Geniza Lab

Marriage contract. Dating: Probably 11th century. Groom: Ṣāfī b. ʿAbdallāh, freedman of the elder Abū l-Faḍl Ibrāhīm b. ʿAbd al-Karīm al-Anbārī. Bride: Dhakhīra (or Dhukhayra) bt. Jāmiʿ, from the community of Majdal Kurūm in ʿAkkā. The groom gives 15 dinars (five of which had been paid in advance) to his bride. (Information from CUDL, Khan and Rustow)

Deed regarding the endowment of two houses in Fusṭāṭ as a pious foundation: ‘the little house’ and ‘the cattle house’. Ca. 11th-12th century. (Information from CUDL)

Acknowledgment of a debt of 10 dinars contracted by […] b. ʿAlī, an inhabitant of the ‘residence of the bishop’ (sakn al-qissīs), owed to Abū l-Ḥasan b. Asad b. Ismāʿīl the Jew. The sum must be repaid in 4 monthly installments of 1/4 of a dinar each. Dated: Rabīʿ II 519 AH, which is 1125 CE. On verso there is Hebrew text. (Information from CUDL and Khan)

Acknowledgment of a debt of 300 dinars contracted by the husband of Amat al-Qādir with his wife in Jumādā II of the year 463 AH (= March-April 1071 CE). (Information from CUDL)

Fol. 2v: Copy of a document dated Jumādā I, 589 AH (= May-June 1193 CE) appointing Abū l-Maʿālī ʿAbdallāh b. Abū l-Riḍāʿ b. Faraḥ, who is known by his Jewish name ʿOvadya b. ʿUlla, as the Jewish leader in Syria issued by the court of al-Malik al-Afḍal ʿAlī (the eldest son of Saladin). The document praises Obadiah and states that Obadiah will be the head of Rabbanites, Qaraites and Samaritans in the Damascus area. On recto (fol. 2r) there are Hebrew writing exercises. On fol. 1, there are Arabic jottings and drafts of sentences for documents, including the name Al-Qādī Abū Ẓāhir. (Information from Khan and CUDL)

Part of a deed of sale for part of a house in Fusṭāṭ. Two of the parties are women: […] bint Saʿīd (‘the Jewish builder’) and […] bint ʿAbd al-Raḥmān b. Yaḥyā. Ca. 11th-12th century. (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)

Petition to the Fatimid vizier Al-ʿAbbās requesting an allowance in corn to be paid to the petitioner in yearly instalments. Dating: 548–49 AH, which is 1153–54 CE. (Information from CUDL.) The dating is based on the identification of the vizier in question with Abū l-Faḍl al-ʿAbbās Ibn Abī l-Futūḥ.

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.)

Petition to the caliph al-Mustanṣir from a man who has been detained in the arsenal (khizāna, probably the khizānat al-bunūd, which was also used as a prison). The man’s family, including his mother who is disabled or chronically sick (zamina), have stood ransom. Dating: ca. 427–87 AH (= 1036–94 CE). (Information from Khan and CUDL)

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)

Draft of a petition from […] Mukhliṣ, in Minyat Ghamr, to an Ayyubid dignitary. In Arabic script. The petitioner complains about the young son of a neighbor who recently moved into the same hostel where the petitioner is living. The child in question has continually harassed the petitioner and his family, including injuring his wife by biting her. Dating: ca. 12th-13th century. (Information from Khan and CUDL)

Bifolium f. 1: beginning of the ophthalmological treatise Tadkirat al-kaḥḥalīn by ʿAlī b. ʿĪsā with table of contents on f. 1r. F. 1v: colophon. Separate leaf: record of an ordinance dated Ṣafar 537 AH (= September 1142 CE) from Al-Ẓāfir to instruct Al-Hāfiẓ’s book warehouse to issue ‘the epistle of the elder ʿAlī b. ʿĪsā’ (i.e. the ophthalmological treatise Tadkirat al-kaḥḥalīn) to the amir Fakhr al-Dīn Abū Manṣūr ʿIzz al-ʿArab b. Muḥammad. (Information from CUDL)

Recto: report to Al-Afḍal ibn Badr al-Jamālī for the attention of the amir Ḥusām al-Dawla regarding a quantity of unspecified produce that had been left unattended. The petitioner asks for new watchmen to be provided. Dating: early 12th century. (Information from CUDL)

Petition to the vizier of al-Ẓāfir, Abū l-Ḥasan ʿAlī Ibn al-Salār, regarding a fief worth 5500 dinars and a market worth 1000 faddān that were repossessed by the judge operating in Minyat Ghamr, who did not return them even after the issue of a decree by the vizier. The petition indicates that some of the grounds in discussion are cultivated with sugar cane. Dating: 544–48 AH, which is 1149–53 CE. On verso and between the lines of the petition on recto there are piyyuṭim including a seliḥa and a reshut. (Information from Khan and CUDL)

Deed of sale for the sale of half a house in Fusṭāṭ, in the ‘Fortress of the Greeks’. The house abuts the house of ʿUbayd b. Yasir. The deed also mentions Abū l-Ḥusayn the drinks-seller. Dated 497 AH (= 1103-1104 CE). (Information from CUDL)

State document. Petition to a Fatimid ruler in which the writer asks to be exempted from the payment of his capitation tax (of 1 + 1/3 + 1/4 dinars and a dirham), since lost his sight as a consequence of an eye illness and is now unable to perform his job, while the tax collectors are increasingly pressing. The writer also states that in the past he had been able to pay his capitation tax only thanks to the charitable intervention of the community. Dating: 12th century. On verso there is Hebrew text, possibly liturgical. (Information in part from CUDL.)