Geniza Lab

Magical fragment. In Arabic script. Including epithets of God (Ḥayy, Qayyūm, Dā'im, Dayyūm, Huwa Huwa) and Quranic verses (idhā qaḍā amran innamā yaqūlu lahu kūn(!) fa-yakūn) alongside nonsense words.

Accounts. In Arabic script. Detailed and relatively legible. Many expenses listed for construction/renovation expenses.

Literary. Medical treatise in Arabic script.

Literary. Medical treatise in Arabic script.

Accounts in Arabic script. "Al-maqbūḍ. . .."

Literary. Treatise in Arabic script on prosody (ʿilm al-ʿarūḍ).

Fiscal accounting document, probably. Large and well preserved. Needs examination. Alt description: Fragment, recto, and verso both contain what look like pen trials (some repetitions, abusive ligatures, no lines but broken up words and phrases).

Business memorandum in Arabic script. The layout resembles a state document. (Same genre: ENA 3957.11, T-S Ar.35.269, and T-S AS 184.265.) Dated: 18 Ramaḍān 438 = 18 March 1047 CE. Headed by a basmala, next to which appears the name al-Faḍl b. Sahl (= Ḥesed b. Yashar al-Tustarī, presumably the issuer of this document). Begins: "Owed by Nahray (b. Nissim) the associate of the son of Barhūn al-Tāhirtī: two loads of brazilwood (ʿadlayn baqqam), 820 raṭls; vinegar (khall), 10 raṭls...." Sums are given in dinars further down. Similar entries with weights follow on verso with numbers (sums of money) at the bottom. There are several other documents from the 1040s CE concerning business between Ḥesed al-Tustarī, Nahray b. Nissim, and the Taherti family (e.g., Bodl. MS heb. b 3/19–20 = PGPID 5595 and Moss. IV,1 = PGPID 5761). YU. ASE.

Recto, with the address on verso (secondary use): Letter addressed to al-Rayyis al-Rabīʿī (=ha-Reviʿi) Abū l-Ḥasan. In Arabic script. Mentions people named Manṣūr and Abū l-Faḍl. And mentions "al-qāʿa al-maʿmūra bi-baqāhi." Needs further examination.

Verso: Fragment from the end of a state document, probably a decree. In a very large chancery hand: على آله الطاهرين وسلم تسليما. There are two additional blocks of text, also in Arabic script; it is not clear if these belong to the letter on the recto or to separate documents.

Legal fragment. In Arabic script. The beginnings of the lines and the right margin are preserved. The first line after the basmala may read, "we testify against Isḥāq b. Yū[suf]." There is one surviving witness signature in the margin.

Legal query. In Arabic script. Addressed to "al-sāda al-fuqahāʾ al-ajillāʾ." Regarding a woman who sold a property; what happened next is not entirely clear. Mentions "the aḥbās" and an order of the government (amr al-sulṭān). There are two lines underneath, also written in Arabic script, likely the response/ruling (fatwā). On verso there is Aramaic poetry.

A mercantile ruqʿa / dār receipt for Abū l-Afrāḥ ʿArūs (b. Yūsuf) al-Urjuwānī. Mentions a bale of lac. (ENA 3957.5, T-S Ar.35.128, T-S Ar.35.269, and T-S AS 184.265 are all similar and all for ʿArūs; ENA 3957.11 is from the same genre and for Nahray b. Nissim). On recto (secondary use) a few words in Judaeo-Arabic, which are related, and seem to be in the hand of ʿArūs.

Verso (original use): Petition or decree. The ends of ~6 lines are preserved. Between the lines and on recto (secondary use): Account in Arabic script. Needs examination.

Legal document in Arabic script. Mentions the date Dhū l-Qaʿda 606 AH = April/May 1210 CE. Also mentions a period of two years and very large sums of money (over 800 dinars). Needs examination. On verso a calendar in Hebrew script.

Letter fragment. In Arabic script. Faded and damaged. Mentions Damietta (ENA 3598.1, third line from the bottom); a qalʿa (ENA 3598.2, line 7 and again in the margin); Alexandria (al-Thaghr) (ENA 3598.2, second line from the bottom); and asks for the addressee's news.

Legal document. In Arabic script. Dated: Wednesday, 23 Rajab 1244 AH, which is January 1829 CE (but this may be off by one day). The head rabbi (خاخم باشي) who seems to be named مادكاره(??) borrows 15,000 gurush from Elkan(?) ʿAminadab, to be repaid in installments of 300 gurush/month. Shimʿon Frances guarantees the loan.

Medical recipes in a mixture of Arabic script and Judaeo-Arabic. One is for a child's cough, another for dysentery.

Family letter in Arabic script, from a distant man to his children and wife. Dating: Probably Mamluk era, or possibly early Ottoman era, based on handwriting, names, format, and formulary. The letter goes into detail about previous correspondence and other family matters. One of the sender's sons, who is mentioned a couple of times, is Yāʿqūb and the mother is Umm Aṣīla. He narrates his longing to see his family and may mention recovery from an illness which brought someone close to death, but God dispelled it (wa-l-ḥamdu lil-lāh kunnā(?) aḥad(?) man(?) ilā l-mawt wa-lākin lak ṭāl(!) al-ʿumr lā budd fa-infaraja(?) Allāh taʿāla...)

Letter in Arabic (FGP)