Geniza Lab

Fragment of a will. Mentions 20 silvers. Last two lines mention that the testator is in sound health "la ʿilla wa-lā suqm wa-lā ḥāl yalzimuhu fīhi". The text in the right margin declares the responsibility and accountability of the testator and that he is on the right path "wahuwa dhimmatī wa l-ḥaq awwalan mā attabiʿu".

Fragment on verso, possibly poetry (for example line 9&10): "anta rūhī wa inta ___ qalbī" "انت روحي وانت ـــــ؟ قلبي ", "wa yā amīrī wa ya amīr amīrī".

Accounts? on recto (fractions?) mentions rose and sandalwood. Hebrew script on verso.

Tax receipt, Fatimid, from the archive of Abū l-Ḥasan b. Wahab with a registration mark "al-ḥamdu lil-lāh ʿalā niʿamih" dated 25 dhū l-ḥijja 403. On the verso, fragment of the top left-hand margin of a petition

Mercantile letter in Arabic script. Fragment (lower half). "... he will/should sell it for him in Tyre and send him the value in the ṣalībī together with the fleet (al-usṭūl). He has appointed him to collect the value of his money/property with [...] Abu l-Faḍl Ibn al-Baṣrī: the value of sugar, the value of tamarind, ]...] and gold, a total of 3 dinars... and to also collect all the dirhams owed by Mukhtār and to send them with his merchandise in the fleet... with Yūsuf." More sums of money are mentioned in the margin. (The ṣalībiyya were the ships that sailed westward in September, named after the Coptic Feast of the Cross; see Friedman, Dictionary, 738, and Goitein, Med Soc I, 317, 481–82 note 31.)

Letter from Faḍāʾil to his father. In Arabic script. He has sent prior letters but received no response. He mentions several individuals such as Ṣadaqa, Abū l-Maʿālī, Abū Naṣr and news that has spread across the town (wa-qad wallahi shāʿa l-balad) and the ʿĀmil who possibly ruined his/their plan (kharab l-ʿĀmil). Towards the end of the letter he describes that he would rather die “mittu wa-lā ʿishtu” as no one could enter the building(?), he is also unable to fast or observe holidays. It is unclear to determine the ongoing events but it seems like they had a tax farming scheme but the ʿĀmil and the Muḥtasib intervened. Needs further examination.

Letter, in Arabic script, well preserved. Begins with basmala and “wallahi laqad ṣadaqa ḥaḍrat maulāya l-shaykh”, my Master was right, and contains the “inhāʾ” (“slave reports..”) formula. The sender seems to be a lower-level (coptic?) administrator or a tax farmer describing his job. He mentions al-Mastay, the town in Nile delta, and reports an affair during the tenure of the addressee (ayyām ʿahdihi/ʿamalihi l-nājiya/nāḥīyya) and that it is a lousy place to be a tax collector as it is difficult to even extract a dirham from anyone "wa mā bihā ṣāniʿ yurjā minhu l-dirham". Needs further examination.

Letter, in Arabic script. Starts with a basmala and contains the "inhāʾ" formula. Mentions difficulties; "ويشهد الله تعلى لقد صنعت علينا غاية الصعوبه والله تعالى يجعلها بجميل...."

Legal document, most probably Ottoman (it is not immediately clear if this is a letter, as cataloged). Contains a seal (part of which reads علوالهمة) and two signatures. Needs examination for content.

Document in Arabic script. It is not immediately clear that this is a letter (as cataloged), possibly a state document. Mentions "الراي العالي باطلاقه لك على" in line 3 and also "انشا الله عليه الراي" in the following line. On verso there are accounts in Judaeo-Arabic, in a rudimentary hand. Needs examination.

Letter, probably a correspondence between two officials, in Arabic script, with the "inhāʾ" formula and tarjama. The sender reports (yunhī) on a man who owes him "anna hādhā l-rajul lahu ʿalayya" and seeks the addressee's help in settling his accounts. The addressee, whose name in the tarjama reads as "al-awḥad al-amīr Raḍī l-Dīn", is a military official (walī al-shadd) whom the sender promises to convey news of his area "anā ūkātibuka bi l-khabr". The accounts that the sender is asking the addressee's help in settling could be taxes as the "al-shadd" was a military officer, classified by al-Qalqashandī as belonging to the 'arbāb al-suyūf' 'masters of the sword'. These officers assissted local staff to carry out their duties, especially in the collection of taxes (See Khan, ALAD, pg. 447, no. 117). Needs further examination. YU

List or table, three columns organizing series of words and Coptic numerals with no particular coherence. Some words include دجاج، سكر ، خبز، اجرة قاعة، كنس قاعة، ثاني جمعة. The title could reveal more about the contents and their significance, it reads "الخراج (؟) الذي خرج على ال...؟". Needs examination.

Financial receipt (waqf related) with a seal, probably late Ottoman based on the Indic numerals, 18th/19th century.

Mercantile letter, in Arabic script. From Ifrāyim b. Ismaʿīl to Abī ʿĀbd Allah at the Dār al-Wakāla. The writer mentions sending several commodities along Mubārak al-Ḥalabī and urges that their names be registered in the Dīwān, al-Dīwān al-Ṣināʿa, and al-Dār al-Wakāla.

Verso: Tax receipt from the archive of Abū l-Ḥasan b. Wahb with a registration mark al-ḥamdu li-llah ʿalā niʿamih. The name of the jahbadh is Mikhāʾīl b. ʿAbd al-Masīḥ. On recto is also a fiscal account (either reused for the tax receipt or was later reused) with multiple streams of accounts, each beginning with "al-dālla minhu".

Petition to a higher official asking for a horse "oḥḍur taḥtahu faras mulkihi wa-huwa ḍaʿīf nāqiṣ l-ḥāl", "yaḥmiluhu ʿalā faras" with an innovative taqbīl formula "wa-huwa yujaddid taqbīl al-arḍ wa-yasʾal al-inʿām" - "the slave renews the kissing of the ground" (a variant of this formula also appears in T-S Ar. 39.487).

Recto: Letter in Arabic script, regarding financial matters "innanī katabtu ilā marʾ(?) lahu ʿindahu danānīr", concerning a teacher (qad addanī muʿallim l-ṣabīyy). Also mentions Cairo. Needs examination. Verso: Letter in Judaeo-Arabic. The writer urges the addressee to help him again with money for rent for the qāʿa where he lives, because his landlady, the sister of al-Najīb "has destroyed me from all that she demands [it] from me."

Two columns of accounts, business or private, for Naṣr b. Simwāl, one under "lahu" 'he is owed' and second under "ʿalaihi" 'he owes'. 'ʾAjr' in the upper right hints that it could be related to rent. There is a date towards the upper left 'for year 1' (501? 601?). Needs examination.

Fragment, 4 lines, very faded, only a few letters legible.

Fragment, Arabic script, four lines in a chancery hand. Starts with a basmala and ḥamdala and mentions al-Najm al-Yahūdī. " بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم الحمد لله كثيرا ..للنجم اليهودي" . Recto has one line of not very legible Arabic script, reused for Hebrew script.