ASHRAP (SHUREFA, SHERIFS)  , a small scattered tribe of African" Arabs " settled near Tokar, in the valleys of the Gash and Baraka, and in the Amarar country north of Suakin . They call themselves Beni Ilashin, and claim descent from Mahomet; hence their name, sherif (pluial ashraf) being the title applied todescendants of the prophet . In the time of the khalifa Abdulla (1885-1898), Ashrkf was the name by which the family and adherents of 'his late master the mandi Were known, the mandi's family claiming to, be Ashraf: The Ashraf of Tokar remained loyal to Egypt during the Sudan troubles . See Anglo-Egyptran Sudan, edited by Count Gletchen (London, 1905); Fire and Sward in the Sudan, by Slatin Pasha (London, 1896); for the Ashraf or Sherifs iri''Arttbia, see ARABIA: Geography .