Geniza Lab

Letter from Avraham Ibn Yiju, written in Aydhab, probably around 1152, while on his way to Egypt. The letter reveals the distrust between associates and the disruption of Avraham's family life.

Distrust between associates and disruption of family life, on the way to Egypt. Aydhab, probably 1152. (India Book III, 39)

A letter about a merchant who handles the business of others. Alexandria, mid-eleventh century. An example of the difficulties and challenges for the researcher, which are posed by the fragmentary letters of the traders from the Genizah, in the identifications and the combination of what is written of them in the research. (Information from Goitein and Friedman, India Book IV)

Judge Elijah orders a white "burda", some handwriting exercises at the bottom

Letter with a legal purpose. In Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: 11th or 12th century. From an unidentified sender to a certain parnas, trustee of the court. The sender urgently asks the addressee to send for the merchants Yaʿaqov known as Ibn al-Suṭūḥ from Tripoli (Libya) and his traveling companion Yaʿaqov b. Zikrī al-Nafūsī who are soon to depart for Yemen. One of them has a bill of divorce with him that must be delivered before he travels. (Information from Goitein's notes and Oded Zinger's forthcoming edition.)

Poem by Avraham Ibn Yiju praising Madmun b. Ḥasan as a defender of the faith (and as a defender of Avraham Ibn Yiju himself). Aden, ca. 1141.

Letter of Perahya b. Yosef Yiju to his father in Mazara Sicily, probably June 1154. (India Book III, 45)

Memorandum from Maḍmūn b. Ḥasan to Ḥalfon ha-Levi b. Netan'el. Location: Aden. Dating: ca. 1135 CE.

Letter from Makhlūf b. Mūsā to Abū ʿAlī Yeḥezqel b. Netanel Dimyāṭī. Accusing him and Abū Naṣr b. Elishaʿ of conspiring to cheat him out of money. (Information from CUDL.) See also Goitein's index card.

Awaiting description

Conditional bill of divorce. In the hand of Mevorakh b. Natan. Dated: Av 1480 Seleucid, which is 1169 CE. The trader Bū Saʿd Moshe b. Yefet gives this conditional divorce to his wife before setting out on a journey to Yemen. Signed by: Mevorakh b. Natan and Shemuel b. Seʿadya. See also T-S 12.585 recto and verso. (Information in part from S. D. Goitein, Mediterranean Society, 3:192, 467; Amir Ashur and Ben Outhwaite, “Between Egypt and Yemen in the Cairo Genizah,” Journal of Islamic Manuscripts, Vol. 5 (2014), 213.) EMS.

Court proceedings in the case of al-Wuhsha (or al-Wahsha) against Yosef Lebdi. Wuhsha's representative, Moshe b. Yeshua, sued Lebdi for what he claimed was the share of Wuhsha's brother, Abu Nasr, in Lebdi's merchandise, sold or unsold. The document is written in the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe and was signed by Eli ha-Levi b. Nethanel and Yiṣḥaq b. Shemuel, one of the two Fustat judges. The document is dated to June 30, 1104.

Memorandum containing order of copper vessels from Yosef b. Avraham to Ibn Yiju, Mangalore, India. Aden, ca. 1134-1137.

This is not a formal letter, but a short memorandum written by Yosef b. Avraham in Aden to Avraham Yiju in Mangalore around 1134-1137. The document details various dealings of copper items.

Account by Avraham Ibn Yiju of Indian products sold for another merchant, Aden, ca. 1141-44.

Letter in Judaeo-Arabic. Yemeni hand, according to Goitein. Wide space between the lines. Dealing with various commodities related to the India trade, including ambergris, ʿūd, unpierced pearls, camphor, pepper. Mentions ʿAbd al-Wahhāb b. ʿAbd al-Raḥmān. Join: Oded Zinger. See also Goitein notes linked below.

Awaiting description

Copy of three court proceedings involving the sale of a house. Najiya, the wife of the Yefet b. Avraham, 'The Pride of the Community,' made a 'conditional sale' of a house to Yosef Lebdi for 500 dinars. Lebdi moved his family to the ground floor and rented out the upper floors. For a year and ten months after the sale of the house, Lebdi still owed Najiya 80 dinars for the house. Only after he returned from another successful India voyage, he could pay this debt. The three court sessions were concerned with the rents due Najiya, an issue compounded by Lebdi's claim that the rent for the ground floor was included in the 80 dinars and the fact that the subtenants claimed that they paid part of their rent by repairs and upkeep to the house. The last court proceeding is apparently dated to April, 20, 1103. T-S 8J9.2 = IB I,24a.

Letter from an unknown writer in Qūṣ to an unknown addressee in Fustat. In Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: 12th century. The writer reports that the children and their mother arrived safely in Qūṣ after a terrible Nile voyage that lasted 45 days. The writer sends various instructions to be executed in Fustat. He mentions numerous people including Abū Naṣr, Abū Surūr b. al-Amʿaṭ, Abū l-Makārim Ibn Nufayʿ (whose son also arrived safely in Qūṣ), Abū l-Munajjā, and Abū ʿAlī. Information from Goitein's attached transcription.

Karaite Nesiim. A memorial list.