Geniza Lab

Letter from unknown writer, unknown location, to his 'brother,' in Fustat. The address is almost entirely gone, but one of them is named Bū Saʿd. Everyone who comes from Fustat has been telling the writer that the shop is closed. He is further worried because he doesn't know if al-Rayyis Barakāt actually delivered the garments (awsāṭ and an ʿarḍī), because Barakāt said that he found the addressee spending the evenings at Dār al-Bayḍ (or Bīḍ?), but the writer doesn't believe him. The writer wants an urgent letter with news of the awsāṭ and of his mother "because there is no terrible news (khabar muqārab) but that I have imagined it, and life and death are in the hands of God." The addressee should try to sell some of the garments, including a blue ʿarḍī, for 2 dinars (there is then a slightly cryptic line about an inheritance and what if something should happen to the old woman). The 2 dinars should be deposited with Abū ʿAlī or with the writer's cousin (ibn ʿamma) and the remainder should be sent to the writer. "Do not think that I am writing to you about this because I am going to travel anywhere. By the Law, my only travel is to al-Maḥalla and to Fustat, and it crossed my mind that I should come up to Fustat, and only this is holding me back." The letter ends surʿa surʿa surʿa (=hurry hurry hurry!!!). ASE