Geniza Lab

Recto: Formulary for a bill of divorce (get). In Hebrew and Aramaic. Upper margin and verso: several lines of Arabic script. The verso reads, "Yashūʿā b. Yūsuf (=Yeshuʿa b. Yosef) wrote this in Kislev (?? كسلوف) on the day that the Amir Nāṣir al-Dawla besieged Alexandria after killing 1000 people there. This was in the year 454 [AH = 1062/63 CE]." This is very interesting since these events were supposed to have taken place two years later according to Ibn Taghrībirdī’s al-Nujūm al-zāhira fī mulūk Miṣr wa-al-Qāhira (5:74). ASE, YU.

Report or petition to a Fatimid caliph or vizier, opening blessings only. Dating: ca. 1100–71. Cuts off after the taqbīl clause. Addressee may be al-Afḍal b. Badr al-Jamālī (cf. Khan, Arabic Legal and Administrative Documents in the Cambridge Genizah Collections, p. 284). Cf. also CUL Or.1080.15.77 (Khan, no. 84).

Letter from Yehuda b. Moshe b. Sughmār, in Alexandria, to Abū Bishr Azhar b. Manṣūr (aka Avraham), in Fustat, ca. 1075. Mentions a shipment of silk to Fustat that got wet. The writer cannot come to Fustat, and he asks the addressee to handle some business and money matters for him. The reason for this is that he has numerous illnesses (amrāḍ shattā), the least of which is the jarab (probably trachoma, but the word can also refer to skin diseases), and so he cannot sit or ride. Furthermore, factoring in travel expenses, he does not think the gains will outweigh the losses in his money and his health. But if the addressee thinks it is absolutely necessary, he will bear the 'fasting and difficulty' and make the trip. Meanwhile, a rumor spread in Fustat about Yehuda b. Moshe b. Sughmār, somehow involving Abū l-Faraj Dā'ūd b. Shaʿyā and the ruler Sayf al-Islam (=Badr al-Jamālī?). However, the person who was said to have been the source of the rumour publicly denied it in the synagogue, swearing truthfulness on pain of excommunication. A court decision denying the rumour was also issued. (Information from Gil.) ASE.

Conclusion of a letter mentioning the murder of Fakhr al-ʾUmara near Alexandria and also mentioning ʾAmīr al-Jūyūsh, which was the title of Badr al-Jamālī, the Armenian general and actual ruler of Egypt, 1074-1094 (see Cohen, Jewish Self-Government, pg. 61-65). Fakhr al-ʾUmara was a title of the viziers of the sword (arbāb al-sūyūf) and was third in the ranks of such viziers (see al-Qalqashandī, Ṣubḥ al-Āʿashā, pg. 104). The vizier in question could be the brother of Nāṣir al-Dawla who was the Turkish military commander during the time of the Fatimid Caliph al-Mustanṣir Billah. He (Fakhr al-ʾUmara) is also referred to as Sulṭān al-ʿArab in some historical sources (see ʿImāduddīn, ʿŪyūn al-Akhbār, vol. 7, pg. 61-65). He was assassinated by Badr al-Jamālī, among other rebels, including Nāṣir al-Dawla, upon entering Egypt for their insurgents and rebels against the state which caused political unrest in the country for almost a decade (1062-1072). While Badr al-Jamālī was restoring law and order in Egypt and assassinating the rebels, many factions of the rebel army and clans surrendered to him to avoid persecution. This letter mentions Badr al-Jamālī receiving such letters from the Lawāta Berbers and other clans, as well as a delegation from Sulaymān (the name demands further inquiry). The letter also mentions (Ibn?) Hamūd, also Ibn Hamdān or Ibn Hamdūn, (the name appears with variations in historical sources) I.e., the name of Nāṣir al-Dawla as giving an account of these events. Badr al-Jamālī entered Egypt in 467/1075, hence this letter could be dated to that year. (ASE,YU)