Geniza Lab

Document in Arabic script. Two very narrow vertical strips filled with rudimentary Arabic script. Likely magical, but this is based entirely on appearance rather than reading any of the content. (MR) The name of God appears very often and is sometimes followed or preceded by a shahāda. A prayer or incantation? (YU)

Marriage contract between a Rabbanite man Khalfā b. Saʿūd, son of Farajallah b. Nafīs and a divorced Rabbanite woman Fāṭima. The marriage was commemorated upon the agreed sum of 7 dīnārs of Sulṭānī al-jadīd and 400 half Sūlaimānī dirhams.

Legal document, in Arabic script, dated 18 Dhū l-Qaʿda 750 H. An agreement between two parties with witnesses, probably rental, for a period of two years.

Legal document, 13 lines, in Arabic script. Dated: 9 Ramaḍān 883 AH, which is December 1478 CE (if read correctly). Mentions the Mālikī court (majlis al-ḥukm) in the Ṣāliḥī mosque in l. 2. Needs further examination.

Legal document(s) in Arabic script. Dating: Probably late Mamluk or Ottoman. Narration of commercial trade accounts. The word 'qabaḍ' appears in prolific numbers associated usually with commodities and sometimes with their price. Measures of some commodities in terms of their monetary value and sizes are also mentioned. Needs examination.

Probably a fragment of a poetry dīwān. Preface (tamhīd) followed by verses of love poetry on recto. The preface mentions a lover striving to appease his beloved by becoming her guide (dalīl) so that she has a change of heart (yaʿṭifu qalbuhu ʿalayya). The rhyme (rawī) of the qaṣida on recto is 'dāl' and 'ʿain' on verso, preceded by a short preface.

Medical prescription. In Arabic script. With numerous ingredients and instructions. Some ingredients include tamarind (tamr hindī), seeds of chicory (bizr hindibāʾ), chebulic myrobalan (ʾihlīlaj kābulī), lavender (usṭūkhūdhus), and polypody (basfāyij or perhaps basfānīj). Needs further examination.

Letter in Arabic script. Dating: Ottoman-era, perhaps 18th or 19th century. Seems to have been abandoned halfway through. There are a few words in Hebrew script on verso. The letter is written in a rural hand with a couple of colloquial words addressed to a merchant Maḥmūd ʿĀbidīn (if read correctly). The author of the letter, who appears to work for this merchant, mentions his visit to Ṭanṭa in Egypt, where he offered prayers at the shrine of a local Ṣūfī saint Aḥmad al-Badawī (d.1276). He also mentions the stagnant market conditions (al-bayʿ wa-l-shira waqf ḥāl) and states that only a Jewish merchant al-Ḥāj al-Ḥarīrī settled his dues of 41 maqṭaʿ in 91 days. He expresses his intention of traveling to the mediterranean sea and embarking on a pilgrimage to the shrine of Sayyīd Ibrāhim al-Desūqī (d. 1296) to observe his birth anniversary. Towards the end, he requests a letter from Muḥammad Effendī in the name of ʿUmar Aghā, the superintendent of the freights (al-Anwāl) of al-Maḥalla.

Legal document (iqrār). Acknowledgment made by al-muʿallim Yaʿqūb b. Ismāʿīl. In Arabic script. Needs examination for content and dating.

Medical text. An extract from the Egyptian-origin physician ʿAlī b. Riḍwān's (d. 1060s) citation of Galen's views on the four humours and the causes and effects of imbalances between them. Verso: Schematic representation of the four seasons and humours.

First page of a treatise of phlebotomy regarding nomenclature, names, and the number of blood veins (360) in a human body according to Galen and the (appropriate) sites for bloodletting. The author says that physicians should be wary of letting blood only from specific veins so as to not cause harm to people. They are veins of the elbow, arms, hands, vein in the forehead, vein between the two eyes, vein inside the nose, and two veins of the temple. Verso: Title page of the book: Kitāb fīhi tasmiyat al-ʿurūq li Jālīnūs [sic] wa ʿadaduhā wahiya thālāthumiʾa wa sittūn ʿirqan wa al-mawāḍi‘ allatī yufṣadu minhā. The name towards the bottom reads as Muḥammad Ibrāhim abū ʿUmar ibn Zaydūn al-Qabsh[..].

Accounts in Arabic script and Greek/Coptic numerals, contains the glyph. Perforations for binding. Probably a join with ENA 3925.14.

Accounts in Arabic script and Greek/Coptic numerals. Mentions many names. Perforations for binding, especially on verso, the part with the perforations has stayed very light in color presumably where it was tightly bound and not exposed to oxygen. This in turn suggests that the brown paper of which we see so much in the geniza may once have been much lighter in color and darkened over time.

Fiscal record or receipt, early Fatimid. Binding perforations, indicating that it was once stiffening material for a book cover.

Recto: State document, huge line spacing, ends with ṣalwala in a calligraphic hand, probably a decree. On verso there is a letter (see separate record). Perforated for binding.

Verso: Letter in Arabic script, in a book hand. Opens with two verses of poetry, then probably a taqbīl ([... al-a]rḍ), then greetings for the noble addressee (...al-sāmī al-ajall al-mawlā ??? abqāhu Allāh taʿālā...), then a report (wa-yunhī) that God sent health to the sender after an illness and ophthalmia (ramad) which lasted 20 days (...Allāh taʿālā manna bi-l-ʿāfiya fa-taṣṣarafa bi-hā baʿd ʿashrīn yawman...). The sender seems to be thanking the addressee for his generosity in helping him in this period of illness, "for he (the addressee) has never been stingy toward a sick person" (...maʿa kawnih lam yabkhal qaṭṭ ʿalā marīḍ...). Further down, mentions "the distress is severe, and from country to country, the excuse is plain...." Then a judge called al-qāḍī al-ajall ʿAlam al-Dīn.

Tax receipt, Fatimid. Blank verso. Perforated for binding. For the capitation tax of Hiba b. Yūsuf; same dossier as T-S Misc.24.38.1–3 and ENA 3936.3. Dated: Jumādā I 552 AH (=June/July 1157 CE).

Medical prescription. Some ingredients mentioned are pear (ajāṣ), red dates (ʿenāb), almond oil, seeds of chicory (Bazr Hindbāʾ), Egyptian Cuscuta epithymum (aftīmūn Miṣrī), Syrian Borage (lisān thawr Shāmī), white sugar, rose water, ambergris (ʿamber) and basil (raiḥān). The line in the margins reads; may the nourishment be beneficial God willing (al-ghizā....nafiʿ Inshallah).

Legal document, dated 689 H, (=1290/91 CE), in a very faded script, with signature(s) at the bottom. One of the parties is al-Ḥājj Muḥammad b. ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz. Needs examination for content.

Blank recto and verso, perforations for binding.