Geniza Lab

Letter from the office of Yehoshuaʿ Maimonides (introduced with his usual motto) to the community in Cairo concerning a lawsuit between Hiba b. Abū l-Faraj Allāh and his in-law Fakhr; he warns against unauthorised recourse to a gentile court. (Information from CUDL)

Recto and verso are both late family letters in Judaeo-Arabic by the same writer, perhaps to different recipients. The writer goes into great detail about ongoing court cases regarding a certain building, some of which involved Muslim courts and a Shāfiʿī judge. The city Nāblus is mentioned (the "dear boy" Naṣr Allāh traveled there). Other names mentioned include the son of Abū Qays; Mūsā; Farjūn; the son of Abū Sharīf. The ashrafi is the currency used.The writer states several times that he is worn out. ASE.

6 lines of a document in the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe describing the circumstances in which ḥujaj or other documents should be drawn up in Muslim courts instead of Jewish courts "because thus they will be valid (?)" (li-anna bi-dhālika tuthbatu). Someone else has recopied some of the words in the spaces between the lines. ASE

Court record. In the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe ha-Levi. Dated: Ṭevet 1438 Seleucid, which is 1126/27 CE. A woman (Ḥasana bt. Menashshe ha-Kohen the wife of Elʿazar b. Mevorakh ha-Kohen) had sued her brother (the banker Abū l-Ḥasan Shelomo b. Menashshe ha-Kohen) in the Muslim courts after she learned that the female slave (Iftikhār) she had purchased from him (for 17 dinars) had "defects" (ʿuyūb) which made her want to return her. They settled the matter when her brother agreed to reimburse 1.25 dinars of the purchase price. She has now received the settlement money, and she releases her brother from all subsequent claims against him in this matter. (Information in part from Craig Perry via FGP.)

Court record. A husband is approving in the Jewish court a gift he gave to his wife in a Muslim court. Written by Avarham b. Nathan Av (Date: 1098-1114).

Legal record (#16). Inheritance settlement. Dated: Thursday, 25 Iyyar 1467 Seleucid. It is a complicated settlement with multiple sections. (1) Sitt al-Ahl bt. Barakāt b. Ibrāhīm Ibn al-Dayyān, the widow of Abū l-Faḍl al-Ṣayrafī declares that she has received from Abū l-ʿAlā al-Tājir (her late husband's brother) all the payments that are owed her on account of her husband's death (the delayed marriage payment and the belayot, i.e., the items from her trousseau that had been worn out from use), and she releases him from all claims. (2) Abū l-ʿAlā al-Tājir declares that he has received from Sitt al-Ahl all that she owes him of her dowry (qumāsh) and household furnishings (athāth), and he releases her from all claims. (3) Sitt al-Ahl purchases from Abū l-ʿAlā half of her late husband's house in Qaṣr al-Shamʿ for 160 dinars. There is a clause granting her the choice of whether to have this transaction registered as a sale in the Muslim courts, in which case she will be liable for fees, or as a gift. (4) Sitt al-Ahl releases Abū l-ʿAlā from all claims before a Muslim court, where she, as a widow, inherits—unlike in Jewish law. (5–6) Abū l-Faraj and Sitt al-Kull, evidently relatives of another recently deceased person, Abū l-Makārim the son of the brother (or possibly father?) of Abū l-ʿAlā, renounce their respective rights worth 30 and 50 dinars in exchange for Abū l-ʿAlā gifting them his share in the marble of the house (see Med Soc IV, p. 103). Witnesses: Ḥiyya b. Yiṣḥaq; Efrayim b. Meshullam; Mevorakh b. Natan. NB: Goitein referred to this document as folios 8–9 (e.g., the citation in Med Soc IV is Firk. II NS 1700.8b, with the b indicating verso) in accordance with the foliation written in pen; but the correct folios are 9–10, as written in pencil (the librarian with the pen gave two folios the number 8). (Information in part from Goitein's notes.) ASE.

Legal testimony? In Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: Ottoman-era. it is a first-person narrative recounting the events of several years, involving financial disputes, a shofar, the Muslim courts, and a certain "Turjuman Effendi."

Letter draft from the Qaraite community of Cairo to the Qaraite community of Damascus. In Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: Unknown. Regarding a marriage-related legal case that reached the Muslim courts and resulted in someone spending two months in prison. Needs examination.

Letter in Judaeo-Arabic. Writer and addressee unknown. Dating: No earlier than 15th century; mentions the currency ashrafī. The letter deals in great depth with a matter of a fatwā and and dealings with the Muslims courts, including specifically a Ḥanafī judge. Mentions Ramle. Needs further examination.

Letter, or rather a legal query, from [...] ha-Kohen b. Avraham to a communal authority addressed as 'exilarch.' In Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: Unknown, perhaps 13th or 14th century. This very long letter conveys the tale of a legal dispute involving a codex, a pawn, and a debt. The writer details his travails with various adversaries and his imprisonment at the order of the Muslim court and the physical violence that came to pass. He wants the addressee to make a judgment in this case and exert his authority to help secure the writer's rights. Needs much more examination.