Geniza Lab

Recto/verso: recto

Letter in Arabic script. Dating: Ottoman-era, perhaps 18th or 19th century. Seems to have been abandoned halfway through. There are a few words in Hebrew script on verso. The letter is written in a rural hand with a couple of colloquial words addressed to a merchant Maḥmūd ʿĀbidīn (if read correctly). The author of the letter, who appears to work for this merchant, mentions his visit to Ṭanṭa in Egypt, where he offered prayers at the shrine of a local Ṣūfī saint Aḥmad al-Badawī (d.1276). He also mentions the stagnant market conditions (al-bayʿ wa-l-shira waqf ḥāl) and states that only a Jewish merchant al-Ḥāj al-Ḥarīrī settled his dues of 41 maqṭaʿ in 91 days. He expresses his intention of traveling to the mediterranean sea and embarking on a pilgrimage to the shrine of Sayyīd Ibrāhim al-Desūqī (d. 1296) to observe his birth anniversary. Towards the end, he requests a letter from Muḥammad Effendī in the name of ʿUmar Aghā, the superintendent of the freights (al-Anwāl) of al-Maḥalla.