Geniza Lab

Original use: Two fragments of a legal document in Arabic script. ~8 partial lines preserved. Tight line spacing, stylized dhālika ذلك in l. 2, stylized ṣaḥīḥ in l. 4. Mentions ḥaqq and al-nās ajmaʿīn. Involves two women (hātayn al-mutaqāriratayn), one of whom is called Sitt al-Fakhr. Might be a deed of sale (mentions "al-mushtarī" near the bottom) of real estate. Probably a join with Bodl. MS heb. f 56/19. Cut, rotated 90 degrees, and bound in association with Hebrew script text (16 lines) on verso.

Bottom part of a decree of a Fatimid Amīr titled Surūr al-Malikī to a provincial governor or fiscal official, dated 2 Jumâda II, no year. Concerns collection of the kharāj on the refining of sugarcane (qaṣab) and taro (qulqās) in the village of Jawjar, where there was a press. The men of a high official (amīr muntakhab) titled Dhukhr al-Mulk wa-Sadīduhā (Treasure and Bulwark of the Realm) should be allowed to collect tax as the latter sees fit, while allowing the iqṭāʿ holders their income. Glued at top to a Judaeo-Arabic letter (see separate entry).

Tax receipt from the archive of Abū l-Ḥasan b. Wahb (see Khan, ALAD, pp. 140–59). He pays a half dinar for the year 404 AH.

State document: report to a high bureaucrat (with taqbīl clause), written under the Fatimid caliph al-‘Āmir, 509/1115; in the Hebrew on verso, the date is 517/1123. Coptic and other pen trials on the back. Verso: a minute in Judaeo-Arabic noting the date of the corresponding ḥujja, Muḥarram 517.

Rotulus. 5 Arabic-script fragments were pasted together to form a long rotulus for a Hebrew literary text on verso. Text 1 is a decree (wide line spacing, large script). Text 2 has numbers (fiscal hand?). Text 3 has rubrication (could be literary?). Text 4 addresses a qāḍī and contains blessings (state/legal document?).

Testimony in Arabic script. Fragment (top cut off). Dated: first third of Jumādā I 528 AH, which is 1134 CE. The bottom is divided into two columns, each with its own witness statement. On verso there is a column of script on the right completely blacked out (appears to be Hebrew script, but this is not certain). Mentions several people by name, including the broker in Dār al-Tuffāḥ (line 3). Needs further examination.

Legal (or state?) document in Arabic script. Rental contract for a piece of land on the west shore of the Nile by two Christians (= shares) from a Muslim man for a period of one year. Dated: 19 Ramadan 496 AH, which is 26 June 1103 CE. (Information from Tamer el-Leithy.)

Letter in Arabic script. Complete, filling all of recto and verso. The sender is Christian: he (or she) swears by the baptism in r15 (wa-ḥaqq al-maʿmūdiyya) and by Christ in v7 (wa-haqq al-masīḥ). The letter itself addresses a woman (ishbīnatī, mawlātī, sayyidatī), though the address is made out to Fahd b. Abū l-Ḥasan, in Fustat. The sender is angry about an impertinent letter from the addressee. There is a lot here about financial matters. Needs further examination.

State document, fragment of a longer text, dismembered at the collesis. What has remained is wa-mā tawfīqī illā bi-l-lāh. Possibly Ayyubid (tawfīqī billāh was an Ayyubid ʿalāma).

Recto: Fragment of an official document in Arabic script. The preserved text contains a string of official titles: "Jamāl al-Dīn... ʿUmdat al-Dawla, Fakhr al-Umarāʾ, Majd al-Islām, ʿAḍud al-Dawla, Bahāʾ al-Milla."

Decree, fragment, reused for Hebrew piyyut/poetry. The preserved text reads 'and on his brother' - wa ʿalā akhīhi.

Letter from a woman, in New Cairo, to her brother Abū l-Ḥasan b. Wahb the brother-in-law of [...], in Malīj. In Arabic script. The sender is identified as "his sister" (karīmatuhū) in the address on verso. It was written on her behalf either by a son or a nephew, who calls the addressee "my father" in the letter itself. Ever since the addressee departed, she has been weeping copiously. They have sent him several letters with no response. The addressee's children and the children of his sister send their regards and urge him to come see them ("fa-mā baqiya fī l-ʿumr akthar mimmā maḍā," cf. PGP record for T-S NS J380). The sister urges the addressee to come celebrate the holiday with her. Greetings from Sayyid al-Ahl. There is a note in the margin stating that they have sent with the bearer 3 dirhams.

State document: A set of responses to petitons (?). Join: Marina Rustow. T-S Ar.31.58 is dated 507. Possibly related to BL OR 5553.1 + BL OR 5553.2 + T-S Ar.51.49 + BL OR 5553A.1 + BL OR 5553A.2.

Recto: Fiscal accounting document (or an official order for the release of funds?), complete with ḥamdala and ḥasbala. Dated: 5 Shawwāl 4xx (412?).

Recto: Fragment of a letter in Arabic script, possibly a petition. Contains blessings for the addressee: "li-ʿālim(?) khallaṣahu(?) li-ʿālamīn(?) adāma Allāhu saʿdahū wa waṭṭada(?)... majdahu wa ahlaka ḍiddahu wa naṣifu(?) shukrahu wa yanādu(?)." On verso there are accounts in Arabic script and Greek/Coptic numerals. Two names, Bū l-ʿAlā (..) and ʿAbd al-Raḥmān, can be read in the third line.

Letter fragment. In Judaeo-Arabic. Shelomo b. Eliyyahu’s hand? Mentions an old woman, then somebody's (probably the writer's) intention to bring a matter before the state authorities ([anā] ʿāzim ʿalā l-dukhūl ilā l-sulṭān. . . fī qaḍiyyatī wa-injāz qiṣṣatī. . . al-salāṭīn ʿazza naṣruhum. . .), then perhaps returns to the old woman and the desire for her to enjoy peace of mind and tranquil years. If [...] agrees, the writer will send another letter, and if a certain woman also wishes something. . . otherwise, let her sit until God has mercy . . . [it ends around here]. ASE.

Small fragment of a Fatimid decree containing a truncated closing formula and the beginning of the date (day of the week only — Thursday). Interesting for truncation of formula (informal decree from a midlevel official to lower one?). The preserved text reads "liyaʿlam Inshāʾ Allah wa kutiba yawm al-khamīs".

Fiscal register (compare BL OR 5566B.3 and the other shelfmarks cited there). Cut up into (at least) seven pieces and reused to form a booklet containing Hebrew poetry (the payyetan whom Tova Beeri studied) and Judaeo-Arabic halakhic discussions in a different hand, citing things that Sayyidnā al-Nagid said; the hand may be known). Different sections are headed by the day of the week and date within the month, but the actual months and years are not specified. For example, ENA 2886.2 has three entries are preserved: "Payment (dafʿa): 1 dinar. Payment: 1 dinar. Payment: [...] and 1/8 dinar (wa-thumn dīnār)."

Petition or report, Fatimid, fragment from near the beginning containing end of blessings, the taqbīl clause, and part of the qiṣṣa. Dating: 1100–71.

Draft of the beginning of a letter. Top right corner, three fragmentary lines. Blank verso. Begins with a basmala and then 'katabtu ilaykum...."