Geniza Lab

Letter draft from Faraj Allāh to his father. In Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: Late. Surrounded by numerous other jottings and signatures.

Document in Arabic script. Needs examination.

Document in Arabic script. Needs examination.

Table in Arabic script. Needs examination.

Accounts in Arabic script. Mentions rent and houses several times, and also several names, including possibly دمينق and al-muʿallam Dāʾūd.

Letter from Kathīr b. Abū Naṣr al-Ḥazzān, unknown location, to his son Bū l-Ḥasan b. Kathīr, in Abyār. C/o the shop of ʿAmmār al-Yahūdī. In Arabic script. Only the opening greetings, the concluding greetings, and the address are preserved. Regards to Abū l-Ḥasan and to Abū Isḥāq and his mother.

Receipt in Arabic script. Location: Cairo or Fustat. Dated: before Muḥarram 561 AH, which is late 1165 CE. For Bū Najm Hilāl b. Mūsā al-Ḥarīrī. 'What remains to him' of dyed silk (al-ḥarīr al-muṣabbagh) and wariq dirhams. There is then a first person declaration that 'I have received from him two months [of rent?].' The scribe's name (and several generations of his ancestry) appears in the penultimate line but is dificult to read. Maʿānī or Maʿālī?

Accounts in Arabic script and Greek/Coptic numerals. Mentions people such as Ibrāhīm al-Ṣayrafī and the brother-in-law of Abū l-Manṣūr. Mentions the jāliya, blanket/cloak (malḥafa), natron, bread, and various other items.

Receipt for the capitation tax (jizya) for the Jewish man Bū l-ʿAlāʾ b. Bū l-Faḍl al-Qazzāz (the silk trader) in Fustat. Dated: 545 AH = 1150/51 CE. Same man: T-S AS 182.90, T-S AS 182.186, T-S Ar.35.170, and T-S Ar.35.204.

Note in Arabic script resembling an order of payment (yunʿim mawlāy al-shaykh al-ajall Abū [...] li-muwaṣṣilhā...."). All surrounding it there are jottings and pen trials in Hebrew script. Dating: ca. 12th or 13th century.

Official-looking account in Arabic script. Bifolium from a ledger. Fiscal account from the Fatimid arsenal/navy? Mentions the Red Sea (baḥr al-qulzum) and "the ships" (marākib) on recto and again "the ships and the skiffs" (al-marākib wa-l-ʿushāriyya) at the bottom of the right page of verso. Higher up, refers to "the glass pipes" (mawāsīr zujāj), then, "of that which was broken from the heaving of the sea" (mimmā takassara min hazz al-baḥr), and further down, possibly items which were damaged by mice (mimmā taʿaddā(?) ʿalayhi al-faʾr). On the left page of verso, one entry begins, "that which was lost at se[a]..." (mimmā ʿudima fī l-baḥ[r]...). The same page includes expenditures for steering wheels (maqāwid), fuel (waqūd) and anchors (marāsī).

Popular literature. The tale of Abraham and Nimrod. In Judaeo-Arabic. See FGP for further information.

Receipt or account in Arabic script. For Abū l-Afrāḥ Yūsuf (the well-known merchant). Needs examination.

Fiscal account in Arabic script. One section is headed "māl al-jawālī" (revenue from the capitation tax). Reused for Hebrew jottings.

Accounts in Judaeo-Arabic. There is also a text block in Arabic script and sundry jottings.

Capitation tax receipt for Musāfir b. Yūsuf, a Jewish man whose profession is "dīwānī." Same man: T-S Ar.35.132, T-S Ar.35.174, and T-S Ar.35.217. Dated: Muḥarram 504 AH = 1110 CE.

Receipt for the capitation tax of Ibrāhīm b. Yūsuf the Jew, a silk worker (qazzāz) and craftsman (ṣāniʿ). Same payer: T-S Ar.34.224, T-S Ar.34.282 (where he is called qazzāz wa-ʿaṭṭār instead), T-S Ar.35.55, and T-S Ar.35.22.

Accounts in Judaeo-Arabic and Greek/Coptic numerals. Mentions debits and credits of people and entities such as Ismāʿīl, "the Indian," Abū l-ʿAlāʾ, dīwān al-R[...]. Needs examination.

Recto: Legal document in Arabic script. Perhaps a rental contract for Abū Muḥammad b. Abī l-ʿIzz. Appears to be dated 694 AH, which is 1295/96 CE. Needs further examination. Subsequently reused by Nāṣir al-Adīb al-ʿIbrī (see separate record).

Recto and verso: Judaeo-Arabic poetry in the hand of Nāṣir al-Adīb al-ʿIbrī. This is one of the fragments that he signs (אנא אלאדיב אלדמי אלכאמי ונאצר אסמי רצעת אלדרר פי נצמי ועקדי אנתצבת...).