Geniza Lab

Accounts in Arabic script and eastern Arabic numerals.

State document, reused for accounts in Arabic script and Greek/Coptic numerals.

Accounts, probably. In Arabic script and eastern Arabic numerals. Late.

Medical recipes, e.g. for powders (sufūf) and lozenges (aqrāṣ). In Arabic script and Greek/Coptic numerals. Ingredients include: chebulic myrobalan (ihlīlaj kābulī), dodder (aftīmūn), tragacanth (kathīrāʾ).

Legal deed. In Arabic script. Dated: Jumādā II 993 AH, which is 1585 CE. A landlord, called only al-Faqīr ilā Allāh, settles accounts with his tenant the Rabbanite Jew Mūsā قبا, for his dwelling in Darb Qaḍīb. Mūsā has unpaid arrears of 150 medins (called "halves of Murādī silver" here, referring to coins minted under Murad III). He pays 30 medins at this time and still owes 120. Henceforth, he will pay 20 medins/month, 14 for the ongoing rent and 6 toward paying off the debt. "The Jewish business partner Hārūn" was also present.

Letter, probably. In Arabic script. Dating: Late, probably 18th or 19th century. Needs examination.

Accounts in Arabic script and Greek/Coptic numerals.

Accounts of some sort in official-looking Arabic script.

Copy of a letter addressed to "the ustādh." The titles ʿAḍud al-Dawla wa-Tāj al-[...] appear. Written in Arabic script, in eloquent style but lousy handwriting with diacritics and vowels. The addressee is compared to silver, gold, and camphor. It is not clear if any of the substance of the original message is preserved. Further evidence that this was a writing exercise is that it fills the page and abruptly stops mid-sentence. On verso: "the handwriting (or: the document) of Abū Naṣr." Underneath that, there are doodles including a decorated square containing a basmala and the name Abū Naṣr.

Possibly a certificate of conversion to Islam. In Arabic script. May be part of a will (says "bi-amri hādhihi l-waṣiyya" in the last preserved line). It is for a Sicilian named ʿUthmān b. ʿUmar al-Ṣiqillī/al-Siqillī al-Anṣārī (or al-Naṣārī?). Lines 6–15 consist of his profession of faith in the tenets of Islam. Much of the scholarship on legal certificates of conversion to Islam has focused on formularies rather than actual documents. E.g., see Linda Jones, "Notarial Forms for the Conversion of Non-Muslims to Islam, by Ibn al-ʿAttār (d. 399/1008)," in Conversion to Islam in the Premodern Age (ed. Nimrod Hurvitz), University of California Press 2020. This document differs substantially from the formularies which have been published so far and merits further examination. The same ʿUthmān b. ʿUmar al-Ṣiqillī appears in T-S AS 177.607. ASE

Fatimid decree, probably. Only a single phrase is preserved: ʿAlī b. Abī Ṭālib. A piece of another letter from the line above is also preserved. The decree was cut up and converted into a bifolio. The secondary use is a literary text in Arabic script, at least partially about wars and kings. E.g., one phrase read at random: والتقى الجمعان في معترك نزال(؟), which is an allusion to Quran 3:155, 166. This fragment may be related to T-S Ar.41.139.

Letter in Ottoman Turkish. Needs examination.

Legal document(s) in Arabic script. Very faded. There is writing on both sides. Part of a date and witness signatures are preserved on verso.

Legal document(s) in Arabic script. One side has four lines preserved; the first line refers to someone named Yūsuf b. Muḥammad. The other side has a pair of witness statements.

Legal or official document(s) or drafts thereof. In Arabic script. There are numerous text blocks on each side. Needs examination.

Possibly a state document. In Arabic script. Dated: 13 Dhū l-Ḥijja 509 AH, which is 1116 CE. But this should be checked. The document itself also needs further examination for content.

Document in Arabic script. Only a basmala and the next two lines are preserved. The second line is a single word whose last letter extends all the way across the page.

Mysterious fragment containing a mixture of Arabic script, Judaeo-Arabic, and magical symbols. Dating: Perhaps 12th or 13th century. The Judaeo-Arabic is extremely cursive and reads in part: "By the Law! Not... from day to night... not carobs... not eggs, not cheese, not yogurt, [not] dates, not honey, not tahini, not cheese, not cabbage, not walnuts, not beans, not hazelnuts... as God is my witness... and return to me from it in health." The Arabic script is at least partially related, as it mentions some of the same foods.

Accounts in Arabic script and Greek/Coptic numerals. Mentions pepper; wax/candles; paper; "white"; possibly 4,000 of something. Needs further examination.

Receipt for the capitation tax. For the silk worker Bū Naṣr b. ʿUmar al-Yahūdī. Dated: 507 AH, which is 1113/14 CE.