Geniza Lab

Decree fragment, probably Ghaznavid, containing the order clause and the beginning of the date clause; date cut off. From an 11th-century archive or Geniza of a Jewish land-owning and trading family at Bāmiyān that came to light in the late 20th c in Bāmiyān province, Afghanistan. In Persian and Arabic.

Document of the qodesh (pious foundation). In the hand of Yefet b. David b. Shekhanya (aka Ḥusayn Ibn Shekhanya). Dated: Jumādā I 434 AH, which is December 1042/January 1043 CE. Lists amounts of money collected(?) from various "houses." Cf. T-S 20.168. (Information in part from NLI catalogue: https://www.nli.org.il/he/manuscripts/NNL_ALEPH997007966688005171/NLI#$FL128464585.) OZ. ASE.

Letter addressed to "the Parnasim." Fragmentary (upper right corner). In elevated Hebrew style. Mentions names such as Yeshuʿa, Avraham, and Netanel. This letter is probably from a Palestinian Gaon, perhaps specifically Avraham b. Shelomo b. Yehuda. Compare Bodl. MS heb. c 28/15 from ca. 1029 CE. (Information from OZ and NLI catalogue: https://www.nli.org.il/he/manuscripts/NNL_ALEPH997007966687405171/NLI#$FL128020286.)

Letter from Yeshuʿa b. Ismāʿīl al-Makhmūrī, in Alexandria, to Yosef b. Avraham. In Judaeo-Arabic, with the address in both Judaeo-Arabic and Arabic script. Mentions items such as flax and a receipt/release (barāʾa). Mentions people such as Mūsā al-Isfāqusī (of Sfax), Abū Isḥāq Barhūn b. Maṣliaḥ (probably al-Tāhirtī), and Abū Saʿīd. Contains numerous instructions about business transactions. Instructs the addressee to leave 4 loads of something in Sūsa (recto, 3 lines from the bottom), asks addressee to write to Sicily (=Palermo?), and mentions Barqa.(Information in part from NLI catalogue: https://www.nli.org.il/he/manuscripts/NNL_ALEPH997007966690205171/NLI#$FL128464586.) OZ. ASE

Letter from Ḥasan b. Isḥāq, in ʿAsqalān, to Abū l-Ḥasan ʿAllūn b. Yaʿīsh al-Parnas, in Fustat. In Judaeo-Arabic, with the address in both Judaeo-Arabic and Arabic script. The sender writes on a Thursday, after arriving in ʿAsqalān. He is staying in the funduq of the qāḍī Ibn Khiḍr. He ran into Ḥaffāz (may God preserve him) while en route to visiting Ibn al-ʿAni ("son of the poor man"). Ḥaffāẓ took grave oaths (aymān ṣaʿba) that cannot be violated and took the sender into his home and embarrassed him with hospitality. "He did everything in the world to make me leave my house, but I didn't let him, because my chest is constricted from my separation from my father and my family, and my eye weeps day and night, for my father left me(?) in Ramla... and I do not drink wine or cooked food (i.e., due to the pain of separation)." The sender had asked Abū l-Ḥasan ʿAmmār to purchase something for him. He says that if he were able to return the gold, he would do so. He has sent previous letters from Tinnīs and from Ramla, but has not received a response, "and I do not know if this is disdain or anger or (merely) a delay." A certain woman had asked the sender to buy her a muṣḥaf, but the cheapest he could find was for 3 dinars, and if he purchased it he would not have enough money to continue on his journey. Regards to the sender's sister and to Sitt al-Ahl and al-Baghūḍa(??) and to Abū Kathīr. The last line of the letter reads, "Hopefully Abū Manṣūr will arrive with my father. By God, we have suffered tremendously from his indecency." The addressee of the letter is well-known from many other Geniza documents; see the index of Gil, Palestine, vol. 3, under ʿEli ha-Kohen ha-Parnas b. Ḥayyim. (Information in part from NLI catalogue: https://www.nli.org.il/he/manuscripts/NNL_ALEPH997007966688605171/NLI#$FL128464597.) OZ. ASE

Document in Arabic script. Probably a letter. The top row of text has exceedingly tall ascenders. Needs examination.

Legal document in Arabic script. Needs examination. There is also a literary fragment in Arabic script sharing this shelfmark.

Legal document in Arabic script. Needs examination.

Legal document in Arabic script. Needs examination.

Letter from al-Sharīf Ḥasan to the qāḍī Ṣanīʿat al-Mulk. In Arabic script, with diacritics and vowels, calligraphic. Dating: Perhaps 13th to 15th century, on paleographic grounds. This is a letter of recommendation for charity for six 'cut-off' women (nisā' munqaṭiʿāt) who have no husbands (lā azwāj la-hunna) or anybody else to provide for them: Umm Bū Muḥammad and her daughter; the midwife or wet nurse (dāya) and her daughter; and Umm Qays and her daughter. The addressee is described as a "cave (=shelter) for the cut-off and a refuge for those who ask/beg of him" (standard epithets for important and charitable people: see e.g. AIU V.B.48 and on it Cohen, Poverty and Charity, p. 48 n. 36). ASE

Deed of acknowledgment (iqrār). In Arabic script. The muqirr: Ibrāhīm [.......]. Needs examination.

Document in Arabic script. There are two fragments under this shelfmark. Needs examination.

Literary text. In Arabic script, calligraphic. Contains a narrative involving ʿAmr b. Umayya al-Ḍamrī (one of the companions of Muḥammad). It involves espionage (al-dukhūl ilā diyār al-qawm li-yasriqa akhbār) as well as a scrawny rider and 2 camels (nāqatān) that looked like a pair of ostriches (naʿāmatān).

Deed of acknowledgment (iqrār). In Arabic script. The muqirr: Muḥammad [......]. Needs examination.

Kathismas (قاتسما). Christian liturgical divisions of the Psalter into daily readings ('for Wednesday and Friday'; 'for Thursday and Saturday') together with supplementary prayers. In Arabic script. Section divisions are marked by little crosses. Identification of the genre kindly provided by George Kiraz.

Writing exercises, probably, since all the rows per side contain the same words. In Arabic script.

Legal document (iqrār) in Arabic script. ʿAbd al-Raḥmān makes a declaration. Needs examination.

Quran. Bifolium from a codex. Containing part of Sūrat al-Maʿārij (70).

Document in Arabic script. Either a legal document or a letter. Needs examination.

Legal deed in Arabic script. Fragment: right side only. Looks like a deed of acknowledgment (iqrār). The muqirr: Shujāʿ al-Dawla Ṭalā'iʿ b. [???]. Needs examination.