Geniza Lab

Legal document. Testimony. Dated: May-June 1149. Testimony around the engagement of Tamīm b. Abū al-Faraj and Fakhr bt. Joseph, imposing a penalty if Tamīm is found to have an impediment to the marriage. This fragment reveals a brief partnership agreement between Khalaf b. Samuel and Barakāt b. Mūsā Ibn Muska, the term of which is to be one full year. Although short on details, this would seem to have been a joint active partnership situated in a single location rather than an investment partnership, since 1.3 dinars of the profit are to be allocated for the partnership to cover joint capital expenses, the balance of which is to be split evenly between the two partners. Although the partners do not describe their relationship as a shirka, mu‘āmala, muḍāraba, or even shutafut, they do use the verb sh-r-k in Form VIII. (Information from Lieberman, "A Partnership Culture," 203)