Geniza Lab

Verso: Note in Judaeo-Arabic. Asking the addressee to urgently deliver the שתייה, perhaps the equivalent of sharāb or medicinal syrup. There are also two lines of undeciphered Arabic script at 90 degrees.

Accounts in Arabic script.

Petition, draft, from an ex-government servant asking for work, from the period of the Fatimid caliph al-Ḥākim (996–1021) or possibly earlier. Verso: tax receipt in the hand of Mikhaʾil b. ʿAbd al-Masīḥ (see separate entry).

Tax receipt, Fatimid, in the hand of Mikhaʾil b. ʿAbd al-Masiḥ, from the caliphate of al-Ḥakim.

Most of the fragment consists of accounts in rudimentary Judaeo-Arabic. The word ṭibbī appears in several places, but the names of the commodities are tricky to decipher. As are the names of the customers: Ab[ū] Fadl (with a dāl); Abū Riḍā al-ʿAṭṭ[ā]r; Abū Saʿd (with a shin). There is a list in Arabic script as well, headed Ṣāḥib al-Dukkān: 1/2 raṭl of [...]; 3 ounces of zayt ṭayyib (?); 3 ounces of soap (ṣābūn); 1 raṭl and 3 ounces of verdigris (zinjār); and 3 ounces of qaṭāra [=qaṭrān?]. ASE.

Recto: Arabic poetry in Arabic script. The antepenultimate and penultimate lines are from a poem by Abū Tammām: https://www.aldiwan.net/poem30596.html. The rest is more difficult. Verso and a couple lines on recto: Hebrew prayers. ASE.

Recto: An Arabic note with instructions. "Send to Alexandria with the ghulām of Ibn al-Falā[tī?] 5 1/2 manns of aloe wood (ʿūd), to be delivered to the faqīh Ibn ʿAṭṭīya. And send with ʿAlī b. Raḥīm and Ibn al-Maṣīṣī (?) 10 manns of fine aloe wood and 10 manns of middling aloe wood. And send with Ibn Muḥayyar (?) . . ." Verso: Judaeo-Arabic accounts, completely crossed out. ASE.

Accounts in Arabic. The names are mostly or entirely Muslims.

Table including many numbers. In Arabic script. Accounts?

Nearly complete letter in Arabic, written by a Muslim and/or addressed to a Muslim (concludes with prayers for the prophet Muhammad), sent to somebody close to the India trader and Nagid Maḍmūn b. al-Ḥasan (active 1131–51). Unfortunately, the beginning of the letter and the address are lost. The writer reports meeting with [Abū?] l-Faraj b. al-Surūr and learning that the addressee had directed his business (? taklīfak) to the West (bilād al-gharb) and has been left without strong connections in India (bilād al-hind). He then brings up Maḍmūn b. al-Ḥasan and (it seems) how Maḍmūn has bestowed his favor on the addressee more than on others. He then explains why he has been unable to travel: his East African slave (al-ʿabd al-zanjī) died, and the [In]dian slave who was with him in Sunkhalā (= present-day Songkhla) had already departed. . . . "and I remained cut off" (? wa-baqītu munqaṭiʿ). Despite this, he is doing well (qalbī ṭayyib), and he requests a favor from Maḍmūn. In the margin he mentions the ship-owner (nākhudhā) Abū ʿAbd al-Qahhār (? this word is uncertain) Abū l-K[...]. Merits further examination. ASE.

Accounts in Arabic script and Coptic numerals.

Document or documents in Arabic script. Needs examination.

Table in Arabic script. Needs examination.

Table in Arabic script. Needs examination.

One side: Accounts in Judaeo-Arabic and Coptic numerals. The other side: One line in Arabic script, probably from a larger original document, but perhaps a legend for recto. It may read "...al-ribāḥ al-mutāʿa al-jāriya fī l-khāṣṣ..."

Table in Arabic script and Coptic numerals.

Recto: Document in Arabic script. Medical prescription? Seems to list ingredients and quantities. But needs further examination.

Accounts in Arabic script. Al-Shaykh Bū Saʿd.... al-jumla....

Accounts in Arabic script and Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: 11th or 12th century. Mentions Yehuda b. Ismāʿīl al-Andalusī; Abū l-Faraj Ṣemaḥ; ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz.

Table in Arabic script. Needs examination.