Geniza Lab

Booklet of alphabetical tables for prognostications in Arabic script. "Travel by sea: effective or not?" "Should I buy animals: good or not?" The last page may have a colophon, but it is quite faded.

Divination. In Judaeo-Arabic. Different responses to the client's query are tagged to different numbers.

Literary text. In Arabic script. Leaf from an Arabic work on horoscopes/prognostications in a beautiful naskhī script. The horoscopes/prognostications are predicted for each day of an unknown month starting from the 3rd day of the month till the 14th. Some predictions include sound health, hearing good news, dispelling sorrows, and reuniting with family and loved ones. One distinctive feature of these horoscopes/prognostications is the phrase "wallāhu aʿlam" (God knows better) after each prediction.

Recto: Two lines in Arabic script, probably a petition to a Fatimid vizier "al-Wazīr al-Ajal Ṣafiyy Amīr l-Mumineen wa-khāliṣihi". In Judaeo-Arabic, between the lines and upside down, "God guard the servant of the Shaykh Abū ʿImrān." Verso: Prognostications in Judaeo-Arabic. If the year is born in Gemini (الجوزاء): harvests will be rich, the Nile will flood, the cattle will die, a skin disease will break out, and the Byzantines will set sail and their ships will founder. The noblest kings will die and fitna will break out. There will be many refugees. It ends "allāhu aʿlam bi-l-ghayb" (only God knows the unknown). ASE.

Fragment of a Judaeo-Arabic literary work, possibly on predicting the future, mentioning various hours of the day, various outcomes, and perhaps the names of angels.

Fragment, text on prognostications. Each prediction starts with a new point (al-bāb). Contains some Hebrew script interspersed. Verso conatins a note saying that this paper was sent/commissioned for Maulāya al-Shayk Abū l-Mʿālī (نقل هذه الرقعة الى مولاي الشيخ ابو الم[عالي؟] والسلام). Left side of verso contains blocks of Hebrew script perpendicular to each other.

The second block of text appears to be a prophecy attributed to Ibn Ezra regarding a Messiah in the land of Egypt, mentioning the year 1647/8 (5408), so slightly earlier than the Sabbatean movement. Needs further examination.

Recto: Arabic document, perhaps a letter. Needs further examination. Verso: Lists of the Islamic months and Coptic months, and prognostications for the coming year based on the Hebrew calendar.

Horoscopes. In Judaeo-Arabic.

Divination. Grid in red ink filled with various outcomes. In Hebrew.

Leaf 1: end of a discussion of the cycles of each planet and their astrological importance, followed by a description of each of the planets. Leaf 2: end of a discussion of the influence of the zodiac signs on people born in them, followed by calendrical-astrological discussions, a discussion of the planets and their servants (בול, סין, אריס, כון, בילתיי, etc) and their influence on people born in them, and a horologion with angelic names. (Information from CUDL)

Description of disasters, famines and frightful events due to happen in each of the Jewish months, mentioning the Jews and their slavery, the Arabs and their need for food, and the River Nile and its drought. (Information from CUDL)

Predictions of events that will happen if the tequfot of Tishri and Nisan occur in particular hours of the day or night, in the form ‘if the tequfa happens on the first hour of the night, a murder will take place among the people [...] and the doors of the wealthy will be closed’. Mentions the angel Yaqfiʾel. (Information from CUDL)

Forecasts based on the day of the week something falls on. Uses the Coptic calendar. Every entry ends "wallāhu aʿlam." Distinguishes between the forecast for Fustat and for the entire world. Some of the predictions: fire from the heavens, a lot of fish and a lot of heat, the sultan will persecute his enemies, women will be very sick that year ("because Venus is in the ascendant"), etc.

Fragment of a Judaeo-Arabic work on the seasons and weather and prognostications.

Recto: Elaborate grid in red and black ink, each cell filled in with a Hebrew letter, except for three, which contain a nickname: "known as Ben Dānān." Perhaps for divination. Verso: A basmala in Arabic script followed by a difficult-to-read line in Judaeo-Arabic.

Text in Judaeo-Arabic informing someone about their livelihood. Perhaps prognostications/horoscopes.

Table of Judaeo-Arabic prognostications or horoscopes for various domains (agriculture, prosperity, government, knowledge, etc.) arranged in an ornate red grid. Late hand.

Table of Judaeo-Arabic prognostications in a rough black grid. Possibly medieval.