Cross Scroll for Halimah bint ‘al Abbas ‘al Tanji[1]
The Mansa[2], Agamemnon, the hungering sun[3] of Calontir, has heard the words of the wise: It is a steep path to charity, to lifting the oppressed, to tending the needs of others, and few are those who seek to climb it.[4] The Qasa[5], Marie, tender of artisans, has heard truth: To whoever does good deeds and justice shall be rewarded with a good life according to the best of their actions.[6]
One who has been blessed with a just spirit and a wise heart is Halimah bint ‘al Abbas ‘al Tanji, well versed and wide traveled. Through the courts of many lands, she has seeded justice. To many people she has been an aid of piety and righteousness, a bane of transgression.[7] She too has known the true wisdom: Repel evil with what is better, and those who opposed you will become as close as an old friend.[8]
Among the People of Purple[9] and the Kel řƀaz[10], there is a mark for one such as her. Let her be given the Order of the Cross of Calontir, beloved as the tanaghilt, to mark her beloved as well.[11]
By the sun at its morning brightness and by the moon that follows it, done on the ___ day of __________, in the 1444th year of the calendar.[12]
Agamemnon Marie
Muansa Qasa
[1] All quotes from the Qur’an are from: M.A.S. Abdel Haleem (trans.), The Qur’an, Oxford University Press (2016).
[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mansa_(title)
[3] Adapted from a description of the first Mansa of the Mali Empire, Sundiata, who was called the Hungering Lion.
[4] Adapted from Surah 90: The City.
[5] Adapted from the title used by Kassi, wife of Mansa Suleyman of Mali. It means, literally, Queen.
[6] Adapted from the Qu’ran at 16:97.
[7] Adapted from the Qu’ran at 5:2.
[8] Adapted from the Qu’ran at 41:34.
[9] An adaptation of one of the traditional names for the Tuareg people: The Blue People.
[10] The Tuareg are divided into clans, which are grouped into Kels. The Kels are typically described in various ways: geographically such as the Kel Dinnig (those of the East) or Kel Ataram (those of the West); or descriptively such as the Kel Awey (people of the Bull). Kel Rbaz is an attempt to construct ‘Those of the Falcon’, where řƀaz is the Berber word for ‘Falcon’. See Maarten Kossman, Tarifiyt Berber, https://wold.clld.org/vocabulary/6.
[11] The tanaghilt is another name for the Agadez Cross, a traditional piece of jewelry among the Tuareg. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agadez_Cross
[12] If awarded after July 19, 1445th year.