Geniza Lab

Modern printed text in Arabic script. One side is headed [...] al-Tawārīkh and gives three different dating systems for the year ~1889 CE. The other side contains praises for the khedive.

Accounts in Arabic script and Greek/Coptic numerals.

Letter in Arabic script, with a few words in Hebrew script. Dating: Probably 12th or 13th century. Mentions al-shaykh Bū Zikrī in l. 2. Seems to mainly be giving instructions about business transactions. The Hebrew script ("38 or 37") probably indicates the price of a commodity. Further down, "the door of the maṭbakh" and "the maṭbakh" are mentioned, referring to a sugar refinery (the sale of sugar is mentioned in l. 3). On recto there is another text in Arabic script, which seems to be technical instructions of some kind, but needs examination.

Letter in Arabic script. Tall and skinny. Damaged at the beginning. Dating: Perhaps 12th century. The sender is evidently a merchant en route to India: ". . . I have taken Hiba (or: a gift?) with me . . . to give to him in India. . ." (last two lines of recto). The letter is addressed to a woman, perhaps the merchant’s wife: “wa-mā taḥtājī waṣiyya. . . wa-tashkurī. . .” (recto margin). He instructs the addressee to diligently look after (وصيتك بهم غاية الوصية) the house (al-dār), the scales (al-mīzān), the warehouse, the codex (al-muṣḥaf), something else (الصدر؟), and all his other goods. May mention 30 dinars in recto, l. 6. Mentions al-shaykh Ṣanīʿat al-Mulk twice (the addressee is told to buy something for him in recto, ll.15–16, and to greet him in recto margin). Starting in recto, l. 27, the sender says that he woke up one morning in the "middle of the holiday" (wusṭ al-ʿīd = ḥol ha-moʿed?) and measured out a maqṭaʿ cloth for someone. Verso contains greetings to numerous people: the sender's maternal uncles and cousins, his paternal uncle Abū l-Faḍl and cousin Abū l-Baqāʾ, Abū Naṣr, Bayān al-Kharrāz, Abū l-Riḍā al-Naqqād and his son, his maternal aunt, and Wafāʾ. Hiba sends his regards. Regards again to Ṣanīʿat al-Mulk. The sender then gives the date the letter was written (Jumādā I, but the year is rubbed out), mentions al-Shaykh Maḍmūn, and asks for the addressee's prayers. The whole thing requires further examination and should be edited. ASE

Printed page. In Arabic script. Refers to the founding of something to do with agriculture in Rabīʿ I 1312 AH, which is 1894 CE.

One side is probably a letter in Arabic script. The other side is an unidentified document in Arabic script (chancery hand?). Needs examination.

Few lines from the beginning of an Arabic letter - needs examination.

Recto: Legal document. Mainly in Judaeo-Arabic. Concerning a lawsuit between Shabbat b. Yaʿaqov (aka Shabbetay b. Yaʿaqov) and Natan b. [...]. The portion preserved here is about taking vows on a bible and one of the parties refusing to take a vow unless the court compels him.

Verso: Letter in Arabic script. Fragment (upper right corner). The sender has been sick. Not much else is preserved.

Petition / letter of recommendation. In Arabic script. Dating: Perhaps ca. 13th century. From Ibn al-Miṭrān ('son of the bishop'). Seems to be recommending the bearer (muwaṣṣilhā, l. 5) for charity or some other kind of support (isʿāf... muʿāḍada...). He is described as suffering from despondency (qanaṭ, l. 7) on account of difficult circumstances. Needs further examination.

Accounts in Arabic script.

Unidentified document(s) in Arabic script. Covered with later jottings, mainly in Arabic script but with some Hebrew script as well. Needs examination.

Tax receipt? Needs examination.

Large bifolio of accounts in Arabic script.

Accounts in Arabic script. Mentions names such as Abū Muḥammad, Abū ʿAbdallāh, Yūsuf al-Munādī.

Medical recipes in Arabic script. Mentions opium at least twice.

Bifolio of mercantile accounts in Arabic script. Detailed, mentioning many specific names and commodities. Needs further examination.

Formal letter or petition in Arabic script. Dating: Looks late, maybe even Ottoman-era, based on the hand and layout. About five lines are preserved along with some text in the margin. On verso there is mirror-image Hebrew script. Needs further examination.

Accounts in Arabic script.

Accounts in Judaeo-Arabic. Small fragment. ״From Abū l-Ḥusayn b. Levi... 21 in the house of the qāḍī..." Written at 180 degrees in Arabic script, twice: Abū Manṣūr al-Tustarī al-Kātib.