[ loi ]

MANUSCRIPT A i

Introduction

A FEW years after the reoccupation of the Sudan a Ga'ali named Muhammad 'Ali Kenan obtained this pedigree from the late Sheikh el Bedowi of Omdurman, who was Kadi of Berber in the Mahdi'a and President of the Board of 'Ulema for some years after the re- occupation.

It corresponds to paragraphs clxii to ccx of MS. AB, but the

relation between AB and Sheikh el Bedowi's copy is not known. Probably paragraphs clxii to ccx of the former were copied from the latter.

Compare A 5.

I In the name of God ....

II — L {Here follows a replica of the text of AB from para, clxii to para, ccx inclusive, identical therewith word for word with the exceptions

given in the notes to paragraphs cxxix and cxl-clxi of BA.)

LI {This paragraph is in nature of a postscript and is written in a

different and rougher hand: it commences " This pedigree was asked for hy^ Muhammad 'AH son of. . .etc.,'' as in the tree, and ends " . . .son of Ma' ad son of 'Adndn.")

LII Beyond Adnan [the tracing of pedigrees] was forbidden by the Lawgiver, upon whom be the blessings of God ....

LIII A pedigree from on high, well guarded and indisputable:

There is no pedigree to compare with it. Pearls heaped high from of old : a pure light Beyond that of the Heavenly Twins.

A pedigree by whose sweetness the noble ones are known : The Heavenly Twins encircle it. Lo here a necklace precious and magnificent, For Thou art in it: the rarest of all pearls.

^ I.e. Muhammad 'Ali applied to Sheikh el Bedowi for a copy.