Geniza Lab

Draft of chancery document. Verso contains scribblings, probably signatures - needs examination. (data from Baker & Polliack catalogue)

State document. Dating: ca. beginning of the 13th century (Ayyubid period). Petition from Khuyalāʾ b. Ḥasan and Abū l-Jaysh to the caliph al-ʿĀdil regarding an iqṭāʿ in the district of Minyat Khalaf. The land for the iqṭāʿ formerly belonged to the amīr Muʾnis ʿAlī b. Jawl al-Mihrānī and, after he decamped, to Sayf al-Islām. Khuyalāʾ is asking for a decree that would allow him and Abū l-Jaysh to enter these lands. On verso is a Hebrew liturgical text. (Information from CUDL)

Letter in Arabic script. Mercantile. Addressed to multiple people (mawālayya l-awlād). Mentions large sums of money (in the hundreds of dinars). Needs examination.

Popular literature in Judaeo-Arabic. Mostly rhymed. Seems to be humorous and at least partially involves a medical prescription (for a lovesick person? someone says, '"Give me all the prescriptions," and the other person gives one with 30 simples). There is also quite a bit about love and also a mention of a riding camel (hajīn). Somewhat reminiscent of T-S NS 264.27 + T-S AS 145.360 + T-S NS 224.181 + T-S 12.537.

Literary work in Arabic script. Jottings in the margin in an unclear notation.

Accounts in Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: 11th century. Mentions the cost of shipping from al-Mahdiyya to Qayrawān.

Talisman for safe journey. (Information from Goitein's index cards)

Recipes for effecting desired results with Psalms (shimmush tehillim).

Instructions for the wedding ceremony.

Letter to Yosef b. Ṣāliḥ from his son Ṣāliḥ, containing many orders, such as for Iraqian purple; brazilwood for a quarter of a dinar; combs; mirwads; pepper; sarcocolla (ʿanzarūt); verdigris (zinjār); "marāzībī" tutty (according to the review by Theo Loinaz, this commodity is discussed on pp. 368-9 of Fabian Käs (2010), Die Mineralien in der arabischen Pharmakologie); ammoniac (kalakh); and many more. Mentions the arrival of Khalaf b. Qashīshāt (an Ibn Qashīshāt is also mentioned in ENA 2738.23) and other unusual names: Wahīb b. Safīq (?) and Ibn Maqḥaf. The writer sends regards to Abū Isḥāq and his business partner. ASE.

List of spices etc.

Receipt for a repayment of a debt. The creditor received half of the 9 dinars (in the six month installment), in the form 18.5 wariq dirhams. Issued by the Fatimid amir Abū l-Ḥasan b. Ḥusayn the qāʾid. Dated: 507 AH, which is 1113/14 CE. On verso there is part of a medical work in Judaeo-Arabic on lice and delousing. (Information from CUDL)

List of items including 'Iraqi purple (dye)'.

Memorandum (tadhkira) for a trader named Mufliḥ b. Binyamin Ibn Ahwāzī. In Judaeo-Arabic. In which he orders a scarf (radda) with his son’s name (Yaʿaqov b. Mufliḥ b. Binyamin) to be embroidered on it in Hebrew script. This fragment contains additional accounts in Arabic script and Greek/Coptic numerals, as well as a recipe in Judaeo-Arabic for a kind of wine (nabīdh al-dā[..]). The trader is based in Aden, as a note in Arabic script on verso reads "wazana/wuzina ilayhim fī furḍat ʿAdan," referring to a payment made in the customshouse (furḍa) of Aden. Goitein writes, "Another order for a garment embroidered with a name, pre­sented by a father to his son, written, as usual, in Arabic language, but Hebrew script, raises problems. It is an incomplete draft of a memo to be sent from Aden to Egypt. I translate in full, line by line, so that the reader may be the judge: (1) Memo from the sheikh Mufliḥ [Successful]: (2) A Dabīqī scarf (radda) (3) five cubits long and (4) five spans broad (4a) of highest quality, (5) bordered by two embroidered inscriptions (maḥshiyya bi-ṭirāzayn) (6) each running from one edge to the other (ḥiwālayn kull ṭirāz) (6a) the first (7) written in Hebrew script: (8) Yaʿqūb b. R. Mufliḥ (9) b. R. Binyamin (10) [Given] to Ibn Ahwāzī." For further information on tirāz, see Stillman, Arab Dress, 120–37. (Information in part from Goitein's attached notes; Goitein, Med Soc IV, 197–98; and Goitein and Friedman, India Traders p. 428 n. 80.) ASE

Medical treatise in Arabic script.

State document of some kind. Fiscal account? Wide line spacing, small letters. Discrete text blocks arranged in columns. At least one of the text blocks appears to be dated 453 AH, which is 1061/62 CE. Reused for a text in Judaeo-Arabic with some Hebrew mixed in, listing some of the wonders of creation (e.g., how fruit comes from trees and babies from wombs; how fire takes hold of wood; how there is hearing, vision, thinking, sleep; Noah's ark; the existence of colors and dyes, etc.)

Accounts in Arabic script and Greek/Coptic numerals. State document? On verso there are medical recipes in Judaeo-Arabic. Needs examination.

Booklet of divinations. See T-S Ar.44.54. (Information from Goitein’s index card)

Booklet of divinations with introduction. (Information from Goitein's index cards)

Legal query addressed to Avraham Maimonides. Concerning the estate of a deceased man and a transaction carried out by his widow. Information from Baker/Polliack catalog.