Geniza Lab

Receipt relating to the tax farm of Abū l-Ḥasan b. Wahb written by Mīkhāʾīl b. ʿAbd al-Masīḥ, the cashier, and registered by the Office of Accounts on behalf of the Office of Supervision: the tax-farmer Ḏāt al-Ṣafā has paid three, a half and a sixteenth (dirhams?), under the supervision of the judge Ṯiqat al-Mulk Makīn al-Dawla wa-Amīnuhā, of the protégé of the commander of the faithful Abū l-Ḥasan ʿAlī b. Bahār, the deputy judge Abū ʿAlī al-Ḥasan b. Yaḥyā b. Bahār and the elder accountant Sadīd al-Dawla Abū l-Faraj ʿAbd al-Masīḥ b. Qūrīl. Dated: 3 Ramaḍān 402 AH, which is March 1012 CE. Verso: beginning of a draft of the document on recto. (Information from CUDL)

Verso: Receipt relating to the tax farm of Abū l-Ḥasan b. Wahb written by Mīkhāʾīl b. ʿAbd al-Masīḥ, the cashier, and registered by the Office of Accounts on behalf of the Office of Supervision: AAbū l-Ḥasan b. Wahb has paid the sum of two, a half, a third and an eighth (dirham?) for the estates in Al-Fayyūm, under the supervision of the judge Ṯiqat al-Mulk Makīn al-Dawla wa-Amīnuhā, of the protégé of the commander of the faithful Abū l-Ḥasan ʿAlī b. Bahār, and the accountant Abū l-Sarī Theodor b. Yuḥannis. Dated: 25 Dhū l-Qa‘da 403 AH, which is June 1013 CE. Recto: letter (see separate entry). (Information from CUDL)

Receipt relating to the tax farm of Abū l-Ḥasan b. Wahb written by Mīkhāʾīl b. ʿAbd al-Masīḥ, the cashier, and registered by the Office of Accounts on behalf of the Office of Supervision: the ware-house keeper has paid the sum of two, a half, a third and an eighth (dirham?) on behalf of Abū l-Ḥasan b. Wahb for the estates in Al-Fayyūm, under the supervision of the judge Ṯiqat al-Mulk Makīn al-Dawla wa-Amīnuhā, of the protégé of the commander of the faithful Abū l-Ḥasan ʿAlī b. Bahār, and the accountant Abū l-Sarī Theodor b. Yuḥannis. Dated: 25 Dhū l-Ḥijja 403 AH, which is July 1013 CE. (Information from CUDL)

Receipt relating to the tax farm of Abū l-Ḥasan b. Wahb written by Yūḥannā b. Mīkhāʾīl on behalf of his father Mīkhāʾīl b. ʿAbd al-Masīḥ, the cashier, and registered by the Office of Accounts on behalf of the Office of Supervision: Abū l-Ḥasan b. Wahb has paid the sum of two and a half (dirhams?) for the estates in Al-Fayyūm, under the supervision of the judge Ṯiqat al-Mulk Makīn al-Dawla wa-Amīnuhā, of the protégé of the commander of the faithful Abū l-Ḥasan ʿAlī b. Bahār, the judge Ṣafī al-Dawla ʿAbd Al-Majīd b. Ḥasan (agent of the office of inspections) and the elder accountant Sadīd al-Dawla Abū l-Faraj ʿAbd al-Masīḥ b. Qūrīl. Dated: 27 Ṣafar 405 AH, which is August 1014 CE. (Information from CUDL)

Letter of appeal from a man, unknown location, to Musallam (or Musallama) Abū ʿAlī, the wakīl of Shams al-Dīn Ildakīz al-Birṭāsī, in Minyat Bāsik in ʿAmal al-Sharqiyya (present-day al-Minya in the district of al-Ṣaff in the province of Giza). In Arabic script. Beautiful handwriting. Dated: 7 Rabīʿ al-Awwal 644 AH, which is 23 July 1246 CE. The sender asks the help of the addressee, "because, as everything is so expensive, he has contracted debts, and himself eats only bread and onions. Presumably, there was a wakīl in every iqṭāʿ, and each of them enjoyed prestige and wealth, similar to that of the Shaykh Musallam." Information from Rabie, Financial System of Egypt, p. 65.

State accounts relating to the tax farm of the lands of Dayqūf, in the province of al-Bahnasā, administered by Basṭiyya b. Marqūra and the property of the office of the noble lady of al-Āmir in the "Muḥawwil chamber" (al-majlis al-muḥawwil was a chamber in the qaṣr al-baḥr, which in turn was a component of al-qaṣr al-kabīr, the great palace complex of the Fatimid caliphs). Dating: this account is for the kharājī year 550, which corresponds to 551/52 AH and 1156/57 CE. The produce of the land consists of 200 irdabbs: 133 irdabbs of wheat and 66 irdabbs of barley. The verso contains a summary of the document on recto. (Information from CUDL and Khan.)

Recto: receipt relating to the tax farm of Abū l-Ḥasan b. Wahb written by Mīkhāʾīl b. ʿAbd al-Masīḥ, the cashier, and registered by the Office of Accounts on behalf of the Office of Supervision: Abū l-Ḥasan b. Wahb has paid the sum of a third and an eighth (dirhams?) for the estates in Al-Fayyūm, under the supervision of the judge Ṯiqat al-Mulk Makīn al-Dawla wa-Amīnuhā, of the protégé of the commander of the faithful Abū l-Ḥasan ʿAlī b. Bahār, and the accountant Abū l-Sarī Theodor b. Yuḥannis. Dated: 8 Rabīʿ II 404 AH, which is October 1013 CE. Verso: Arabic document regarding the proceedings in the office of inspection in the province of Al-Fayyūm. (Information from CUDL)

Fol. 1: receipt relating to the tax farm of Abū l-Ḥasan b. Wahb written by Mīkhāʾīl b. ʿAbd al-Masīḥ, the cashier, and registered by the Office of Accounts on behalf of the Office of Supervision: the tax-farmer Ḏāt al-Ṣafā has paid two and a half (dirhams?), under the supervision of the judge Ṯiqat al-Mulk Makīn al-Dawla wa-Amīnuhā, of the protégé of the commander of the faithful Abū l-Ḥasan ʿAlī b. Bahār, the deputy judge Abū ʿAlī al-Ḥasan b. Yaḥyā b. Bahār and the elder accountant Sadīd al-Dawla Abū l-Faraj ʿAbd al-Masīḥ b. Qūrīl. Dated 8 Ramaḍān 402 AH, which is 3 April 1012 CE. (Information from CUDL)

Fol. 2: receipt for the amount of 2 and a quarter (dirhams?) relating to the tax farm of Abū l-Ḥasan b. Wahb written by Mīkhāʾīl b. ʿAbd al-Masīḥ, the cashier, and registered by the Office of Accounts, under the supervision of the judge Ṯiqat al-Mulk Makīn al-Dawla wa-Amīnuhā, of the protégé of the commander of the faithful Abū l-Ḥasan ʿAlī b. Bahār, the deputy judge Abū ʿAlī al-Ḥasan b. Yaḥyā b. Bahār and the elder accountant Sadīd al-Dawla Abū l-Faraj ʿAbd al-Masīḥ b. Qūrīl. Dated: 17 Dhū l-Qaʿda 402 AH, which is June 1012 CE. (Information from CUDL)

Tax farming lease from the administration of al-Mustanṣir, dated 479 "kharājiyya" (1086/7 CE). Mūsā b. ʿĪsā takes upon himself a monthly payment of 8 dinars against the right to collect "the two zakāts" in the village of Qabīl (situated in the Buḥayra province in the western part of the Nile delta), under the supervision of Abū Isḥāq b. Namir (or Timur?) b. Munajjā (perhaps the finance director of the district). The taxes will be directed to the Imām al-Mustanṣir billāh and to his Amīr al-Juyūsh (Badr al-Jamālī). The salve of Badr, Ḥātim b. Faraj, is also saluted. The conclusion states that three copies were made, "identical in their wording and sense." The scribe is Zayd b. Jābir al-Sarūjī. "The two zakāts which form the object of the contract probably were the taxes on animals and on certain agricultural products. Information from Goitein's attached transcription and notes.

Recto: Arabic script document containing several sections. The lower part may be a tax receipt for a sum received from Zuhayr b. [...] from the ḍamān of [al-Abwāb?] for the year 1023/24 CE (414 kharājiyya). Needs further examination. Verso: "List of male persons, low occupations, foreigners, in Arabic characters, superscripted with Isaiah 65:23 (in Hebrew). Presumably persons for whom capitation tax has to be paid" (Goitein's note card). In addition to this list, and upside down, is a literary paragraph discussing ʿilm and citing verses by al-Imām al-Shāfiʿī (taʿallama l-ʿilma fa-laysa l-mar'u yūladu ʿāliman. . .") ASE.

Decree (manshūr) issued by the caliph al-Hafiz on 21 Rajab 528/1133 to stop two cases of malpractice which were adversely affecting the Delta province of al-Nastarawiyya. Merchants from al-Nastarawiyya who traveled to the neighboring coastal regions to buy goods were being mistreated by government officials and their business was being disrupted; and fishermen from al-Gharbiyya province were fishing illegally along the shores of Lake Burullus within the territory of al-Nastarawiyya, causing financial harm to the ḍamān for fisheries held by ḍāmins from al-Nastarawiyya (and thus to the fisc). (Khan, 1986, p. 441) This version of the decree was copied onto a bifolio in the chancery for storage in its archives; for more on this process and the relationship of compact archival decrees to monumental rotuli, see Rustow, The Lost Archive, 326–34.

Receipt relating to the tax farm of Abū l-Ḥasan b. Wahb written by Mīkhāʾīl b. ʿAbd al-Masīḥ, the cashier, and registered by the Office of Accounts on behalf of the Office of Supervision: Abū l-Ḥasan b. Wahb has paid the sum of two, a half, a third and an eighth (dirham?) for the estates in Al-Fayyūm, under the supervision of the judge Ṯiqat al-Mulk Makīn al-Dawla wa-Amīnuhā, of the protégé of the commander of the faithful Abū l-Ḥasan ʿAlī b. Bahār, of the judge Abū ʿAlī b. Yaḥyā b. Bahār and the elder accountant Sadīd al-Dawla Abū l-Faraj ʿAbd al-Masīḥ b. Qūrīl. Dated 27th Ramaḍān 405 AH (= March 1015 CE). (Information from CUDL)

Legal document/note testifying that a certain Baqā' b. al-Surūr the [indigo] merchant will operate the tax farm (ḍamān) of Tamīm, the ḍāmin of al-Burqāniyya (location unidentified), for a payment of 4 dirhams a month, as long as he has that tax farm and the tax farm for Qalyūb. Dated the first of Ramaḍān. Witnesses: Ḥalfon Kohen b Elʿazar; Shemuel b. Nissim. (Information in part from Goitein's index cards.) On verso there are additional notes in Arabic script and Hebrew script mentioning Rabīʿ I and Tishrei.

Recto: Receipt relating to the tax farm of Abū l-Ḥasan b. Wahb written by Mīkhāʾīl b. ʿAbd al-Masīḥ, the cashier, and registered by the Office of Supervision: Abū l-Ḥasan b. Wahb has paid the sum of three, a third, a sixth and an eighth (dirhams) for the estates in Al-Fayyūm, under the supervision of the judge Ṯiqat al-Mulk Makīn al-Dawla wa-Amīnuhā, of the protégé of the commander of the faithful Abū l-Ḥasan ʿAlī b. Bahār, and the accountant Abū l-Sarī Theodor b. Yuḥannis. Dated: 5 Ramaḍān 403 AH, which is March 1013 CE. Verso: clerical notes. (Information from CUDL)

Receipt relating to the tax farm of Abū l-Ḥasan b. Wahb written by Mīkhāʾīl b. ʿAbd al-Masīḥ, the cashier, and registered by the Office of Accounts on behalf of the Office of Supervision: Abū l-Ḥasan b. Wahb has paid the sum of two, a third and an eighth (dirham?) for the estates in Al-Fayyūm, under the supervision of the judge Ṯiqat al-Mulk Makīn al-Dawla wa-Amīnuhā, of the protégé of the commander of the faithful Abū l-Ḥasan ʿAlī b. Bahār, of the judge Abū ʿAlī b. Yaḥyā b. Bahār and the elder accountant Sadīd al-Dawla Abū l-Faraj ʿAbd al-Masīḥ b. Qūrīl. Dated: 6 Ramaḍān 405 AH, which is February 1015 CE. (Information from CUDL)

Receipt relating to the tax farm of Abū l-Ḥasan b. Wahb written by Mīkhāʾīl b. ʿAbd al-Masīḥ, the cashier, and registered by the Office of Accounts on behalf of the Office of Supervision: Abū l-Ḥasan b. Wahb has paid the sum of two, a half, a third and an eighth (dirham?) for the estates in Al-Fayyūm, under the supervision of the judge Ṯiqat al-Mulk Makīn al-Dawla wa-Amīnuhā, of the protégé of the commander of the faithful Abū l-Ḥasan ʿAlī b. Bahār, of the judge Abū ʿAlī b. Yaḥyā b. Bahār and the elder accountant Sadīd al-Dawla Abū l-Faraj ʿAbd al-Masīḥ b. Qūrīl. Dated: 3 Shawwāl 405 AH, which is March 1015 CE. See separate entry for recto. (Information from CUDL)

Receipt relating to the tax farm of Abū l-Ḥasan b. Wahb written by Mīkhāʾīl b. ʿAbd al-Masīḥ, the cashier, and registered by the Office of Accounts on behalf of the Office of Supervision: the people of the town of al-Shūbays have paid two and a half (dirhams?), under the supervision of the judge Ṯiqat al-Mulk Makīn al-Dawla wa-Amīnuhā, of the protégé of the commander of the faithful Abū l-Ḥasan ʿAlī b. Bahār, the deputy judge Abū ʿAlī al-Ḥasan b. Yaḥyā b. Bahār and the elder accountant Sadīd al-Dawla Abū l-Faraj ʿAbd al-Masīḥ b. Qūrīl. Dated: 22 Jumādā I 403 AH, which is December 1012 CE. (Information from CUDL)

Receipt relating to the tax farm of Abū l-Ḥasan b. Wahb written by Mīkhāʾīl b. ʿAbd al-Masīḥ, the cashier, and registered by the Office of Accounts on behalf of the Office of Supervision: Abū l-Ḥasan b. Wahb has paid the sum of two, a half, a quarter and a sixth (of a dirham?) for the estates in Al-Fayyūm, under the supervision of the judge Ṯiqat al-Mulk Makīn al-Dawla wa-Amīnuhā, of the protégé of the commander of the faithful Abū l-Ḥasan ʿAlī b. Bahār, and the accountant Abū l-Sarī Theodor b. Yuḥannis. Dated: Middle of Dhū l-Qa‘da 403 AH, which is May 1013 CE. (Information from CUDL)

Receipt relating to the tax farm of Abū l-Ḥasan b. Wahb written by Mīkhāʾīl b. ʿAbd al-Masīḥ, the cashier, and registered by the Office of Accounts on behalf of the Office of Supervision: Abū l-Ḥasan b. Wahb has paid the sum of two, a quarter and a sixth (dirhams?) for the estates in Al-Fayyūm, under the supervision of the judge Ṯiqat al-Mulk Makīn al-Dawla wa-Amīnuhā, of the protégé of the commander of the faithful Abū l-Ḥasan ʿAlī b. Bahār, and the accountant Abū l-Sarī Theodor b. Yuḥannis. Dated: Beginning of Dhū l-Ḥijja 403 AH, which is June 1013 CE. (Information from CUDL)