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prosperous settlement, would attract fresh adherents; and loosely floating
clans, thus coalescing with a larger tribe, would merge in it their
individuality. Hence the surface of society was ever shifting, like the
changing collocations of a kaleidoscope. When we remember that in Arabia there
were no archives wherein the record of such changes could be preserved; it is
vain to look for any trustworthy outlines of the more remote periods of
Arabian history. Some great tribes may, no doubt, have maintained their
individuality through many ages,as the Mozeina and Suleim, for example,
have done from the time of Mahomet to the present day: but it must also be
remembered that Islam has introduced an element of fixity into the social
system unknown before, and we must not estimate the restless chaotic state of
ante-Mahometan Arabia by its subsequent history.
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All then that we can look for in the elaborate and voluminous work of the
Genealogists, is a picture of tribal distinctions as they existed in the time
of Mahomet, with an approximate sketch of the great families to which each was
affiliated. We may here and there catch a glimpse of the grand outlines of
race reaching back to some antiquity, but further than this we cannot attach
weight to the system. It was based on the mere theories of the Genealogists
who, when fact was wanting, contrived, invented, fabricated, without stint or
scruple, both the outlines and detail. The vast pile of Arab genealogy,
beautiful and symmetrical as it is, melts away, like a fabric reared of snow,
before the merciless criticism of Sprenger.
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Scrupulous in harmonising the steps and "distances" in the various
pedigrees, the Genealogists were incapable of weighing wider and more
important considerations. The rate of natural increase was not observed, or
was cast aside as irrelevant. Thus (an example cited by Sprenger) two tribes,
numbering in the time of Mahomet perhaps 50,000 souls, are traced to
progenitors who were cousins of Cossai,i.e., only five generations
back! The theory is perfect; but the facts divergent.
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Sprenger was for a time puzzled to find a reason which would account for
these strange inconsistencies. His first hypothesis
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