Geniza Lab

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

Legal document dated Iyyar (4)812 (1052), regarding a business dispute between ʿAllān bar Avraham bar ʿAllān and Yaʿaqov ben Salmān concerning flax, al-Lādhiqiyya, Fustat, and Nahray b. Nissim, Avraham b. Yiṣḥaq al-Talmīd.

Letter from ʿAllūsh b. Yeshuʿa (Qayrawan) to Ismaʿīl b. Avraham al-Andalusī (Fustat), ca. 1010. A cargo of best quality flax was stolen from a ship. The ship’s owner compensated merchants for their losses but received his money back when the cargo was found. The letter testifies to a wide-ranging commercial activity of traders from Muslim Spain. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 2, p. 617-618.)

Accounts in the hand of Nahray b. Nissim, ca. 1053, listing flax purchases. Nahray organized the list by his partners who ordered flax and noted down for each partner how much he paid individual flax growers out of that partner’s money. Among flax growers are the judge and the preacher of a village and some Christians (Copts). The list testifies to a cooperation between Muslims and Copts in an Egyptian village. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 2, p. 912.)

Letter from Hassun b. Yiṣḥaq to a partner. Business letter discussing payments and shipments, apparently of flax and textiles. Dated ca. 1050. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 4, #807)

Letter of business from 'Ayyash b. Sadaqa probably in Fustat to Nahray b. Nissim, probably in Busir. Mentions flax. The letter is poorly preserved. (Information from Gil)

Business letter from Musa b. Abu al-Hayy in Alexandria to Abu al-Afrah Avraham (`Arus) b. Yosef in Fustat. The letter contains an accounting for a shipment, perhaps of flax, followed by List of prices, manly spices and medicaments. Dated ca. 1080. (Information from Gil, Kingdom)

Letter from Barhun b. Salih al-Tahirti, from Busir, probably to Nahray b. Nissim, Fustat. Around 1046. The writer sold goods in the Delta area and arranged flax shipments from Alexandria. He is planning to travel to Mahdiyya. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 3, #330) VMR

Fragment of a business letter from Barhun b. Salih al-Tahirti in Busir, probably to Nahray b. Nissim in Fustat, mentioning bales of flax being prepared for shipment to Alexandria and places further on, and the writer's intention to travel to Mahdiyya. Dated ca. 1046. (Information from Gil)

Letter from an unknown merchant from Fustat to his partner Yahya in the Maghreb. Around 1050. The writer complains about his partner and his work in the Maghreb, al-Qayrawān, and Sicily. The writer writes instructions regarding shipment of flax and use of money. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 4, #813) VMR

Letter in Hebrew giving a detailed account of a dispute, apparently in the Muslim courts, regarding the flax trade, a legal document, and the validity of its witnesses. Protagonists include Naḥman, his son-in-law Sulaymān b. Ḥasan b. Rabīʿ, someone's son (perhaps Sulaymān's), and Abū l-Ḥasan ʿAlī b. al-Qāsim known as al-Kāmilī. The writer's group received a power of attorney (ketav ha-harsha'ah), and the authorized person went to the official (ha-paqid) who gave an order to do something with the flax. There follows a lengthy description of arguments over whom to give what money to and which documents can be trusted and whose signatures. After all this talk and trouble, "they could not save even a penny from his hand. Now you should come, and there is nothing to it except that he should come and take his money, or . . . he should draw up a sheṭar for the Ishamelites... all of the Ishmaelite elders..." The location of the events and protagonists is uncertain but may be named somewhere in the letter. The writer may refer to an official who is in Sinai (?! הפקיד שבסיני). There is also a question of long distance flax shipping, as highway robbers are mentioned. ASE.

Letter from Yoshe’a b. Natan, probably from Bahanasa, to Nahray b. Nissim, Fustat. September 29, 1051. The letter contains many details about the last phase of arranging the linen for business: the lack in paint to paint the strings and flax growers that did not deliver the goods although they already received the payment. The writer asks Nahray to contact the special Diwan who was in charge of the linen, through Yehuda b. Se’adya (that became “Nagid” later). Yoshe’a expresses his worries for his family and their needs, and asks to deliver everything to Dihn (probably his wife’s name). (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 3, #580) VMR

Letter from Barhun b. Musa al-Tahirti, probably from Alexandria, to Nahray b. Nissim and Ayash b. Sdaka, Fustat. Mentions details about shipments of flax, several ships, and several of Nahray’s business partners as Ibn Sumgar family. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 3, #350) VMR

Letter from Yūsuf b. Faraḥ al-Qābisī, in Alexandria, to his nephew Abū l-Surūr Faraḥ b. Ismāʿīl b. Faraḥ, in Fustat. In Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: September 6, 1056 CE, based on Gil's assessment. The letter contains a wide array of news and business matters. Yūsuf describes an attack by Ibn al-Thumna's soldiers on merchant ships and the requisitioning of merchandise (r10–12). He passes on the news (r14–15) that the addressee's uncle (ʿamm) Sulaymān was seriously ill in Sūsa but recovered (פק, to be read fāq); that Yaḥyā b. Mūsā al-Majjānī died (r16–17); that the writer's own cousin (ibn khālat{ī}) Abū l-Faḍl is critically ill (ʿalā khuṭṭa) in al-Mahdiyya (r17–18); that the customs tax (ʿushr) has become more stringent (r18); and that Yosef b. Shabbetay al-Ḥazzān converted to Islam in Palermo, a grievous day (r19–20). Amidst the bad news, and a business partner's complaint that his goods never reached him, Yūsuf complains, "My boy, by God, before this trip I was very strong, but now it is the opposite, by God, my spirit is weaker than a thread of silk" (r21–22). He continues with news of Qayrawān, al-Mahdiyya, and Sfax (v1–4); instructions regarding the purchase of flax in Būṣīr (v8–11); and information on the movements of ships. (Information in part from Gil.) ASE.

Letter sent from the Maghreb by the Judayla family to Ismail b. Barhun al-Tahirti, asking him to obtain flax from Sha'ya in return for the five dinars he had been given. Dated ca. 1010. (Information from Gil)

Legal document. Court ruling. Dated: July 1084. Written in the hand of Hillel b. Eli. Location: Fustat. Yaḥyā b. Samuel sues Amram b. Abraham for various commodities (wool, flax, and cinnamon in exchange for silk robes, silver scammony, and saffron) which represent the former’s investment with the latter. However, Amram seems to have placed the items in the care of Abū al-Ḥusayn al-Tinnīsī, who seems to have assumed responsibility for them by means of a power of attorney. Apparently, Aaron sold the items and prepared an account sheet, remitting the balance to Amram, who then settled his account with Yaḥyā. At the time the matter is to be adjudicated, Amram has left Fusṭāṭ and Yaḥyā asks for a continuance. Yefet b. Avraham, counterparty in the sale of a quantity of silver to Abū al-Ḥusayn, also appears in a number of geniza documents. (Information from Lieberman, "A Partnership Culture," 110). Verso seems to contain another legal discussion with the same partners over similar issues.

Letter from ʿAyyāsh b. Ṣedaqa, from Alexandria, to the Tahirti family, Fustat. May 27, 1050. ʿAyyāsh returned from Busir where he bought a large amount of flax, for Nahray, to the cousins (the Tahirtis) and several others. There were some accidents with the goods, several shipments got wet and several others were stolen. ʿAyyāsh mentions deals of silk and pearls with Abd al-Rahman the jeweler, and several other goods. Verso: Draft of an account regarding flax and other goods, as well as details about the expenses for ship rental, bribe, and taxes. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 3, #485) VMR

Letter from Salāma b. Nissim b. Isḥāq al-Barqi, from Busir, to Nahray b. Nissim, Fustat, around 1053. The writer is in Busir for the business of Nahray and the Tahirti family, especially Barhun b. Musa ha-Tahirti and Marduk b. Musa. He needs to buy flax in the villages, as well as wheat. They had instructed him how and what to buy. He complains about the quality of the dinars that they gave him. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 4, #640) VMR

Note from Barhun b. Yishaq al-Tahirti, probably from Mahdiyya, to Nahray b. Nissim, Alexandria. Around 1045. Nahray is in his early days in Egypt, and his cousin Barhun writes him instructions about buying flax, managing the goods that will arrive by ships, and dealing with the money that he will get from sales. Mentions the connections with the Tustaris and with Abu al-Kasim Abed al-Rahman. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 3, #378) VMR