ABSTRACT

When God wished to manifest the Mahdi, He subjugated the tribes to him in fulfillment of His pledge — given by the Prophet — that the Mahdi would be victorious. Therefore, Arab and other [non-Arab] tribes flocked to the Mahdi from every place: (1) The first tribe (qabīla) to send a deputation (wafd) was the tribe of Dighaym. Their deputation to Abā included Muḥammad w. Bilāl, 3 [47] Mūsā w. Muḥammad Ḥilū 4 and Muhla w. Muḥammad. 5 These three were chiefs of the people (ru’asā’ al-qawm). They swore allegiance and the Mahdi greeted them. Deputations also arrived from the following tribes, whose envoys swore allegiance and obtained the Mahdi’s blessings and greetings: (2) The Kināna: 6 al-Bashīr w. ‘Ajab al-Fayya, 7 Ibrāhīm b. Abī ‘Ā’īsha and ‘Alī w. ‘Uwayḍa 8 — chiefs of the people; (3) The Ḥusunāt: 9 Wad ‘Abd al-Qādir w. Mudarra‘, Aḥmad w. ‘Abdallāh 70w. Ḥallāb and Muḥammad Nūr w. ‘Abdallāh w. Ḥallāb — chiefs of the people. (4) The ‘Amārna: Abū Bakr w. ‘Āmir, 10 al-Nā’īr w. Maḥmūd and Adam w. Kūkū — their chiefs. (5) The Duwayḥ: ‘Alī, Barakāt 11 and al-‘Ubayd, the sons of Muḥammad Sa‘īd — chiefs of the people. (6) The Fallāta: 12 Ādam w. al-U‘aysir 13 and al-Sammānī 14 — notables (a’yān)of their people. Others who came to the Mahdi in Abā and swore allegiance were ‘Abd al-Raḥmān al-Nujūmī, 15 ‘Abdallāh al-Tijānī, 16 ‘Abdallāh w. Ḥasan, and Aḥmad w. Jubāra. 17 Other [48] deputations from different districts and tribes and from remote countries came successively to the Mahdi. These will be mentioned in the course of the Sīra.