Geniza Lab

List of quantities of materia medica, including simples such as senna, purslane seeds, apricot, almond oil, saffron oil, and Chinese cinnamon. Judging by the continuation sign on the top of the page, this is page is part of another document (in fact this is the mysterious glyph whose meaning is still unknown as of 2022; it does not necessarily mean that this is a continuation). (Information in part from CUDL)

State (tax?) receipt. Dated: 9 Muḥarram 545 AH = 8 May 1150 CE. Needs examination.

Small receipt, unclear what for.

Small fragment of a business letter in Arabic script.

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

Very neat accounts in Arabic script. Probably Ottoman-era. Mentions al-Qāḍī Muṣṭafā.

Construction accounts. Mentions brick (ṭūb) and clay (ṭīn) and workers. In Arabic script.

Deed of sale. In Arabic script. Unsigned, possibly a draft. The buyer is Ibrāhīm b. [...] b. Ibrāhīm al-Maghribī known as Ibn [...]. Nahray (b. NIssim?) may be mentioned three lines from the bottom. Needs examination.

Fiscal account? Mentions a dīwān and possibly the term muqṭaʿ. Needs examination.

List of materia medica, including simples such as lavender, sebesten, peruse, ground gallnut, myrtle seeds, caraway, pepper, and poppy. With Coptic numerals. (Information from CUDL)

List of materia medica, including simples such as pepper, nard, and Prunus mahaleb. With Coptic numerals. (Information from CUDL)

Recto: document, with a continuation sign at the top of the page, indicating that it is part of a longer document, perhaps a letter. Verso: list of materia medica, such as doronicum, Chinese cinnamon, crystalline sugar, mace, borage-water, nard, cloves, Myristica fragrant, Elettaria cardamom and Cissus vitiginea. With Coptic numerals. (Information from CUDL)

Petition from the wife of Ṭayyib b. Musallam al-ʿIblānī, a Khaybarī Jew, to the caliph al-Mustanṣir (r. 1036–94). Seeking the restitution of money taken from her or from her husband, who is missing (?) in Syria. The same woman and her husband appear in T-S 24.44 (1102 CE). Previous scholarship: Khan, JRAS, 48 (“other petitions by women are extant, e.g. T-S K6.98, T-S Ar. 42.129, T-S NS 306.70, T-S AS 124.135, T-S AS 182.251, T-S AS 202.396”); Khan, “Historical Dev,” 20, 24–25 (reading of raʾy clause); Khan, ALAD, 311 n27, 314 n39. Ed. Marina Rustow, with suggestions from Alan Elbaum and Luke Yarbrough.

List of materia medica, with Coptic numerals. (Information from CUDL)

Report of the death of a Jewish woman. In Arabic script. The deceased is Fāḍila, who was survived by her son Abū Dāʾūd. Dating: 621–29 AH, which corresponds to the range 1224–31 CE. (Information from CUDL)

A few words from a state document, likely a decree. On verso there is mirror-image Arabic text.

Legal query to Muslim jurisconsults regarding the practice of prostration (sujūd) and genuflection (rukūʿ), during the synagogue liturgy. The said practice was customary for the previous 20 years, and there are concerns regarding its recent abrogation. Dating: ca. 638 AH, which is 1240/41 CE. This was written after the death of Avraham Maimonides, who had innovated these practices. Writing exercises are found on the upper margin of recto and on verso. (Information from CUDL)

Order of payment in Arabic script. The judge (mawlāya al-dayyān) is instructed to give 5 dinars to the bearer Abū l-ʿIzz on a certain date.

Leaf from a medical work, which discusses preparations of ointments, including one to to treat scrofula and bubo, a lead ointment to treat ulcers, and a verdigris ointment to treat deeply penetrating and chronic ulcers. (Information from CUDL)

List in Arabic script and Greek/Coptic numerals. Items: tahina (ṭaḥīna), sumac (summāq), candy (ḥawāʾij naql), lemon (laymū), and saffron (zaʿfarān).