Geniza Lab

Very tiny note in Arabic script, in the same type of hand as many of the early 5th/11th century tax receipts. Some contain the mystery mark (backwards ط). All are dated after the formula kutiba. ENA 3971 13–24, 31 and 34.

Very tiny note in Arabic script, in the same type of hand as many of the early 5th/11th century tax receipts. Some contain the mystery mark (backwards ط). All are dated after the formula kutiba. ENA 3971 13–24, 31 and 34.

Very tiny note in Arabic script, in the same type of hand as many of the early 5th/11th century tax receipts. Some contain the mystery mark (backwards ط). All are dated after the formula kutiba. ENA 3971 13–24, 31 and 34.

Very tiny note in Arabic script, in the same type of hand as many of the early 5th/11th century tax receipts. Some contain the mystery mark (backwards ط). All are dated after the formula kutiba. ENA 3971 13–24, 31 and 34.

Tax receipt, Fatimid.

Petition to Sitt al-Mulk from Yaḥyā b. al-Ḥasan complaining that a local amir has confiscated his grain, 411–14/1021–24. See under PGPID 19304 for explanation of the join. Note that the main Arabic-script documents on ENA 3974.3 and Bodl. MS heb. b. 18/23 do not join with each other.

Petition draft. From Manṣūr b. Salāma (or rather Ṣadaqa?) to the Fatimid caliph al-Āmir bi-Aḥkām Allāh (1101–30 CE). In Arabic script. The petitioner lives in Sindiyūn (on the east bank of the Rashīd arm of the Nile, between Fuwa and Rashīd) in the province of al-Muzāḥamiyya. His father may have been a tax farmer (though Khan reads the word as ṣāmitan rather than ḍāminan) in an unidentified location called Maḥallat Salīm ibn Sahl. The petitioner's mother died, and he has been living in her house enclosure (dār). Manṣūr asks for a rescript (tawqīʿ) to be written on the back of his petition instructing the judge of al-Maḥalla to register the house enclosure as his property. He also asks for a copy for his own records. Information from Khan's edition.

Legal document, probably dating to the late Mamlūk/early Ottoman era. Mentions grains and vegetables (al-ḥubūb wa al-mazrūʿāt), al-dhahab al-Ashrafī, the Nile (baḥr al-Nīl al-Mubārak), and al-Baḥr al-Aʿzam (Mediterranean Sea). The istiʾjār clause in l4 suggests that it could be a rental/lease document however the transactions and routes suggest that it could be a sale or a partnership deed. The currency towards the end "al-nuḥās al-aḥmar al-mutaʿāmil bihā alʾān bi-l-dīyār al-Miṣrīyya" hints toward a plausible dating of this document. Goitein notes that copper coins do not begin to appear commonly in Geniza documents until the late thirteenth century and afterward (Mediterranean Society I, 360). Hence, this might be the Mamlūk-era fels/fulūs (aka jadīd post-1357CE). Another numismatic reference that might be the most useful for dating is "dhahab al-Ashrafī al-Dhāhirī"; in general, ashrafī refers to the late Mamlūk dīnār first minted in 1425CE under Sultan al-Ashraf Barsbay which stayed in circulation under the Ottomans (but which was known more commonly as sharīfī/şerifi post-1517CE). It is safe to say that this document is late-Mamlūk 15th/16th-century or much less likely early Ottoman. Needs further examination. YU.

Accounts in Arabic script. Sums in dinars and qirats. Mentions a dukkān. Needs examination.

Tax receipt from the archive of Abū l-Ḥasan b. Wahb, Fatimid. One registration mark: al-ḥamdu lil-lāh ʿalā niʿamih.

List or accounts on recto, verso contains several lines of some kind of draft (crossed out) and the rest is pen trials

A leaf of the astronomical tables devised for the years 900-1500 CE. Only two dates come into question for the year 631/1234 (Ayyubid period). Date h.☉☾♄♃♂♀☿☊ 28 Ramaḍān 631 (26 June 1234) ♋12♊24♉17♎1♉6♊28♋26♍21, 1 Shawwāl 631 (29 June 1234) ♋14♋30♉17♎1♉8♋2♌1♍21. The first two tables contain planetary and zodiac names. The table describes the influences of planets when they appear in conflation with zodiac alignments. Abbreviations require deciphering. (Information from Johannes Thomann)

Tax receipt, Fatimid, for the sum of 2 dīnārs beginning with a basmala and "waṣl ilā bayt al-māl". Not the usual format; more of a central fiscal hand than a provincial one. Two registration marks: al-ḥamdu lil-lāh wa-bihi nastaʿīn, al-ḥamdu lil-lāh ʿalā niʿamih.

Letter in Arabic script. Fragment preserving the middle portion of each side, 6–8 lines per side. The sender is worried about the condition of the addressee and describes his anxiety over it in several instances (wa-qalbī muḥarraq/muḥraq... ʿalayk... wa-khawfī ʿalayk min an thanat(?) lahu wajhhaha idh yanāl minka...). He mentions the fear of the government over him (lak khawf al-sulṭān) and urges the addressee to listen to him (...qubūl qawlī wa-l-iṣghāʾ ilayhi).

Template fragment of a divination/magical charm starting with a few words of prayers followed by a spell: "fulān b. fulān". Then: 'blind his heart and block his vision and mute his tongue'.

Document in Arabic script. Perhaps accounts or an administrative document. Needs examination.

A 13th/19th-century Ottoman era debt acknowledgment document with a seal. Muḥammad Ḥusain acknowledges (aqarra wa ashada) in his sound mind that he owes 900 Kuruş in debt (شهد بذلك يكون ملزوم 900 ق) to Ḥusain al-Baṣrī(Naṣrī?). The document is dated 26 Muḥarram 1260/16 Feb 1844.

Tax receipt, Fatimid.

Bottom half of a legal document, 4 lines. Mentions arṭāl Miṣr, the quantity of half raṭl, and the occurrence of the transaction/event in the presence of a judge (bī-ḥuḍūr l-Qāḍī l-ʿArab).

Recto: Legal or state document in Arabic script, in what looks like a chancery hand. Fragment from the bottom of the document (4 lines preserved). The document concerns Abū Ṭāhir al-ʿAsqalānī, riding animals (dawābb), and Buqṭur (=Victor)? The فاجاب واشهد clause at the end of l3 suggests that it could either be a rental agreement for the transport of weapons (asliḥa, l1) or a legal testimony.