Geniza Lab

Accounts in a late hand mentioning ashrafi coins and a certain Rivqa. On the back of supplication prayers (tahanunim) of Shemuel b. Nissim.

Letter in Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: No earlier than 1425 CE. The writer seems to be beseeching the addressee for a loan of a certain sum of ashrafīs (a gold coin first minted by the Mamluks in 1425 CE)

End of a letter in Judaeo-Arabic. Same hand as F 1908.44DD, which is very likely the beginning of the same letter. Dating: No earlier than the 15th century, based on the use of muayyadis (minted by al-Mu'ayyad, 1412–21). and ashrafīs.

Letter from Damascus to Fustat. Same hand as F 1908.44DD, which is very likely the end of the same letter. In Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: No earlier than the 15th century, based on the use of muayyadis (minted by al-Mu'ayyad, r. 1412–21). and ashrafīs.

Letter fragment addressed to ʿAbd al-[Raḥī?]m. In Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: No earlier than 15th century; uses the currencies medin and ashrafī. The bullk of the letter consists of accounts.

Recto and verso are both late family letters in Judaeo-Arabic by the same writer, perhaps to different recipients. The writer goes into great detail about ongoing court cases regarding a certain building, some of which involved Muslim courts and a Shāfiʿī judge. The city Nāblus is mentioned (the "dear boy" Naṣr Allāh traveled there). Other names mentioned include the son of Abū Qays; Mūsā; Farjūn; the son of Abū Sharīf. The ashrafi is the currency used.The writer states several times that he is worn out. ASE.

Letter in Judaeo-Arabic, no earlier than 1425 CE because it mentions gold Ashrafī coins, to a certain Yiṣḥaq addressed as ha-Sar. The addressee's letter arrived with al-Ḥajj Ḥasan al-Bābā. The writer went together with al-Bābā to the amir, the deputy of the citadel, and read to him the decrees (marāsīm) and some sort of declaration of allegiance (? אעטא אלסמע ואלטאעה). A Genoese Frank was summoned (an ambassador, per Goitein, Med Soc, I, 43) and the decree was read to him as well. The decree is in two versions (maktūbayn), one according to sharʿī law and one according to Genoese. The remainder of the letter is damaged and difficult to follow; the "masṭūr" of the decree is mentioned; 100 Ashrafīs; and a consultation of a qāḍī. Merits further examination.

Legal document. In Judaeo-Arabic. Dated: Monday night, 13 Iyyar 1744 Seleucid, which is 1433 CE. Concerning repairs in a house that is a pious foundation for the poor (ṣaʿālīk) of the Qaraite community. On verso is an addendum. (Information in part from Goitein, Med Soc II, p. 435 (Appendix A, #174)) ASE

Letter from Avraham al-Tawrīzī to al-Shaykh al-Fakhr al-Skandarī. In Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: No earlier than 15th century; mentions the currency ashrafī. Catalogued as 16th century. Mentions that Ibn al-Nābulsī arrived. Deals mainly with business matters. Mentions an amir and a duwaydar(?).

Letter from Dā'ūd b. Shuqayr, probably in the Levant, to his son Shemuel b. Dā'ūd b. Shuqayr, in Cairo. In Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: Catalogued as 15th century. The letter mainly deals with business matters and greetings. The currency cited is the ashrafī. The addressee's mother has had some sort of pain in her breast (mawjūʿa bi-buzzihā. . . nazala lahā shay' fī buzzihā) for the last two months, ever since she gave birth, "and she is with the barber (muzayyin)," (for treatment?). Needs further examination.

Letter in Judaeo-Arabic. Writer and addressee unknown. Dating: No earlier than 15th century; mentions the currency ashrafī. The letter deals in great depth with a matter of a fatwā and and dealings with the Muslims courts, including specifically a Ḥanafī judge. Mentions Ramle. Needs further examination.

Letter in Judaeo-Arabic. Writer and addressee unknown. Dating: No earlier than 15th century, since it mentions the currency ashrafī. Deals mainly with business matters. Mentions Rashīd. The writer will be accompanying a certain amīr to 'the villages' and to Alexandria. Needs further examination.

Letter from an unknown writer, in Damascus, to his parents. In Judaeo-Arabic. Dated: Thursday, 25 Tammuz 5341 AM = 1581 CE (unless we are only meant to read the numbers with arrows over them, in which case it is 5301 AM = 1541 CE; the day of the week might help determine which). ʿAbd al-Laṭīf "the cousin" (ibn ʿamm) and Faraj Allāh "the boy" add a postscript. The letter mainly deals with business matters; mentions many names; mentions the currency ashrafī. The writer had recently arrived in Damascus with a group of ten travelers; he reports on the high prices of pepper and ginger in Damascus and regrets not having brought a certain commodity with him to sell there. Many people are named in the closing greetings. Needs further examination.