Geniza Lab

The Case of the Great/Fat Eunuch: five-part join of a court record from Fustat in the hand of Yefet b. David dealing with a case of inheritance totaling 12,000 dinars and the state's attempt to acquire part of it (via the great/fat eunuch). Names: David b. Aharon ha-Levi, Yiṣḥaq b. Muʾammal, Yaʿaqov b. Avraham (among others). (Information from Oded Zinger and E. Bareket, Shafrir Misrayim, p. 240.)

Formula of a bill of inheritance. Belong to a book of legal deeds, Another page in T-S J3.15

Accounts by a communal official. In Judaeo-Arabic. Location: Fustat. Dated: Middle decade of Iyyār 1461 Seleucid, which is May 1150 CE. Described by Moshe Yagur as follows: "The account records the inheritance of a deceased woman, which was spent to cover the expenses of her funeral and of the suits of her converted children. The deceased's sister, who was supposed to inherit what had remained, was left with nothing, since her converted nephews, and the various figures involved in the compromise settlement with them, took all that was left. The case relates to the different and contradicting opinions in both Jewish and Islamic legal traditions regarding inheritance of non-Muslims by their Muslim relatives." Partially translated by Moshe Yagur as follows (with transliterations slightly modified for PGP): "[. . .] for the testimony of the qāḍī—ten silver coins. Payment for Abū Muḥammad— 1.5. This was on Sunday, in the middle ten days (al-ʿashar al-awsaṭ) of the month of Iyyar 1461 (mid-Muḥarram 545/mid-May 1150), in the presence of Barakāt al-Kohen, Khūlayf b. al-Ḥazzan, and Furayj b. Mūnīn. Abū Muḥammad took it [the sum] in their presence when the apostate (poshʿim) children of her [deceased] sister demanded their share. The next day they took forty silver coins by way of compromise (ṣulḥ). In addition—six dirhams to the representative. In addition— two dirhams to the messenger [. . .] in the presence of Khūlayf b. al-Ḥazza[n . . .] and for the document to the second qāḍī—five coins. In sum: sixty-four and a half, out of a total of one hundred and sixty-four. Taken from our pocket: four coins." (Information from Moshe Yagur, "Several Documents from the Cairo Geniza Concerning Conversion to Islam," (2020).)

Testimony concerning the death of a man and his son. In Arabic script. Dated: 5 Shawwāl 427 AH, which is 1 August 1036 CE. The witnesses attest that Ṣadaqa b. ʿAllūn Ibn al-Dabbāb has died in Maʿarrat al-Nuʿmān after the death of his son Bū Faraj in the town of al-Lādhiqiyya (Latakia) and that his sole heir is his daughter Yamānī, the wife of Mawhūb b. Bashshār. Witnesses: Salāma b. Isḥāq; ʿAlī b. Ḥusayn; Yūsuf b. Menashshe; Barakāt b. Menaḥem b. Mubārak. Three of the signatures have צח ("valid") in Hebrew script above them. As the witnesses are Jews, this would not have been regarded as a valid legal instrument in a Muslim court. (Information from Khan.)

Letter from Shemuel, in Damietta, to Abū l-Mufaḍḍal Hibatallāh b. Faraḥ, perhaps related by marriage through the latter's sister. The handwriting is often ambiguous, so much of this analysis is tentative. Shemuel opens with the bare minimum of formalities, then, "As for what you mentioned about the events in Damietta, very ugly things came to pass. They took your sister to the ḥujra (barracks?). Then they brought her to the administrative complex (dār al-imāra), and they brought a basket to sit her in it and beat her. I pled and pled (? lam azal ashḥad—this verb is used for beggars, but perhaps he is using the Hebrew meaning: to bribe) until God had mercy and they brought her back to the ḥujra, without saying a word to her. I did not cease . . . until I got her out of the ḥujra to the house of Hilāl. Hilāl stood guaranty for her after a period of house arrest (? baʿd an aqām mudda fī l-tarsīm). He lost 13 dinars. They sold everything that was in the house. They left nothing worth even a half dirham. They took your sister's copper and sold it. No one was harsher than the secretary of the head of police (wālī) in Damietta, who supervises the inheritances. I sent him 10 gold coins with Abū l-ʿAlā' Muslim." The next line is tricky and involves something called "kutub al-sulṭān." At this point the writer switches to beseeching the addressee to do his utmost to protect the interests of his own family and of the writer: "Go to the amir Sayf al-Dīn, and to the owner of the house, and meet with Sayyidnā al-Rayyis. Let him go and meet with all of the amirs and bring up these matters that interest you and me." They are also to go to al-Amīr al-Ṭahīr (? אלטהיר. There is a qāḍī with the same epithet in the Arabic document T-S Ar.41.9. But perhaps it is al-ẓahīr). The subject matter on verso becomes still more obscure. The writer tells the addressee not to begrudge a certain payment, "for the amir Fakhr al-Dīn has promised me every good thing in the world. He has bestowed favor on me beyond description. He does not take a penny; others do." There follows another obscure passage: perhaps the writer obtained a loan of 30 gold coins from the amir that he needed for a bribe (shaḥadtu bihā, the same verb used during the beating). He then goes back to describe how the house was completely emptied; not even a nail was left behind. Finally he relates the episode described by Goitein as follows: "In Damietta, the Egyptian seaport, a makhzan was located in a dihlīz, or entrance hall [of the house of Abū Saʿd]. A jug containing a thousand gold pieces was discovered there and, of course, confiscated by the government." Med Soc IV, 79. Goitein mentions this letter one other time: "As with government offices in general, there was no clear-cut and fixed division of duties among the various branches of the judiciary and the security force. Thus we find, for example, in Damietta, the office of the chief of police (wālī) dealing with cases of inheritance, normally the prerogative of the qadis." Med Soc II, 371, referring to recto, lines 12–14. ASE.

Legal document. Location: Fustat. Dated: Last decade of Kislev 1529 Seleucid, which is November 1217 CE, under the authority of Avraham Maimonides. The virgin Sitt al-Hanāʾ has come of age and confirms in court that she has received from the executor all that her father had left while she was an infant, including the rents collected from the property during her infancy. Dated November 1217. (Information from Mediterranean Society, III, p. 280.)

Report of death of a Jewish woman. In Arabic script. The deceased is Fakhriyya bt. Abū l-Faraj b. Bū Saʿīd. Her father, Abū l-Faraj, will inherit her possessions. The document is witnessed and signed by Abū l-Ghamr b. Maʿālī and by Mufaḍḍal b. al-Dayyān al-Maskīl (or perhaps al-Rabbān al-Maskīl as Khan has it). Dated: Wednesday, 11 Jumādā II 697 AH, which is 26 March 1298 CE.

Report of the death of a Jewish woman. In Arabic script. The deceased was an adult (kāmil) woman Ḥusn bt. Mūsā, and she was survived by her three sons and heirs, Futūḥ, Ibrāhīm and Makīn. Dated: Thursday, 23 Rabīʿ II 655 AH, which is 10 May 1257 CE.

Legal testimony. In Judaeo-Arabic. Dated Tuesday, 25 Tammuz 1693 Seleucid = פֿדֿןֿ Hijri (this is confusing notation: perhaps 584 + an implied 200?). In any case, this corresponds to 1382 CE. Witnesses: Avraham b. Moshe b. Shemuel Ibn al-Kāzarūnī and David b. Yehoshuaʿ. The document has to do with Sitt al-[...] bt. Saʿīd b. Faraj Allāh who received from ʿAbdallāh b. [...] b. Khaṭīr Ibn al-Khāzin the 2200 dirhams nuqra that she had been willed by the deceased, ʿAbd al-Qādir b. ʿAbd al-Kāfī b. Khaṭīr Ibn al-Khāzin. The aforementioned ʿAbdallāh was the executor of the will.