Geniza Lab

Bottom part of a tax receipt in the hand of the jahbadh Mīkhāʾīl b. ʿAbd al-Masīḥ. On the other side there is a distinct document in Arabic script (legal? letter?).

Letter in Arabic script. Fragment (upper right corner of recto). Greetings to a cook (al-ṭabbākh)? The address mentions Abū l-Karam(?) al-Ṣabbāgh. In a different hand on verso, two lines including the phrase "your mother said."

Unidentified document in Arabic script. Dating: Looks late, perhaps Mamluk-era. Might begin with the word "qabaḍa" and might mention an iqṭāʿ. Needs examination.

Informal note from Munajjā to Abū l-Riḍā. In Arabic script, in a crude hand. Written on verso of a page of accounts in Arabic script and Greek/Coptic numerals. "Write for me a ruqʿa for 40 dirhams, and 2 will remain to you.... maybe you will do something for me with the qāḍī, by God."

Official document of some kind. Abū Naṣr al-[...] may owe 6.25 dinars. There is a date (Dhū l-Ḥijja something), but the year seems to be written as a cipher.

Accounts, or bill of lading, or some kind of formal trade-related document. In Arabic script. In the upper left corner: "min dār al-[...]." Then mentions ʿArūs (b. Yūsuf?), a date in Jumādā II, and a bale of lac. Might mention a brokerage fee (dalāla). On verso there are brief notes about sums collected in Judaeo-Arabic. (Same genre: ENA 3957.11, T-S Ar.35.269, and T-S AS 184.265.) ASE

Letter fragment in Arabic script. Very faded. The sender reports that he is sick.

Legal document in Arabic script. There is a date and witness signatures. Needs examination.

Fiscal accounting, probably. Mentions wheat and fūl and various numbers. Needs examination.

Letter in Arabic script. Mentions carrying out an errand for Abū l-M[...], and Cairo. The text on verso is part of the same letter. The sender seems to apologize once or twice for his handwriting. Needs examination.

Fragment of a letter, probably. In Arabic script. Mentions "...and the people honor him..." Needs examination.

List of materia medica, containing simples such as anise, galingale and mint. (Information from CUDL)

Document in Arabic script, not completed. "Collected from Samawʾal b. Mūsā (=Shemuel b. Moshe) on..." The header might be a ḥamdala.

Legal document(s) in Arabic script. Recto involves Bū ʿImrān b. Bū l-Faraj b. Mardūkh al-Ṣayrafī, then refers to an administrator of a compound (mutawallī al-rabʿ), then might refer to all the houses pertaining to 'the waqf' (=the qodesh?) in Qaṣr al-Rūm/Qaṣr al-Shamʿ. Verso seems to be a different document, but probably related. Needs examination.

Small fragment of a letter in Arabic script.

List of materia medica in Arabic script, containing simples such as endive, Armenian bole, and red arsenic (realgar) and yellow arsenic, probably part of a letter as verso contains an address (‘this letter should be sent to …’). On recto, many of the entries are crossed out, some with red ink. (Information from CUDL)

Letter fragment in Arabic script. The address is preserved but difficult to read. Needs examination.

Receipt relating to the tax farm of Abū l-Ḥasan b. Wahb written by Mīkhāʾīl b. ʿAbd al-Masīḥ, the cashier, and registered by the Office of Accounts on behalf of the Office of Supervision: Abū l-Ḥasan b. Wahb has paid the sum of 3 and a half and a sixteenth (dirhams?) for the estates in Al-Fayyūm, under the supervision of the judge Fakhr al-Dawla Abū l-Faḍl Jaʿfar b. Ibrāhīm b. Sulaymān. Dated: 30 Jumādā I 403 AH, which is December 1012 CE. (Information from CUDL)

Letter in Arabic script. Fragment. The writer is giving advice that "perhaps will save you and help you in . . . salvation if God wills." The addressee is to go to a certain zāwiya (Sufi lodge? or simply corner?) and ask for al-Ḥājj Mukhtār al-K[...]. ASE.

Letter fragment in Arabic script.