'Gazetteer of Arabia Vol. II' [‎1352] (407/688)

NAJAF TOWN
tho waters of the Hindlyah in the neighbourhood of Shinafiyah ; it is known in the last
part of its course as the Khurm. Tho chief village in the Nahiyah and the seat of the
Mudir is Abu Shurah, several miles to the north-east of Kufah ; it consists of about 70
huts.
Nahiyah of Kufah.
The tracts in this Nahiyah also cannot be specified by name, but the chief tribes are
these:—
1. 'Adharat.
2. Balush or Baluchis.
3. Dbahab (A1 Bu).
4. Hasan (Bani).
5. 'Isa
6. Ja'afarah ;
Nahiyah of Rahabah.
The tracts in this Nahiyah are the following:—
7. Mashhud (Al Bu Shaikh).
8. Mawash.
9. Na'aman (Al Bu).
10. Qaraishat.
11. RabI 'ah (Bani),
12. Shushtari.
1. 'Adhbah.
2. Arbij.
3. Ghanim.
4. Haiyadahiyah.
5. Kuaraibah.
8. Muwailhah.
9. Nasab.
10. Rahaimah.
11. Rahabah.
12. Rahban.
6. Madhlum. 13. Sawayid.
7. Mandrawi 14. Shaqiq.
The settled Arab tribes of the Rahabah sub-division are the 'Akarat. 'At:i Dhuwaihir
and Al Bu Sultan of the Al Bu 'Abdullah section. ' '
In the Qadha generally there are a number of nomadic Arabs, chiefly of the 'Anizah
(including Dahamishah), Ghazalat, Bani Hasan of the 'Ayash and Bani Salamah sections
Zubaid of the 'Ajaib subsection (Jab Lir-al-Wawi section). Northern Shammar and a !
Shibil.
Population. The total fixed population of the Qadha, inclusive of the town of Naiaf
is probably not loss than 50,000 souls. In the Hor-ad-Dukhn Nahiyah there are said
to be 2,000 huts of tribesmen. The people are nearly all Sh:'ah Muhammadans.
iJcsources.—-Agriculture is the principal pursuit; the crops and live stock are of the
usual sorts ; but, as parts of the district are marshy, rice cultivation and buffaloes are
also found. A number of saline hollows have been converted into rice lands. The date
palm in the Qadha are estimated at 250,000 trees, of which 170,000 are in the Nahivah
of Kufah. J
Near Rahabah are large salt fields, formed by the evaporation in the hot weather
of previous floods; the more important are three in number, and are known as Wadi A seasonal or intermittent watercourse, or the valley in which it flows. .
al-Hamarah, feirajlyah and Rahmiyah, of these the first two are close together and the
third about 3 miles from the others. These three fields together yield about 1,000
tons a year of salt, but the produce is of poor quality and has not been utilised of late
years.
Administration.-— is a Qadha of the 1st class ; it contains—besides the Markaz
Nahiyah—the Nahiyahs, already mentioned , of Hor-ad-Dukhn, Kufah and Rahabah,
, a Tr - f ^ i ' ex ® e P^ ^ 10 one headquarters, was governed by a resident Mud'r ; that
of Kufah belonged to the 1st and that of Hor-ad-Dukhn to the 2nd class.—( Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran.
Gazetteer.) J
NAJAF TOWN.—
Sometimes characterised as Najaf-al-Ashraf and also well known as Mashhad 'Ali;
a famous town of Iraq the most, sacred of the places^egarded as holy by Muhamma*
dans of the Shi ah sect The origm of Najaf, unreliable tradition apart, is ob-
flcure, and there is no mention of its existence earlier than the 10th century of the Chriatian