, , L'Égypte et la Turquie, ii, 212Google Scholar.

75 Busaylī, (ed.), Makhtūtat Kātib al-Shūna, 3940Google Scholar; MacMichael, , History, ii, 289, 415Google Scholar.

76 Busaylī, (ed.), Makhtūtat Kātib al-Shūna, 3940Google Scholar.

77 Busaylī, (ed.), Makhtūtat Kātib al-Shūna, 40Google Scholar, and above, p. 327.

78 MacMichael, , Kordofan, 63Google Scholar.

79 MacMichael, , History, ii, 415Google Scholar.

80 Busaylī, (ed.), Makhtūtat Kātib al-Shūna, 3940Google Scholar; MacMichael, , History, 373–4Google Scholar.

81 Cadalvène, and Breuvŕy, , L'Égypte et la Turquie, ii, 212Google Scholar.

82 Cadalvène, and Breuvéry, , L'Égypte et la Turquie, ii, 213Google Scholar.

83 Cadalvène, and Breuvéry, , L'Égypte et la Turquie, ii, 213Google Scholar; it would, of course, be more characteristic for Hāshim to want to get into Kordofan to exploit the situation arising from the accession of a child in Dār Fūr.

84 Cadalvène, and Breuvéry, , L'Égypte et la Turquie, ii, 213Google Scholar.

85 Cadalvène, and Breuvéry, , L'Egypte et la Turquie, ii, 213Google Scholar.

86 MacMichael, , Kordofan, 14, 63Google Scholar.

87 Burckhardt, , Travels, 257Google Scholar. Hāshim must have met his death before 1814 when Burckhardt visited Shandī. However, Musabba'āt tradition, in MacMichael, , Kordofan, 63Google Scholar, asserts that he died in al-Matamma; probably therefore the parties to his last intrigue were the Sa'dāb and their arch-rivals, the Awlād Nimr, and its object, control of Shandi. A contemporary example of good relations between the Keira and the Shāīqiyya-dominated entrepôt of al-Dabba may be found in a letter from Muhammad al-Fadl to the fakī Muhammad Abū Jibba, describing the sending of rich gifts to the mosque of the Dulayqāb at al-Dabba; the letter is poorly reproduced in Busaylī, , Ma'ālim ta'rikh wādī ‘l-Nīl, Cairo, 1965, 261Google Scholar.