Geniza Lab

Letter/note from Ismāʿīl(?) al-ʿAṭṭār to Maḥfūẓ. In Arabic script. Dating: Probably 12th or 13th century. After the tarjama and basmala, it opens abruptly, "Yā shaykh Maḥfūẓ...." Mentions 300 of something; meeting with someone; and the shop. Might be coordinating some logistics. Needs further examination.

Petition from a certain Manṣūr to an unidentified addressee (though Goitein assumed that "Sayyidnā" meant "the Nagid"). In Arabic script. The sender is a poor man ("ṣuʿlūk") who complains about his dependents and debts. "The knife has reached the bone, and I have come to nobody's gate but God's and Sayyidnā's, and Sayyidnā knows what our/my state was. By God, death is better than this." The lower part of the fragment is torn away. In the margin, he threatens to run away (...wa-anā hārib... wa-illā usāfir...).

Letter in Arabic script. Calligraphic. Dating: Unknown. Probably from Muḥammad b. Salāma (these are the only words from the address that are preserved). The remaining text is mostly formulaic. Apart from that, he says that he has already sent previous letters and mentions a friend/colleague of his (ṣāḥib lī) and maybe some merchandise (...bi-l-mutāʿ...). Essentially nothing else is preserved, but chances of a join seem pretty good.

Recto: Possibly an account Verso: Possibly a letter- needs examination.

Three audition (samāʿ) certificates of a literary work. In Arabic script. Two of the notes are demarcated by square lines and may be of the same hand while the third note is written by a different hand (and with different ink and pen) at the foot of the page. The dates are given, but it appears that the year is torn away each time. Many names are given (the listeners, the readers, and in one case the scribe). For an overview of this genre, see Tilman Seidensticker, "Audience Certificates in Arabic Manuscripts – the Genre and a Case Study*," Manuscript Cultures 8, 75–91. Needs further examination. ASE.

Possibly a literary text or a paraliterary record. In Arabic script. Mentions (l. 5) the year 608 AH, which (if correctly read) is 1211/12 CE. Mentions the names of numerous (Muslim) scholars, one of whom "read it to him in my presence (lit. "as I listened") in Baghdad." Needs further examination.

Bifolio from a ledger of business accounts. In Arabic script. Dating: Several years are specified, but they are difficult to read; perhaps 493–95 AH, which would be 1099–1102 CE. Entries are separated by horizontal lines and some phrases are crossed out by a thick pen. Many details are given about transactions and names of other merchants (e.g., al-Shaykh Manṣūr and Ibrāhīm b. [...] al-Maghribī). One of the commodities mentioned is myrobalan (halīlaj). Merits further examination.

Letter/report from a patron of Abū Zikrī al-Ḥakīm and his father (Eliyyahu the Judge) to a superior (addressed as "al-majlis"). In Arabic script. Dating: 1218–27 CE, based on the mention of both al-Malik al-Kāmil (the Ayyubid sultan 1218–38) and al-Malik al-Muʿaẓẓam (the Ayyubid ruler of Damascus, d. 1227). This is a letter of patronage/protection/recommendation, attesting that Abū Zikrī and Eliyyahu are the loyal servants of the sender and must be assisted and protected in their purposes and must not be opposed by the dīwān of Alexandria (dīwān al-thaghr al-maḥrūs). In fact, they have already obtained orders from the dīwāns of al-Kāmil (amr al-dawāwīn al-Kāmiliyya) and royal rescripts (al-tawāqīʿ al-kāmiliyya) to this effect. There are no specifics whatsoever about the nature of the protection that should be extended. In another letter, T-S NS J29, Abū Zikrī describes to his father his efforts to obtain an "iṭlāq" (this has been understood as a disbursement of a state salary, perhaps for serving as judge in Alexandria) from al-Malik al-Kāmil, in part by cashing in the favors owed to him by mid-level amirs (סעד אלדין כוגבא is mentioned by name). This document is probably the continuation of the same story and the fruits of Abū Zikrī's efforts. The sender concludes this recommendation by saying, "Whatever good happens to them happens to me." There is a 4-line digest of the essence of the report at the top of recto for the benefit of impatient readers. ASE

Possibly a letter - needs examination.

Unidentified document in Arabic script.

Letter drafts in Arabic script. Late.

Letter from Shelomo b. Eliyyahu (aka Barakāt b. Abū l-Faraj al-Dayyān) to a physician named Abū l-Maḥāsin (titled al-Shaykh al-Sadīd). In Arabic script with one word in Hebrew. Dating: Early 13th century. The first ~9 lines are standard introductory fare and blessings for the holidays. The last two lines probably contain a request concerning Dāʾūd al-[...]. The letter may have been abandoned unfinished.

Business letter in Arabic script. Fragment (bottom part). Faded. "By that which I believe of the Holy Law (al-sharīʿa al-muqaddasa)! I didn't receive anything from anybody more than a raṭl and a half of indigo...."

Official correspondence in Arabic script. Petition? Fragment (lower part). The sender's name is likely Bū Bakr b. ʿAntar (right margin). The main request seems to be that the addressee attend somewhere immediately: ان يجمل(؟) مملوكه بالحضور سرعة… سرعة حضوره… سرعة حضوره سرعة سرعة. Might mention someone called al-Tūnisī in l. 4. Needs further examination.

Account. Arranged in 5 columns separated by vertical lines. Each column contains several private names each followed by numbers (possibly indicating sums of money) (FGP)

Fragment of a bill of divorce (geṭ). The formulary and handwriting resemble T-S 13J6.28 (14th century). Location: New Cairo. The husband appears to be named שבריה b. Sh[...], but this is an odd name. Verso has the mirror-image imprint of a marriage-related legal document.

Recto is a letter in Arabic script. The lower part is very faed. Unclear if the multiple text blocks on verso are related; some of them sound more legalistic. Needs examination.

Business letter in Arabic script. Somewhat crude hand. The sender urges the addressee to purchase 1/2 dinar's worth of Aleppan textiles and 1/4 dinar's worth of purple (arjuwān) textiles. The addressee might be Abū l-Afrāḥ ʿArūs b. Yosef (Aodeh makes this identification and also suggests that the sender is Avraham b. Hillel, cf. T-S Ar.41.108); the Judaeo-Arabic accounts on verso should be checked against ʿArūs's handwriting.

Legal document(s) in Arabic script. The two sides appear to be distinct documents. Recto mentions two people and also "nails and iron." Verso mentions collection of sums of money; maybe payments toward a debt obligation from the document on recto ("bi-bāṭin hādha l-kitāb"). Needs examination.

Contributors' list. In Arabic script and Greek/Coptic numerals. 3 columns, 34 contributions. 27 give 1/4 (probably of a dirham) and 7 give 1/2. Two persons are called "son of the midwife," but are not listed together. Two others, also separated from each other, "son of the [female] dressmaker." A third pair, not listed together, nushādirī, "dealer in sal ammoniac." The list may have been a collection at a wedding (e.g., for cantors or musicians), when different members of the same families were present. Some persons, like Yiṣḥaq b. Nisan, are also in T-S K15.62. The name al-Ḥinnāwī ("dealer in henna") appears also in T-S K15.34. (Information from Goitein, Med Soc II, Appendix C, #131.)