Geniza Lab

Letter from a father, unknown location, to his son Abū l-Barakāt Shemuel, in Fustat. The father rebukes the son for failing to write and informs him that his mother has an eye disease. They are suffering from poverty and lack of clothing. The father wonders if business would be going better if he were in Fustat and helping manage the shop. He complains about the addressee's brother Abū Naṣr who came up with a scheme to renovate his maternal aunt's house for 2 or 3 dinars. Now, he has spent about 30 dinars, the walls are reduced to rubble, the site has had to be closed, and he is still working on it. The father asks the son to send money to his mother and to respond right away. "Do not make an excuse that the road is closed: people come and go every day by land from your location." The letter and the money should be sent to the shop of the Mumḥe or to the shop of Abū Naṣr al-ʿAfaṣī. ASE