RECORD OF THE TRIBES OF YA’QÛB, U. W. B., ETC.

In the verses of the Qurân, by the tribes, the children of Ya’qûb—u. w. b., etc.—are meant, and the majority of historians consider them to have been inspired prophets. They reckon that they were three hundred and thirteen in number, and that every one of them was engaged in guiding his progeny [into the right way]. No one, however, has written about the circumstances of the brothers of the veracious one in detail. The author of this work has searched through most of the foreign [i.e. not Moslem] histories, but could find nothing except the numbers of the descendants of the tribes of Ya’qûb when Mûsa, the son of E’mrân, led them out of Egypt; as much, however, as he was able to ascertain he will narrate as follows:

Rubil begat four sons, whose progeny increased so con­siderably that Mûsa found in the first census the number of those among them who were above twenty and under fifty years of age, to amount to sixty thousand warriors. At that time the chieftain of this tribe was called Ail Sûri, the son of Sadi.

Shâkhâr likewise begat four sons, whose descendants multiplied so that in the first census the number of men able to bear arms, between the ages of twenty and fifty years, consisted of forty-one thousand and five hundred individuals, and at the time of the enumeration the name of their chieftain was Nashil, son of Sûa’âr.

Vân had two sons, from whom a great nation originated, which amounted in the first census to the number of sixty-two thousand six hundred soldiers. The headman of this tribe was A’ir, the son of A’mi Shadâi.

Zabâlûn had three sons, whose progeny amounted in the first census [likewise] to sixty-two thousand six hundred, and, according to some, to fifty-five thousand and four hundred warriors, besides old men and children. Their chief was at that time Allâd, the son of Hilvân.

Tha’bâli had four sons, and their seed amounted in the first census to fifty-three thousand four hundred individuals, whose headman was at that time Jyraâ’, the son of A’inân.

Asheer likewise had four sons, whose number amounted at the time of the census to forty-one thousand five hundred warriors. Their chieftain was Bara’âil, the son of A’jrân.

Gad had six sons, whose descendants consisted at the time of the enumeration to forty-one thousand and six hundred and fifty men. The headman of this tribe was at that time Bâisâf, son of A’vâil.

Shima’ûn’s descendants who were older than twenty and younger than fifty years amounted at that time to fifty-nine thousand three hundred men, whose ruler was Shalovi, the son of Sûri.

Yusuf—u. w. b., etc.—had two sons and one daughter, whose progeny amounted in the census to seventy thousand five hundred men. Their chieftainship was divided between Shalla’, the son of A’môd, and Kamalla, the son of Hallahô.

Ebn Yâmin had thirteen children, the descendants of whom amounted in the first census to the number of thirty-five thousand and four hundred. The leader of their tribe was A’minûd.

Yahuda begat five sons, whose progeny amounted in the first census to seventy-four thousand and one hundred warriors. The government of this nation was in the family of Bakhshûn, the son of A’mâd.

Of the children of Lâvi twenty-two thousand men were counted, the noblest of whom were Alsâgân, the son of A’rmâil, and Sanki, the son of Sûbaril, son of Shajâil; but Allah is most wise.*