Arabic or Indian Disc?

[Devin E33]

I picked this 1940 Enfield No.4 up the other day. Is this Arabic on the disc? I was not sure if this rifle was an import from Inida, metal has heavy coating of black paint...

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Information

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[RobD]

The script is Arabic or Afghan, the no. at the bottom is 552; in Arabic their lowest value digit is on the right, just as ours is, though they read their script from R to L.
I'd be interested to see the rest of the rifle - can you post pictures?

[Devin E33]

This rifle has a 1940 Savage Receiver and a mismatched BSA Shirley Jungle Carbine Bolt (note the base of the bolt is hollowed out). Here is the right side, I should be able to provide detailed pics shortly! Their is a BNP stamp, so I assume that this was exported from the UK after 1954. The rifle is import marked. There is also a '*' on the top of the barrel shank, denoting rust in the barrel. Not sure what I exactly have here...

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[Peter Laidler]

A hollowed out bolt handle doesn't make it a No5 rifle bolt. All bolts were interchangeable in practice out in service

[arrowup42]

The literal translation of the Arabic on the disc is "guards" as in National Guard (حرس الوطني)

[Devin E33]

Thank you for the translation. Any idea where this rifle served, are their others like this out there?

[arrowup42]

I've seen other Enfields with this disc but don't know a specific country where they were used. If the rifle doesn't have a ج in a triangle anywhere on the rifle then its not Iraqi. An educated guess would be either Bahrain, Kuwait, or pre-American backed Saudi Arabia because they all have national guard units that are separate from the regular army and were set with British assistance and equipment. When I say national guard in the Persian Gulf context I mean the elite security forces that are loyal to the royal family and mostly serve to protect the regime against internal threats. They are not similar in function or purpose to American National Guard units. Jordan and Egypt were also armed by the Brits but they don't use the "حرس الوطني" title. Iraq and Egypt wouldn't use that name because they were "republics" and had republican guard units whereas Gulf monarchies are less deceptive at naming their units.

[Devin E33]

Wow, thanks for the info! This puts part of the puzzle together.