Geniza Lab

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).

Recto: Legal query in Arabic script. Addressed to "al-sāda al-fuqahāʾ. . . al-aʾimma" regarding whether a beardless Jewish oculist (kaḥḥāl) is permitted to enter the houses of Muslims. (Information from Khan)

Recto: Document in Arabic. Verso: Accounts in Judaeo-Arabic. Needs further examination.

Letter of condolence in Judaeo-Arabic and Hebrew to a certain Abū l-Ḥasan al-Mubārak b. [ʿIyad?] on the death of a woman in his family. Verso preserves the address and several columns in Arabic script.

Recto: Stylized letter in Hebrew to David b. Hezekia the Nasi. Verso: The address and several different blocks of writing in Arabic script.

Recto: Bottom half of a legal document in Arabic, probably late. Verso: Two columns of Arabic text with signatures underneath, probably legal documents as well. Needs further examination.

Document in Arabic script, possibly accounts.

Fragment of a letter in Arabic script, including part of the address on verso.

Account of the Qodesh: payments to building workers, ca. 1045. Two fragments written in Arabic script, on vellum, the verso of a letter. Apparently, this was an intiial record of the names of the people and the itemized list for the day on which work was done, to serve as a basis for payment and the final recording. The names seem to be of both Muslims and Copts. The record covers a period of about five months, from the beginning of July to the end of November, 1045. Gil's interpretation is that the work was done at the compound of al-rayis, by which a notable of the congregation was mean. The sums due aare not mentioned since there were set rates according to professional grade. Some of the workers are sani'in, which seems to mean here the more skilled masons; some banna'in masons; there is also a sabi, an apprentice. The only payment recorded is of one dinar, which was probably an advance. The handwriting seems to be of Yefet b. David b. Shekhanya. (Information from Gil, Documents, pp.208 #30)

Recto: Letter fragment in Arabic script. Only the last three lines are preserved, then two lines in Hebrew, 'may I be the ransom of the brother (al-akh al-shaqīq) from all evil.' Verso: Letter in Judaeo-Arabic with rudimentary handwriting and spellings. "As for what you you mentioned that I should send you a boy, I send you a boy every day. As for other matters, I feared to introduce worrry (ghamm) into your heart and make you relapse (tantakis), for you are from [...] illness (wajaʿ), may God complete your recovery. As for the copper. . . as God is my witness, I was sick (ḍaʿīf)." ASE.

Document in Arabic script, possibly a letter. Four lines are partially preserved. Reused for Hebrew literary text.

Letter in Arabic script from Mubārak b. ʿAllūn. Reused for Hebrew literary text.

Document in Arabic script, probably accounts.

Recto: Petition to a Fatimid dignitary regarding a theft of money. In Arabic script. The archer Manṣūr b. Zakī al-Dawla (or: Rukn al-Dawla?) complains that Badr, one of the horseman of the amir Tāj al-Maʿālī with whom he was travelling, left the camp and took with him two dinars of wages that belonged to the petitioner. A tarsīm regarding these facts has already been issued. (Information from CUDL.)

Legal document in Arabic script, possibly giving a detailed description of Ḥammām al-Dīk (the dihlīz. . . the four marble columns. . . the mirḥāḍ. . .). Merits further examination.

Legal document in Arabic script. Likely a deed of sale, as there are extensive descriptions of a property. On verso there are witness statements. One mentions Mūsā b. Abū Sahl al-Ḥazzān(?); the other mentions ʿAlī b. Ibrāhīm. There is a date given (but no year?): the middle of Av, corresponding to the 15th of Shaʿbān. ASE

Recto: Opening of a document in Arabic script. Verso: What seems to be a partial transcription or description of the document on recto, but in Judaeo-Arabic. Mūsā b. Abū [...] is named, as are Qaṣr al-Rūm and Qaṣr al-Shamʿ.

Recto: Fragment of an Arabic-script state document or petition. Verso: Reused for a Hebrew text, probably literary. The ink has faded to silver/white.

Recto: Literary text in rhymed Hebrew lines. Verso: Draft of the beginning of a letter in unusual Arabic script with balls at the tops of alifs and lams. Also, in Judaeo-Arabic, drafts of the phrase: "[this is to] inform Peraḥya."

Letter in Arabic script. The writer is Barakāt b. al-Dayyān (presumably Shelomo b. Eliyyahu, cf. ENA 3927.1 and CUL Or. 1080 J155 for other specimens of his Arabic-script handwriting). The recipient is an older, respected relative: the writer addresses him as both 'father' and 'brother' in the protocol, where he also includes blessings for the [addressee's?] father Abū l-Thanā'. That Abū l-Thanā' is distinct from the recipient is evident four lines from the bottom, where it seems that the recipient had sent a request to Abū l-Thanā' (or to his wife?), and the writer fulfilled the request in his absence. The bulk of the letter is taken up with praises and congratulations, most likely for the birth of a child to the addressee (unless Sayyidnā al-Nāsī is a different person) after the death of a previous child. Line 15f: "By the Law, I rejoiced for his sake when [a newborn boy] took the place of the boy of our master the Nasi on Saturday and consoled his heart" (wa-ḥaqq al-sharīʿa laqad faraḥtu lahu lammā khalafa yawma l-sabt ʿalā ghulāmi Sayyidinā al-Nāsī wa-jabara qalbahu). Following the good wishes, he explains that he carried out what was requested in the letter and purchased two (ithnān) of something (or ushnān? meaning potash), but could not find anybody with whom to send them (last three lines of recto). ASE.