Geniza Lab

Recto and part of verso: A full page of prayers in Arabic script. Verso: In a different hand and ink, a basmala, then: "from the words of our master, amīr al-mu'minīn, ʿAlī."

Arabic love poetry and aphorisms and maybe some prayers. Large. Needs further examination. On verso there is a piyyut in Hebrew for Simḥat Torah.

One side: A muwashshaḥ by al-Aʿmā al-Tuṭīlī (d. 1126). The other side: More difficult to read, but also contains poetic phrases (ḥumrat al-ward...). ASE.

Deed regarding the endowment of a small house in Fusṭāṭ, mentioning the Babylonian synagogue. Ca. 11th-12th century. (Information from CUDL)

Document in Arabic script. Appears to be dated 28 Rajab 123[.] = 1814–24 CE. Needs examination.

Literary. Bifolium in Arabic script of Kitāb al-Shihāb, a collection of sayings ascribed to Muḥammad, by Abū ʿAbdallāh Muḥammad b. Salāma b. Jaʿfar al-Quḍāʿī (d. 1062). Includes the final page. ASE.

Calligraphic Arabic script, perhaps the title of a book. Needs examination.

Epistle or maqāma in Arabic on medicine and physicians. Quotes some poetry of Abū Nuwās. Needs further examination.

Recto: Letter from Muḥammad b. ʿUmar. In Arabic script. Dated: 538 AH = 1143/44 CE. Mentions the bearer of the letter, Karīm b. Zak[kūr? b.] Sayyid al-Ahl. Evidently asking the addressee to do a favor involving the children of Sayyid al-Ahl and their neighbor, and something which is good and cheap. Verso: Letter in Arabic script in a different hand. Written in a deferential style. The sender reports that he is still suffering the remnants of an illness (baqāyā al-maraḍ). Mentions "moving to Cairo (al-Qāhira al-maḥrūsa)" and "addressing the excellence" about something "at the time of his departure." It is not clear how the letters on recto and verso are related to each other.

Arabic translation of Genesis 4:4–15, with one line (Genesis 4:9a, line 9 recto) is written in Samaritan square script. See Niessen, F. (2007). An Arabic Translation of the Samaritan Pentateuch (T-S Ar.1a.136). [Genizah Research Unit, Fragment of the Month, November 2007]. https://doi.org/10.17863/CAM.40721.

Recto: Document in Arabic script, probably a state document. The ends of three lines remain, including the word al-taqsīṭ. On verso is a Judaeo-Arabic commentary on Genesis.

Arabic literary text with monumental medallion and calligraphy at the top of the column.

Document in Arabic script. Probably late. Either a petition or an especially elegant lettter. On verso are jottings in Hebrew and Arabic script, perhaps accounts.

Fragment of a mercantile letter in Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: Likely 11th century. Instructing the addressee to buy spices (saqaṭ) on the trip to al-Mahd[iyya].

Accounts in Judaeo-Arabic.

Document in Judaeo-Arabic, very faded.

Document in Arabic script, probably legal. On parchment. There are two lines of very large calligraphic text, including the name of a woman, Zaynab bt. Rashīq al-Ḥākimī known as al-ḤM[...].

Three folios of piyyut interspersed with Arabic text. Needs examination.

Recto: Document in Arabic script, probably a letter fragment. Verso: A different document in Arabic script, followed by a liturgical note in Judaeo-Arabic.

Legal document in Arabic script involving ʿAlī b. Muḥammad b. ʿAllān. There is an addendum in a different hand. Needs further examination.