Geniza Lab

Family letter. In Arabic script. Maybe from a man in serious trouble with his wife, writing to his son who appeased or reached a settlement with her (ṣālaḥta sittak). The sender calls her a ḥānitha (oathbreaker) and a saḥḥāqa (literally "tribadist" but usually meaning "lesbian" - see Pernilla Myrne, Female Sexuality in the Early Medieval Islamic World, p. 146). The sender concludes by threatening to kill himself or do something violent to her unless they “set him free,” and if he acts rashly it will be the addressee’s fault:قد صالحت ستك بالله عليك اطلق سراحي ولك في ذلك الاجر من الله الا [[قلتل]] قتلت روحي او اعمل بها مصيبة وتكون المطالب باثمي. Merits further examination. ASE.

Legal testimony. In Arabic script. Dated: First decade of Rabīʿ I 486 AH, which is April 1093 CE. Apparently concerning some confusion over shipments of produce (ghalla) from two tax farmers (? bi-rasmi muqṭaʿayn). The captain/owner (rayyis) of the ship who delivered the produce to the arsenal (Dār al-Ṣināʿa) may be insisting that the taxes have already been paid on these shipments. (For more on the Fatimid arsenal, see David Bramoullé, Les Fatimides et la mer (909-1171) (Leiden, 2019), ch. 5.) The rayyis swears by God, by the caliph al-Mustanṣir, and by another person titled amīr al-juyūsh, sayf al-islām, nāṣir al-imām, chief dāʿī, etc. (=Badr al-Jamālī?). (Information in part from the Baker & Polliack catalogue.) Needs further examination.

Recto: Legal document. Mainly in Judaeo-Arabic. Concerning a lawsuit between Shabbat b. Yaʿaqov (aka Shabbetay b. Yaʿaqov) and Natan b. [...]. The portion preserved here is about taking vows on a bible and one of the parties refusing to take a vow unless the court compels him.