Geniza Lab

Arabic script (VMR)

Tax receipt, Fatimid, issued in Fusṭāṭ in the name of Saʿīd al-Afṣarī. Hint of a date at the bottom (23?).

One side: Receipt for rent. Bū Yaʿqūb Yūsuf paid Maḥfūẓ 6 dirhams. The other side: Fragmentary note mentioning sugarcane and silk (yaḥtāj ilā firqat?... fī qaṣab wa-ḥarīr).

Wine poetry in Arabic.

Small fragment of a letter in Arabic script. Content unclear. Jotted accounts on verso.

Business accounts in Arabic script and Greek/Coptic numerals. Mentions Bū Saʿd b. Ibrāhīm.

Recto: Small fragment (2 lines) from an official report. Needs examination for content. Verso: The report was torn and reused for an order of a half-ounce of saffron (worth 1 dinar?) from ʿArīf al-ʿAṭṭār (or possibly: "the ʿarīf/head of the ʿaṭṭārīn"). Signed: al-Malik al-Ṣāliḥ = Ṭalāʾiʿ b. Ruzzīk (the Fatimid vizier, 1154–61). Written on Monday, the 16th of Jumādā II. The signature and date are written in a different hand than the main text. (Information in part from محمد على ابو حمزة, Marina Rustow, Boris Liebrenz, and Tamer el-Leithy.) ASE

Official document or receipt of some kind. In Arabic script. Headed by the glyph and with the Greek/Coptic numeral for 40 at the top (also written in words underneath the main section). The name Bū l-ʿAlāʾ b. al-[...] appears at the top, then sayyidnā al-qāḍī al-ajall [...]. Dated: 15 Dhū l-Qaʿda 637 AH = 7 June 1240 CE. Needs further examination.

Note or account in Arabic script and Greek/Coptic numerals. "In the hands of ʿĪsā the messenger, 23 wariq (dirhams). And in your hands ......"

Arabic script (VMR)

Accounts or official document of some kind? In Arabic script and Greek/Coptic numerals. Mentions several names, including ʿAbdallāh al-Qifṭī. Needs examination.

Small fragment from the top of a mysterious document in Arabic script. At the top there is the glyph and a basmala. Then, "al-mamlūka ukhtuhā... Umm Yaʿqūb." Then: "to Saʿīda" (which appears to have another "Umm" written after it)? This is probably a letter, because it continues "wa-siwāhu innanī arhantu...." and the phrase "allāh allāh" appears in the margin (a common phrase that appears almost exclusively in letters).

Probably an order for something addressed to Bū l-Fakhr. In Arabic script. Needs further examination.

Arabic script (VMR)

Small fragment of a letter in Arabic script. Mentions: "...from aṣḥābnā.... wheat... the muqṭaʿīn(?)... to Fustat...." On verso an inshāllah and, at 180 degrees, possibly part of the address.

Official-looking small receipt. Needs examination.

Official-looking small receipt. ENA 3968.21 and ENA 3968.23 appear to be in the name of the same person (Ḥusayn b. [...]). Needs examination.

Official-looking small receipt. Needs examination.

Official-looking small receipt. ENA 3968.21 and ENA 3968.23 appear to be in the name of the same person (Ḥusayn b. [...]). Needs examination.

Medical notebook/handbook in Arabic script.