Geniza Lab

A letter from Faraḥ b. Ismaʿīl, probably in Alexandria, to Nahray b. Nissim, Fustat, 5 June 1056. Deals mainly with financial matters, mentions bills of exchange, a letter sent to Ibn al-Baʿbāʿ, and sending a pouch containing 83 1/2 dinars as cash. Also talks about a sale of tin and reports the arrival of a ship from Palermo with worthless goods. (Information from Gil)

Note reporting on commercial activities. In Judaeo-Arabic. Mentions oil (zayt) and spices (? asqāṭ) and three ships soon to set sail for Sicily, "and you know best about the spices of Sicily." Some commodity was deposited with a distinguished man (rajul jalīl al-qadr), "and when he opened it for the buyer and it came out in this shape, he was embarrassed... and I was embarrassed even more... He said, 'I will not buy this from you(?), this is only fit for the Jews'... I said to him that I purchased it from a Persian/foreigner...." Needs further examination.

Account for the export of flax to Sicily. Around 1035. Also mentions camphor, textile, as well as details about payments. It seems like it is mainly deals with people in Tripoli, Libya. T-S J1.54, CUL Or.1080 J291, BL OR5554A.53-54r (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 2, #136) VMR

Account for the export of flax to Sicily. Around 1035. Also mentions camphor, textile, as well as details about payments. It seems like it is mainly deals with people in Tripoli, Libya. See Mosseri VIII,476.1. T-S J1.54, CUL Or.1080 J291, BL OR5554A.53-54r (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 2, #136) VMR

Letter from Shemuel b. Ibrahīm, in Fustat, to his father Abū Isḥāq Ibrahīm b. Shabbetay (aka Shubbāṭ), in Palermo. Fragment: upper part of the letter only. In Judaeo-Arabic, with the address in both Judaeo-Arabic and Arabic. Dating: Early 11th century, by Gil's estimate. He suggests that this family may be connected to Benei Sunbāṭ, the family of Sahlān b. Avraham. Contents: Shemuel conveys everyone's worry on account of the addressee, as they have received no news ever since the father's departure from Alexandria. Shemuel then conveys the news of his sister al-Turfa, who is very ill. "She came down with a terrible illness (wajaʿ) at the beginning of Marḥeshvan, which lasted two months, and the illness culminated in a stomach abscess (? dubayla 'alā ra's fu'ādhā). There was not a doctor in Fustat that we did not bring to see her or a single medicine or syrup that we did not give her to drink. After this, terrible fainting fits (ghashw, probably = ghashwa) came over her. We asked her, having despaired of her, saying, "What do you want? What do you desire?" And she said, crying, "By God, there is no desire (shahwa) in my heart and no........ [the fragment ends here]." Gil suggests that her statement should be connected to the writer's expression of longing for the father, something like, "there is no desire in my heart except to see you." (Information in part from Mediterranean Society, I, pp. 304, 476; III, pp. 241, 479,and Goitein's index cards.) The significance of 'dubayla' is ambiguous not only here but also in the medieval Islamic medical literature: see the thorough discussion in Alvarez-Millan, “Disease in Tenth-Century Iran and Irak according to al-Razi’s Casebook”, Suhayl 14 (2015), pp. 69f. Also ambiguous is whether 'ra's al-fu'ād' refers to the stomach or rather to the skin overlying the heart (as it does in al-Razi's casebook). See CUL Or.1080 J24 for another account of a woman with a prolonged illness who developed fainting fits (ghashawāt). ASE.

Letter from Salama b. Musa ha-Sfaqusi from Alexandria probably to Nahray b. Nissim. Around 1068. Mentions several people including Avraham b. Farah and Yosef b. Eli ha-Kohen. The writer returned from Sicily to Alexandria and deals with business matters and buying goods. Also mentions the situation in Sicily. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, vol. 4, pp. 477-483, #753) VMR

Letter fragment (missing the upper right corner), mercantile, from someone to "my maternal uncle [...] Avraham b. Salih b. [...]," probably 11th century. The writer is upset about something and enemies are gloating. Other merchants traveling to Syracuse and Barqah are mentioned. There are a few words in Arabic at the very end. ASE.

Letter from Musa b. Abi al-Hayy from Alexandria to Nahray b. Nissim, Fustat. Around 1065. Details about goods that Nahray ordered in Alexandria, probably materials to use for copying books. Mentions a person that came from Sicily and brought lead, oil, and cloths. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, vol. 3, pp. 515-519, #453). VMR

Letter from Mevasser b. David, in Tinnīs, to Nahray b. Nissim, in Fustat. In Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: 22 Elul (25 August [1068 — Gil's inference]), with plentiful blessings for the Jewish new year. Mevasser inquires about previous letters and asks Nahray to pass on any news from Ifrīqiyya. It is rumored that ʿAbdallāh Ibn al-Baʿbāʿ, who became the (last) Muslim ruler of Sicily the following year, arrived in Alexandria in a ghurāb (river boat) and may have escaped. Probably this refers to his flight from the ruler of Ifrīqiyya, Tamīm b. Muʿizz. In the margin of recto, Mevasser offers an apology having to do with his correspondence, because he has an illness (tawajjuʿ), and his son and wife are sick as well, and his entire household, "may God deliver them. What will become of a small baby and his mother—may God exempt you—who do not have anyone to go in for them (from context, perhaps this should be read yadkhul rather than Gil's yattakil) or go out? Every person is occupied with himself (mashghūl bi-rūḥihi)." Gil understands Mevasser's sick family members to be not in Tinnīs with him but in al-Mahdiyya, which is currently under siege, with no ships coming and going (connecting recto, right margin, lines 4–5, with verso, lines 10–11). (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 4, # 695 and Goitein notes linked below.) ASE.

Letter sent by a man from Sicily who had immigrated to Tyre, describing a civil war in Sicily and the bad economic conditions under which his family lived. Dated to the mid-11th century. (Information from Gil and Ben-Sasson.) The writer and addressee are both unknown. He mentions Abū Yūsuf b. Ismāʿīl [al-Andalusi], known from several other letters of the mid-11th-century. He writes, "I witnessed things I never wanted to see: the bloodshed was such that I walked on corpses like walking on the ground; a great epidemic (wabā')"; and a great inflation. His own warehouse and that of his brother Saʿīd were pillaged. Years after these events, two months before the death of his father, his father purchased a house with gardens for 100 dinars from a Christian. The civil wars (fitan) then resumed, the house became worthless, and his father died. He and his Saʿīd then set about collecting all the debts owed to their late father and the goods their father had deposited with others, chiefly with one flax dealer. Saʿid told him they would split everything 50/50. The entirety of verso deals with how the writer was initially cheated out of his share of the inheritance—it seems by Saʿīd who was in cahoots with their brother-in-law Yaḥyā b. al-Munajjim—and the aftermath. ASE.

Letter from Abū Saʿīd, in Palermo, to his brother Abū l-Barakāt known as Ṭāriq, in Fustat. Abū Saʿīd reports that he had fled the unrest in Ifrīqiyya and traveled to Palermo. Prior to departing Ifrīqiyya, it seems, Abū Saʿīd's wife and two sons were sick for four months, and his 1-year-old son died. It seems that Abu Saʿid had to pay 50 Murābiṭī dinars due to the medical care and due to the delay in travel plans. The sea voyage was also ill-fated. The travelers were shipwrecked by a storm on an island known as Ghumūr, where they stayed for 20 days, living on wild nettles. "We hardly resembled human beings." They set off again from the island in four boats, of which only the writer's boat survived, which reached Palermo after another 35 days at sea. "By these letters, for our first month in Palermo we couldn't eat bread or understand what was said to us, due to what happened to us at sea." With understatement, "This is why I did not join you in Egypt this year." Abū Saʿīd adds that he has not heard from Abū l-Barakāt in three years, and though he would like to relocate to Egypt, he hesitates because he does not even know if Abū l-Barakāt is still alive. Abū Saʿīd suggests, alternatively, that Abū l-Barakāt join him in Sicily. Dating: Ca. 1060, based on the reference to Murābiṭī dinars. Information from Gil. ASE.

Six pages of court records in the handwriting of Mevorakh b. Natan (b. Shemuel ha-Ḥaver). Fol. 1, recto (doc. a): After the death in Sicily of Abū l-Surūr b. Abū ʿAlī al-Ḥibrī, his brother Futūḥ claimed his inheritance and the court establishes that as their third brother (Abū Saʿīd) has already died, Futūḥ is indeed the only known heir. Fol. 1, verso (doc. b): Abū Saʿīd Khalaf/Ḥalfon (aka "Segulat ha-Nedivim" or simply "al-Segulat") received 18 dinars from Abū l-Maʿālī Shemuel the trader, who had been guarantor on behalf of the banker from al-Maḥalla Abū l-Maʿālī b. ʿOvadya for the orphan Bayān b. Ḥashīsh(!). The court orders Ḥalfon to keep the money as a deposit for the orphan. Dated: Adar 1470 Seleucid, which is 1159 CE. Fol. 2, recto and verso (doc. c): Trousseau list (taqwīm). Bride: Sitt al-Maʿālī bt. Mevorakh ha-Kohen. Groom: Netanel b. Aharon ha-Kohen. Dating: Between Nisan and Sivan 1470 Seleucid, which is 1159 CE (based on the records that appear before and after). The marriage gifts amounted to 30 plus 80 dinars. The ornaments and dressing table objects brought to the bride were evaluated as worth 155 dinars. Both spouses were Kohens and probably cousins. (S. D. Goitein, Mediterranean Society, 4:343, 466.) Fol. 3, recto (doc. d): Two entries, unclear if they are related. Above, the court orders Abū l-Faraj Ibn al-Shofeṭ to provide sustenance (mezonot) for his wife Sārra for a period of 30 days Dated: Wendesday, 9 Sivan 1470 Seleucid, which is 1159 CE. (An earlier description on PGP said that this is probably a payment for the deferment of a marriage.) Below is another trousseau list (taqwīm). Bride and groom are not named, which is perhaps an argument for connecting this to the entry above. Payments are 5 + 17. Fol.3, verso (doc. e): Dated: Wednesday, 9 Sivan 1470 Seleucid, which is 1159 CE. Sitt al-Sāda bt. Sayyid al-Ahl b. Naḥman appears before the court and claims her property and her ketubba of 30 dinars following the death of her husband Abū l-Ḥasan. She specifies the household goods left by the latter and is asked about her income from her work. Afterwards she marries. Signed by Efrayim b. Meshullam and Hillel b. Ṣadoq. (Information in part from CUDL and Goitein's index cards.) VMR. ASE.

Letter from Labrāṭ b. Moshe b. Sughmār, in al-Mahdiyya, to his brother Yehuda, in Fustat. In Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: January 9 (12 Shevat), 1058 CE (Gil) or 1061 CE (Ben-Sasson). Labrāṭ congratulates Yehuda on the birth of his firstborn son. There may be a prayer for God to protect the infant from the evil eye (r11–12; the first letter of the word is smudged; Gil reads al-ḍaw' rather than al-sū'; neither one is strictly grammatical). Labrāṭ heard from Zakkār that the infant was a girl and was only reassured when Yehuda's letter arrived with the news that it was a boy. Labrāṭ keeps the blessed letter with him and kisses it and puts it before his eyes; he gave it to his sister this week but made her promise to return it (r4–18). Labrāṭ continues with business affairs. There is an elaborate response to what Yehuda said about the pain Labrāṭ caused him by rebuking him about a business decision taken by Yehuda. Labrāṭ only wrote anything because it concerned somebody else's merchandise. As for what is owed to him by Yehuda, what are 20 dinars next to their relationship, which is worth the whole world? If Yehuda was agitated by Labrāṭ's rebuke, Labrāṭ is now agitated by Yehuda's response. Furthermore, this sum is nothing compared to what they already lost in Qayrawān. As the proverb goes, "If nothing is left of your provisions except a single cake, you might as well throw it into the sea" (r18–32). The letter continues with matters of trade between Ifrīqiyya, Sicily, and Egypt. Numerous people are mentioned: the Nagid, Nissim, Abū Hārūn, Ḥayyim b. ʿAmmār, the boy of Ḥassūn, Ḥassūn b. Mūsā, Yehuda b. Mūsā, Abū ʿAbd Allāh, the notables of Qayrawān and al-Mahdiyya, Isḥāq b. Bar[hūn?], and Yosef b. Eli al-Kohen. People who came from Palermo said that Zakkār was sick but then recovered (r33–57). Labrāṭ is delighted to hear that Yehuda has been studying Torah, Mishna, and Talmud with 'the Rav' (r58 and margin). Verso consists mainly of greetings. Labrāṭ is surprised at Yehuda's rebuke for Nissim's failure to send him letters. (Gil identifies this man with Nissim b. Moshe ha-Shelishi.) Nissim hasn't even written to Labrāṭ, who is two hours away from him. "He is dying, and he should write you a letter?" (v11–13). Nissim redeemed a Bible codex which belongs to Labrāṭ and Yehuda, and which had been plundered in one of the wars of Ifrīqiyya. Labrāṭ now wishes to make arrangements to reimburse Nissim and get it back (v13–17, 23–24). Labrāṭ concludes with the bad news of Ifrīqiyya, Sicily, and al-Andalus (v35–40). The price of wheat has skyrocketed this summer; Qayrawān is a ruin; the Bedouins are waging war on each other; people are worried about Sicily this year, for the Franks have attacked with a great army; they ('Franks') have also invaded al-Andalus this year and destroyed many of its villages, killed many people, and imposed taxes on all the areas they conquered. (Information in part from Gil, vol. 4, p. 36; Ben-Sasson, p. 36.) ASE.

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

Certificate of kashrut. Location: Alexandria. Dated: First decade of Tammuz 502[.] AM, which is 1260–69 CE. Abū l-Ḥasan b. Abū l-Karam b. Bū l-Barakāt purchases 97 moulds (qālib) of Sicilian (Rūmī Siqillī) cheese from Jewish merchants who have arrived in Alexandria. The cheese has a seal on it, and reliable witnesses testify that it is kosher (lā rayba fīhi, a phrase borrowed from Quran 2:2). Witnesses: Yehuda b. Aharon Ibn al-ʿAmmānī; the teacher Yefet b. Yosef ha-Melammed. Cf. T-S 13J4.8 for a very similar document from 1243 CE (signed by the same Yehuda).

Court record concerning the inheritance of Abū ʿImrān Mūsā b. Yaʿaqov Qābisī, of the Ibn Jāmiʿ family, left to him after the death of his father Yaʿaqov b. Mūsā in Palermo and of his brother Sahlūn in Alexandria. Mūsā b. Yaʿaqov presented to the court in Fusṭāṭ an earlier document issued by a court in Qayrawān on Wednesday, 20 Elul 4792 (1032). The Qayrawān document showed that Yosef b. Yaʿaqov Ṭarābulusī was authorized to govern the inheritance. It also contained a statement of Yaʿaqov b. Mūsā’s widow that she had no claims to the inheritance. Two years later Mūsā b. Yaʿaqov appeared before a court in Fusṭāṭ asking them to issue a document exempting Yosef b. Yaʿaqov Ṭarābulusī from responsibility for the inheritance, which Mūsā has now received in full. The document was issued on Thursday, 21 of the second Adar 4794 (1034). The surviving Fusṭāṭ court record was prepared at the end of Adar 4794. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 2, p. 406.)

Private account by Barhun b. Musa ha-Tahirti to his business partner, probably in Sicily. 1057. Including details about different payments, the purchase of wheat, and about businesses in Sicily, Palermo, and Mazar. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 3, #356) VMR

Bifolio, vellum. Multiple text blocks. All in Judaeo-Arabic. (1) Recto, right page: Possibly a colophon (Kitāb...), but possibly something mercantile. There is a date: 1 Ḥeshvan '362. (2) Recto, left page: Bill of lading (maʿrifa mā ʿubbiya fī al-qafaṣ...). There follows a long list of goods together with their quantities. There are several garments and numerous materia medica. (3) Verso, left page: Miscellaneous accounts. Upper section: Amounts of money collected. From Isḥāq: 8 rubāʿīs. From Abū Yūsuf: [...] rubāʿīs and a half. From Abū l-Faḍl: 9 rubāʿīs. Lower section: "The day of my departure from Mazara was Wednesday [...] Elul '770... in the ship of my lord the qāḍi..." The dates are very faded, but it seems that the first one is 1 Ḥeshvan 4762 AM (1001 CE) and the second one is Elul 4770 AM (1010 CE). AA. ASE.

An account from Sicily listing 63 ox hides from Syracuse and 76 buck skins. The sums are mentioned in rubaiyat (quarters of dinars). Dated to the mid 11th century. Written by Yeshua b. Ismail al-Makhmuri (Gil). (Information from Mediterranean Society, I, p. 111; Gil, Kingdom, vol. 3, p. 69, and Ben-Sasson, Yehudei Sitzilya, p. 337)

Legal document, minute fragment. Dark (presumably burned) and nearly illegible. Includes the phrase "אם חס ושלום" and mentions Sicily or Palermo (אלסקליה). AA. ASE.