Lexical Search Yields Gold

Back in July 2004, I obtained a recorded commentary on Qurrat Al-Absar fi Seerat An-Nabi Al-Mukhtar, a versified Mauritanian biography of the Prophet Muhammad (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam). The recording included recited verses detailing the Prophet's lineage (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam), describing Nadr (one of the ancestors) as dhi-s-sikah (ذي السكة). (Note: the kaf in sikah is not doubled: it is sikah and not sikkah; the meaning of the latter is obvious.) I didn't know what the word meant, and thus began the search. At that point, I wasn't even sure if I heard the word properly, as I didn't have a printed copy of verses before me. I asked a number of people, including two scholars of Arabic and they didn't know the word. I searched Lisan Al-Arab and Mu3jam Maqayees Al-Lughah to no avail. I decided I'd try to find a copy of the text. Running around Amman, I was unable to find the book. Finally, I asked one of the Qasid staff who had studied in Mauritania and he had the book. I made myself a copy and then started looking for the verses, only to find that they weren't there. I listened to the recording again and discovered that the reciter said that the author of Qurrat Al-Absar itself identified each ancestor by a letter and that the lines he recited that mentioned them all explicitly were from another work.

Recently, it occurred to me that the words mentioned by the reciter -- 3amood An-Nasab -- were actually the title of another book. If only I could find this book, it would probably contain the elusive verses. I did a Google search and, lo and behold, there was a scanned in manuscript from Al-Azhar on an Islamic forum. I went to download the book but was told I needed to register. Registration failed with a notice saying that no new registrations were being accepted. I wrote to the site owners and explained why I wanted to register. After a few days, I received an email confirming my registration. I downloaded the book, unzipped it and started scanning through the pages: one, two, three, four, and finally five -- there were the verses:

Not only was the word sikah correct, a little note was written above it, "i.e. golden." So, the author of these lines described Nadr as being, "the one of the golden." "Golden what?" I wondered aloud, to which my wife answered, "family." Of course, now it all made sense, alhamdulillah.

(There were some small differences between the manuscript and the recording I had.)

The lines can be translated approximately as:

The lineage that all creation have agreed upon
Because of it rising to prominence through the Prophet:
Ahmad, Abdullah, Abdul-Muttalib
ِAnd Hashim, Abdu Manaf the Elected.
Son of Qusayy, son of Kilab, Murrah
Ka`b, Loai, Ghalib the Radiant Faced;
Fihr, son of Malik and Nadr of the golden [family],
Kinanah, Khuzaymah, and Mudrikah;
[Followed by its] Ilyas and Mudar, Nizar,
Ma`add, Adnan -- around him they revolve.

The reciter then skipped over multiple lines mentioning the Prophet's lineage through his mother (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) to mention the verses indicating that the ancestors between Adnan and Ismail (peace be upon him) are unknown in name and number.