Geniza Lab

Magical formulary in Judaeo-Arabic and Aramaic.

Occult text in Arabic script. Mentions the jinns, the shayāṭīn, al-waswās al-khannās (from Quran 114:4).

Magical instructions, probably. Involving sex with a woman (fulāna bt. fulāna, ll.5–6). Needs further examination.

Magical formulae in Arabic script. (Information from Wissem Gueddich via FGP.)

Talisman for safe journey. (Information from Goitein's index cards)

Booklet of divinations with introduction. (Information from Goitein's index cards)

Literary text in Judaeo-Arabic. Advice on how to succeed against enemies, on a journey, etc. (Information from Goitein's index cards)

There are 10 unrelated fragments sharing this shelfmark. All are literary: see FGP for identifications. The most documentary fragment is fol. 4, which is a leaf from a book in Judaeo-Arabic that tells you the Psalms to recite in various scenarios (if your ship is about to sink at sea... if you are going before the king...).

Folios 1v-2v (the fragment is conserved the wrong way round) contain Suras 1 and 2:1-10 from the Qur’an in Hebrew script, followed by omens for undertaking a journey. F. 1r is blank apart from the owner's name Samuel b. Judah, written in a different hand to the text. Ca. 11th century. Information from CUDL.

Magical treatise in Judaeo-Arabic. One of the pages features a large diagram of the human body, captioned "ghulām al-malik Saydūk," and two smaller figurines. (Information in part from Goitein’s index card)

Esoteric text in Judaeo-Arabic. May be magical ( "indeed you will be able to do whatever you wish to Khalaf b. Moshe") and/or for treasure-hunting ("indeed, you will find it")

Magical amulets to protect against scorpions, designed to be worn rolled up in an amulet case around the neck. The magician has repeatedly copied the amulet, drawing a crude scorpion at the bottom of each. Several have evidently been cut off and sold. (Information from CUDL.) See Gideon Bohak, "Some 'mass-produced' Scorpion-amulets from the Cairo Genizah," in A Wandering Galilean (2009), 35–50.

Magical fragment, probably. In Judaeo-Arabic.

Two interesting spells for binding demons to obey you. The handwriting is similar to that of the cantor Abu Sahl (Levi), father of Yedutun and Moshe b. Levi ha-Levi (click on the "Abu Sahl Levi" tag for other documents for comparison). Recto: A spell for binding demons by the power of the seal of Solomon. Specific ones conjured include the Cloudy Maymun, the Black Persian Maymun, Shamhorash, and 'Abd al-Rahman. It continues, "O tribe of the Jinn... residents of the wind and the valleys and the deserts and the graves...." Verso: A spell for "tahayyuj." It is to be written Thursday morning in saffron on the parchment of a gazelle and hung up in the wind. "I bind you, o tribe of the Jinn, the Shaytan, the Iblis, the Faqtash, the Zawba'ah... from East and W[e]st and South (Qibliyyan) and North (Bahriyyan)... or from the earth...." Needs further examination together with the join. There is at least one missing line between the two fragments (T-S AS 145.71 + T-S Ar.30.81), but the subject matter of recto and verso are exact matches. Join: Alan Elbaum.

Magic Recipes (fgp)

Magic. Shimush Tehilim

Magical text, written in a mixture of Judaeo-Arabic and Arabic script. "Chapter on separation (furqa): write it on gazelle parchment and put it in a tube, and bury it under the door of the one whom you want to banish. First write..."

Magical fragment in Hebrew and Judaeo-Arabic and nomina barbara. Mentioning scorpions and pain/illness.

Magical text, mentioning ‘the people of Babel’ (ahl Bābil) and the Neguš. Magical drawing on verso. Looks like the same hand as T-S AS 145.71 + T-S Ar.30.81 (=Abū Sahl Levi?).

Spell of destruction. In Judaeo-Arabic and Aramaic, with a postscript in Arabic script ("for killing, very useful"). See Niessen, F., & Bohak, G. (2007). ‘Destroy the life of N.N.!’: A magical recipe: T-S AS 162.51. [Genizah Research Unit, Fragment of the Month, September 2007]. https://doi.org/10.17863/CAM.40296.