Geniza Lab

Jottings of accounts and calendrical notations in a mixture of Arabic script, Greek/Coptic numerals, and Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: Probably 12th or 13th century, based on handwriting. Alt description: A curious mix of notes, scripts, and a tidy hand of archival notes in Hebrew script on 18th C documents on verso. Notary's notepad?

Letter from Abū l-ʿAlā b. Hiba Abū l-Ḥasan(?) to Abū Saʿīd b. Abū Naṣr al-Mafjār (?) mentioning a letter that contained information regarding a mysterious trunk (ʿayba). The sender reports that the trunk is now with Abū l-Bishr. Needs examination.

Legal document in Arabic script. Fragment (upper left corner). Seems to be an acknowledgment by the Rabbanite Jew named [ʿUmar?] b. Ibrāhīm known as Shams al-Dawla(?) in which he undertakes to pay support to a Rabbanite Jewish woman (presumably his wife or divorcee). Mentions paying daily a sum of silver (fiḍḍa) and providing food (ṭaʿām) and possibly water (?? inṣāf mā, but this could also say ayḍan fa-mā). Mentions children in the last line.

Tax receipt, Fatimid. One registration mark; al-ḥamdu lil-lāh ḥamd al-rāʾfa.

Tax receipt, Fatimid.

Fragment of a legal document, 6 lines, not very legible script. Indication of a default in loan repayment on the first due date (ākhiruhā yatluhu awwal mudda) due to losses (khusrān), name of two witnesses towards the end.

Fragment of a state correspondence, probably a decree, 5 lines, bottom-left corner of the document with traces of paper decay. Mentions the day of movement (ʿalā l-nahr al-sālik) and an occurrence which enforced the preparation of something (biḥaithu kān l-ʾamr kadhālik li-tajhīz dhālik..). Emphasis is also laid upon majlis al-qaḍāʾ (wa-nahnu nuʾakkidu ʿalā l-Majlis fī qaḍāʾ), ending with in-shāʾ-llāh taʿālā. Dated like early Ottoman or late Mamluk.

Top of a decree(?) fragment with a basmala and few honorifics: al-amr al-karīm al-ʿālī al-mawlawī. Probably Mamlūkī.

Petition from a Jew on behalf of the Jewish community to the government. The petitioner's name appears in the lower right margin. In Arabic script. Dating: Probably Ottoman-era or possibly late Mamluk. Regarding their dispute with a group of people (jamāʿa) in lawsuits (daʿawī sharʿīyya). The petitioner requests that an official (royal?) order (al-khaṭṭ al-ʿālī) be granted to the effect that no suit against them be heard except in his august presence (al-bāb al-ʿālī).

Official state correspondence, beginning of two wide lines, chancery hand "al-ʿabd al-mamlūk". List or table on verso, requires examination.

Recto: Report fragment, 7 lines. The sender mentions a group of people who came before him and pledged their allegiance (...ʿindī mudhʿinīn muslimīn ilayya qāʾimīn bi-l-khidma fī dhālika...). Later, "after they departed," a group of infantry and cavalry came before him (...dakhala ilayya jamāʿa min al-mutarajjila wa-l-khayl...) and said, "Our master, we heard that so-and-so and so-and-so came before you and told you the opposite of what was agreed upon in the majlis" (haḍarū bi-haḍratak wa-takallamū bi-khilāf mā istaqarra fī l-majlis bi-l-asr(?)), and they didn't realize it until it was nearly too late (...mā ʿalimnā bihi ḥattā tamḍī al-sāʿa...). Verso: Financial record—a receipt for a certain Mufaḍḍal. Possibly with eastern Arabic numerals (but these are not used in the classical Geniza period) and possibly with a dāl abbreviation for dīnār or dirham.

Recto: Fragment of a petition (?), 3 fragmentary lines, containing part of an inhāʾ section (al-mamlūk yunhī anna) in which reference is made to the petitioner's unfortunate condition, involving the capitation tax (al-jawālī) and the tax collector (al-ḥāshir). Preceding the narrative is the phrase wa yamḥaq al-ribā which clearly alludes to Quran 2:276 ("God blots out usury") suggesting a possible reason for the petitioner's misfortune.

Legal document. In Arabic script in a nice hand. Yehuda b. Ibrāhīm the Jew attests that he has received 15 rounds (aqrāṣ) of Levantine cheese (al-jubn al-Shāmī)from Ibrāhīm b. [...]. Dated likely late Mamlūk or early Ottoman.

Capitation tax receipt for a 1 dinar payment made by Bū l-Thanāʾ b. Bū Saʿd b. Ṭayyib al-Murakkib (the saddle maker) in New Cairo and Fustat for the year 405 AH, which is 1014/15 CE. Dated: 21 Muḥarram. Registration mark: 'al-ḥamdu lil-lāh ʿalā niʿamih', all praise be to God for his benefactions (found twice on recto and once on verso). Verso also has some numbers written out in Judaeo-Arabic (might be a writing exercise). (Information from PGP tax receipt team.)

Letter or petition from a certain Bū Naṣr (to a woman?). In Arabic script. Begins: عبدها يقبل يديها وينهي انه شهد الله على غاية من اشتغال الخاطر بالست(؟) الكريمة(؟).... Most of the lower part of the document is missing. There are neatly spaced holes along the margin (like the other fragments in this folder), so this document was once bound together with other documents in a (presumably modern) folder. AA. ASE. YU.

Fatimid tax receipt possibly from the time of al-Ḥākim bi ʿAmr Allah from the archive of Abū l-Ḥasan b. Wahb. Multiple registrations marks: 'al-ḥamdu lil-lāh ʿalā niʿamih', all praise be to God for his benefactions, 'al-ḥamdu lil-lāh bihi athiq', all praise be to God in him I trust.

Legal document in Arabic script, fragment, 7 lines. Dating: Ottoman or possibly late Mamluk era. Mentions people such as Niʿmat (or Nūr?) al-Dīn, [...] b. ʿAbdallāh, Mūsā the Rabbanite Jew, Yaʿqūb b. Ibrāhīm [...] al-Lāwī, the wife of al-khwājā Niʿmat (or Nūr?) al-Dīn, and the daughter of the late (al-marḥūm) khwājā Zakariyā b. Muḥarrar and her daughter-in-law. Includes standard phrases about legal competence (sound health, willingness, and free choice—fī ṣiḥḥatih wa-salāmatih wa-ṭawāʿiyyatih wa-ikhtiyārih). Possibly a will of al-khwāja Muḥarrrar(?) Niʿmat(?) al-Dīn. Benefactors(?) include his wife (zawj al-Khwājā) and his deceased son (al-Marḥūm) al-Khwājā Zakariyyā b. al-Muḥarrar. A debt owed by Yaʿqūb b. Ibrāhīm associated to the wife of the khwājā is forgiven (wa inna dhālik taghliq mā ʿalā Yaʿqūb b. Ibrāhīm [...] al-Lāwī min al-dayn... al-mutaʿalliq bi-zawjat al-khwājā...). Might also be a release or another kind of legal document.

Tax receipt, jizyā, dated 507 H (?).

Mercantile memorandum or bill of lading (tadhkira) in Arabic script. Listing items that were shipped with a certain captain (al-rayyis... al-Ḥayfī) for Abū Ṭāhir b. Maḥfūẓ the physician (al-mutaṭabbib) including two Torah codices (muṣḥafayn tawrāt), two codices of another kind, five pieces of copper (qiṭaʿ nuḥās), and a large candelabra (manāra kabīra).

Tax receipt, mentioning the tax was credited towards the treasury - "Waṣala li-bayt al-māl".