Geniza Lab

Court record in Arabic script, likely a draft. Concerning the inheritance of the late Sittāt bt. ʿAbdallāh. This document was probably drawn up in North Africa, based on paleographic considerations as well as the fact that verso was reused for the address of a letter from Nahray b. Natan to his cousin (ibn ʿamma) Nahray b. Nissim (who was originally from Qayrawān). The three lines at the bottom of recto are written in a different hand than the main document. The document contains an interesting glimpse into judicial archiving practices: "Subsequently the judge died and another judge assumed office. He examined the archive (dīwān) of the deceased (judge) and found that the money had been registered in it (l. 11). (Information from Goitein's index cards and from Khan.)

Deed of sale

Deed regarding the endowment of two houses in Fusṭāṭ as a pious foundation: ‘the little house’ and ‘the cattle house’. Ca. 11th-12th century. (Information from CUDL)

Deed of sale. In Arabic script. Fragment (upper right corner). Dating: ca. 11th–12th century. Abū Aṭibbāʾ b. Abū l-Faḍl b. Abū Aṭibbāʾ the Jew buys 1/4 of a shop from [Sitt al-]Kuttāb bt. […]; 1/2 of the property belongs to her. Also mentioned are Ṣāʿid b. Shukr and his wife ʿAzīza bt. Ḥāmid, who may also be buying or already own part of the same shop. The document contains a detailed physical description of a man (probably the buyer). The property is near ʿAqabat al-ʿAddasīn and Sūq Wardān. (Information from CUDL, Khan, and Goitein’s index card.)

Qurʾan. Kufic calligraphy. 2 x 8 lines from Sura 11, beginning at the end of verse 46. See T-S Ar.38.8. (Information from Goitein’s index card)

Acknowledgment of a debt of 10 dinars contracted by […] b. ʿAlī, an inhabitant of the ‘residence of the bishop’ (sakn al-qissīs), owed to Abū l-Ḥasan b. Asad b. Ismāʿīl the Jew. The sum must be repaid in 4 monthly installments of 1/4 of a dinar each. Dated: Rabīʿ II 519 AH, which is 1125 CE. On verso there is Hebrew text. (Information from CUDL and Khan)

Legal document. Deed of acknowledgment dated 449/1058. Ṣadaqa b. Ṭayyib al-Mayāziri al-Ramlī receives from Ḥasan b. Ishaq al-Isrāʾīlī al-Mayāziri al-Ramlī a loan of 150 dirhams. (Information from Goitein’s index card.) Alternate description (CUDL): Acknowledgment of a debt of 150 silver dirhams that Ṣadaqa b. Ṭayyib al-Ramlī, the maker of waist-cloths, contracted with Ḥasan b. Isḥāq al-Ramlī, the Jewish maker of waist-cloths. Ṣadaqa is paying back his debt and Ḥasan acknowledges the receipt of the money. Dated Ḏū al-Qa‛da 449 AH (= January 1058 CE).

Possibly a letter (needs examination)

Acknowledgment of a debt of 300 dinars contracted by the husband of Amat al-Qādir with his wife in Jumādā II of the year 463 AH (= March-April 1071 CE). (Information from CUDL)

Legal document in Arabic script. Record of a donation. Faraḥ b. Natan b. ʿAllūn donates a newly erected olive oil press with a mill wheel of Ḥawrānī stone. Boundaries include: a street leading to the market of Banū Wāʾil (on the Nile, SW of Qaṣr al-Shamʿ); also mentions the church of St. Sergius (kanīsat Bū Sarja), al-Ḥadīd lane, and "the two rows" (al-Ṣaffayn). (Information from Khan and Goitein’s index card.)

Legal query in Arabic script. Question addressed to a Muslim jurisconsult (faqīh) with regard to a man who was frightened by another man concerning the medicine that he had taken, so that he then feared a chronic illness (shayʾ min amrāḍ al-zamān) on account of the fright that he had received. (Information from Goitein’s index card and Khan.)

Letter addressed to Sitt Ghazāl, in Fustat. In Arabic script. The writer reports on his bad fortune since parting from the addressee(s) ("we went out naked and hungry. . . and I had no resort. . . and I saw no alternative to traveling"). He visited Sālim, who had divorced his wife who had borne him a daughter, and who did not give her even a little bit of support. The rest of the letter should be legible with effort. Complete; 20 lines on recto, 12 lines on verso, plus address. Information from Goitein's note card.

List. In Arabic script. Each entry is headed with an elongated horizontal line from the word above. Needs examination. The fragment also contains three columns of a literary text in Arabic script retelling the conquests of Joshua b. Nun. This narrative ends with a second-person address, perhaps directed at the person for whom the account was written: "wa-ʿlam dhālik wa-ʿmal bi-ḥasabihi. . ."

Recto: poetry or rhymed prose probably by Nāṣir al-Adīb al-ʿIbrī (active ca. 1300). The content of recto is difficult to figure out but mentions economic crisis (shidda, ghalāʾ) in Egypt, people running away to Anṭākiya, and also a vignette about people who prosper during difficult times, this section mentions purchasing slaves in دنقلا (Dongola, Sudan). Verso: Long poem of praise for God ending “I am Nāṣir and as long as I vanquish my enemies [I’ll keep praising you]." ASE

Business letter from Ṭayyib b. Majjānī to Abū l-Ḥasan ʿAwda b. Ismāʿīl b. ʿAwda. In Arabic script. Dating: Second half of the 11th century. Sabih Aodeh calls it a draft but does not explain his reasoning. The letter is quite damaged. There is a prolonged opening conveying longing for the addressee, and perhaps condolences ("In all of His judgments there is justice"). The writer reports that the price of olive oil is 20 ratls for 1 dinar. Bearers: Al-Muḥsin b. Ibrahīm al-Miṣrī al-Anṣārī(??); al-Ḥusayn b. Najā [al-Anṣārī]. The latter (along with Tāhir b. Najā, likely his brother) is known from several other Geniza letters, e.g., ENA 1822a.6 (Gil, Palestine, III, #493). See Aodeh's footnote for further references. The document was reused for Hebrew biblical/liturgical text. Same cluster: CUL Or.1080 5.5, T-S NS 327.11, and T-S Ar.38.91.

Business letter in Arabic script from Nissim b. Efrayim to his son Efrayim in Fustat, mentioning his pain at not having received letters from his son, difficulty in purchasing Khalaq textiles; and mentioning Ḥalabī (Aleppo) textiles.

Fol. 2v: Copy of a document dated Jumādā I, 589 AH (= May-June 1193 CE) appointing Abū l-Maʿālī ʿAbdallāh b. Abū l-Riḍāʿ b. Faraḥ, who is known by his Jewish name ʿOvadya b. ʿUlla, as the Jewish leader in Syria issued by the court of al-Malik al-Afḍal ʿAlī (the eldest son of Saladin). The document praises Obadiah and states that Obadiah will be the head of Rabbanites, Qaraites and Samaritans in the Damascus area. On recto (fol. 2r) there are Hebrew writing exercises. On fol. 1, there are Arabic jottings and drafts of sentences for documents, including the name Al-Qādī Abū Ẓāhir. (Information from Khan and CUDL)

Fiscal or para-fiscal document (i.e., prepared by state officials or by the Jewish community for the government). List of indigent people equally divided between natives of the capital and residents originating from Alexandria, the Sharqiyya and Gharbiyya provinces, the villages around the capital (all entirely destitute), and towns such as Ashmum, Damietta, and Qūṣ. The document refers to three groups with different capacities to pay the capitation tax: (1) those who cannot afford to pay anything, (2) those who can afford to pay 2 dīnārs, but only in instalments and (3) the remainder, from whom 4 dīnārs should be exacted. Khan notes that Rabie (The Financial System of Egypt, 109–10) overlooked the last line of the list, which refers to the payment of 4 dīnārs. Rabie therefore concluded that the document reflected the payment of a flat rate of capitation tax at 2 dīnārs per head. Khan argues that there was variation in the rate of capitation tax in different historical periods (commentary to T-S H15.62, Khan, Arabic Legal and Administrative Documents in the Cambridge Genizah Collections, doc. 89, and commentary to this document, ibid., doc. 136): at the beginning of the Ayyubid period, the rates were fixed at 4⅙ dīnārs, 2 1/12 dīnārs and 1⅝ dīnārs. In the middle of the Ayyubid period, the high and intermediate rates were rounded down to 4 dīnārs and 2 dīnārs. Toward the end of the Ayyubid period, a flat rate of 2 dīnārs was introduced. On the basis of this periodization, Khan concludes that our document comes from the middle of the Ayyubid period, around 1200. (Information from Khan and from Mediterranean Society, II, p. 468, App. B 110)

Document concerning payment of money

Recto: Fragment of an `iqrar (acknowledgement) Verso: Hebrew pen trials consisting of biblical verses