Geniza Lab

Recto: Letter from a woman to her son Abū l-Faḍā'il al-Yahūdī al-Bawāridī ('the maker of cooling or cold vegetables') in al-Qamra, Alexandria. She describes a dangerous journey on the Nile ("we nearly drowned three times, but the end was good. God willed that we meet with the Shaykh Abū l-Makārim, and I stayed with Umm Hiba.") She advises her son to redeem the copper lamp that had been pawned for 3 1/8 (dirhams?). "Do not ask about my state and my illness, about which you know. I left with the fire in my heart on account of Futūḥ and his illness. Do not ask what weighs on Makārim's heart on your account. By God and by the breast which nursed you, do not neglect your son Sulaymān." She sends regards to Ḥasab (?) and his children, to her brother, and to Umm ʿAzīza. Verso: Apart from the address, there is a postscript in a different hand (with rudimentary script and spelling), from another family member who had traveled with the mother from Alexandria. This writer says that everyone is fed up with Karīm. The qumāsh which they brought with them from Alexandria has now been pawned for 40 dirhams. Karīm has not paid a penny of his capitation tax. He even pulled a trick to make his brother have to pay his debt. He is not working. Sulaymān (probably his brother) is working instead, and the writer was forced to accept public charity (kashaft wajhī) to pay off the debt. The next couple lines are tricky. Maybe: 'After all this, he regards me as idle. I do not even have enough water to drink because of him." Then: I regret leaving Alexandria. Regards to you and your family. Send us news of Umm Maʿānī quickly. Information in part from Goitein's note card and Med Soc, I, p. 424; III, pp. 246, 480. ASE.