Geniza Lab

A fragmentary line of a widely spaced Arabic text (probably a decree) visible in the left margin; the document was recycled to copy a biblical exegesis. Only one complete word is preserved: mustaʿmilan.

Decree, probably a public copy with gigantic line spacing. Mentions the signature/ʿalāma (khaṭṭ, khuṭūṭ) of two just witnesses (al-shuhūd al-ʿadlayn) and overseers (al-mushārifīn). Also mentions two dīwāns (dīwānayn). "جميعها خطوط المشارفين والشهود العدلين وخطه ليخلد الديوانين ويطالع بم..ها".

Likely a decree to a lower official, to judge by the sloppy hand. The section toward the end contains inshallāh, then kutiba, with the date ripped off, as is nearly universally the case with decree fragments. The text is mostly not arranged in horizontal lines but is more sporadic, with some sections written in larger script than others. The name ʿAbd al-Malik al-[...] appears in the upper left. One line may mention the end of (salkh) Dhū l-Ḥijja.

State decree. Three fragmentary lines from the end of a chancery decree, probably addressed to a provincial official, mentions majlis al-naẓar (refer al-Qalqashandī, Ṣubḥ al-Āʿshā VIII, 331). The text that remains is from the beginning of the closing section, containing the admonitions and the dating clause (which, as usual, hasn't been preserved). Reused for the commentary of Rabbenu Ḥannanel on Bava Kamma 98, 101.

State document, Fatimid period. Dated: 4 Rajab 523H, which is 23 June 1129 CE. Reporting that two trustworthy witnesses from Alexandria had given testimony, and that a document had come in answer to their testimony. One of their names has been preserved: Abū ʿAlī al-Ḥusayn b Ḥātim b. Ṣadaqa b. ʿUmar. Contains a registration mark (al-ḥamdu li-llāh ʿalā niʿamih). Another scribe has reused the document to copy the Fihrist of Shemu’el b. Hofni gaʾon. Details: An official document belonging to X (unnamed person: the هـ of kitab) was presented somewhere, but it needed to be verified, so two witnesses ratified it, presumably in Alexandria. The ratified document was then sent to a chancery where our writer recorded its contents, and equally importantly, registered the names of the two witnesses who had vouched for its authenticity. This is a bifolio register destined for the central Fatimid archives. Without more information on person X, and on the nature of this كتاب (was it a receipt, a legal deed, a rescript?), the document remains tantalizing and opaque, but useful as evidence of registration and archiving. Reused for the fihrist (index to the writings) of Shemuʾel b. Ḥofni (one fragment) and for Bava Metzia 49b (the other fragment: someone buying wine learned that Parzak the vizier was going to confiscate it, so he tried to renege before taking possession of the wine. R. Hisda approved: "just as they instituted 'pulling' with regard to sellers, so did they institute 'pulling' with regard to buyers"). (MR)

Very long letter dated ca. 1100, issued by the two judges of the capital in the name of the Nagid Mevorakh, in which a circuit judge is strongly rebuked for having given judgment in a town in the absence of the local muqaddam and for having taken other actions without consulting him and the elders. (Information from Mediterranean Society, II, pp. 74, 537)

Decree. 6 lines of a chancery document chopped into pieces and then reused to form quires. One line on recto of Bodl. MS heb. d 81/19, with part of another visible above. The central line has been outlined/copied in places and is surrounded by Arabic annotations that may be drafts of formulae. There is also one red line of Hebrew script on recto, the beginning of a ketubba; Hebrew script (literary?) text on verso.

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).

Rotulus. 5 Arabic-script fragments were pasted together to form a long rotulus for a Hebrew literary text on verso. Text 1 is a decree (wide line spacing, large script). Text 2 has numbers (fiscal hand?). Text 3 has rubrication (could be literary?). Text 4 addresses a qāḍī and contains blessings (state/legal document?).

State document, fragment of a longer text, dismembered at the collesis. What has remained is wa-mā tawfīqī illā bi-l-lāh. Possibly Ayyubid (tawfīqī billāh was an Ayyubid ʿalāma).

Letter in Arabic script concerning a governor, a bishop and monasteries. In the formal third-person address, the writer apologizes for sending the request in writing instead of making it in person; his excuse is that he’s pressed for time since he’s currently studying (ḥadīth? jālis ilā) at the feet of a certain Ibn Ṣāʿ. Asks the addressee write to the scribe of a Fatimid governor titled ʿAzīz al-Dawla with a request for two documents. The first document should be addressed to the bishop Binyāmīn of Ṭamwah (Dammūh), who is responsible for two monasteries, Shahrān (in Minyat al-Shammās) and Ḥilwān (also south of Cairo), “strengthening his hand,” presumably meaning reinforcing his property rights over the monasteries' property; the second should be addressed to the overseer of Shahrān itself, both strengthening the hand of the bishop and establishing who owns the property that belongs to the two monasteries. The property in question may be waqf property of the monasteries. The title of the governor, ending in al-dawla, dates the letter to the Fatimid period; contains a taqbîl clause, kissing the hand of the addressee rather than the ground, so likely 12th century rather than earlier.

Fragment of a decree. There is a single full word: "al-mustaḥabbīn."

State document: fragment of a decree (sijill manshūr). Reused for piyyutim.

Recto: Fragment of an official document in Arabic script. The preserved text contains a string of official titles: "Jamāl al-Dīn... ʿUmdat al-Dawla, Fakhr al-Umarāʾ, Majd al-Islām, ʿAḍud al-Dawla, Bahāʾ al-Milla."

Decree, fragment, reused for Hebrew piyyut/poetry. The preserved text reads 'and on his brother' - wa ʿalā akhīhi.

Fragment of a decree mentioning the funds of a dīwān in exchange for something. Late Fatimid (paleographic dating), same chancery hand as some of the docs from Cambridge. The preserved text reads as "wa-l-īrād ḥāfiẓan lī amwāl al-dīwān bādilan fī ".

Small fragment of a Fatimid decree containing a truncated closing formula and the beginning of the date (day of the week only — Thursday). Interesting for truncation of formula (informal decree from a midlevel official to lower one?). The preserved text reads "liyaʿlam Inshāʾ Allah wa kutiba yawm al-khamīs".

State document, possibly a decree. Suggests orders conferred upon an authority 'hayʾat (?) l-muṭālaʿa wa-l-āʿmāl bihā'. There is Arabic script in another not-so-elegant hand and a few words in Hebrew script towards the end. Needs further examination.

Decree to a lower official commanding him to retrieve bricks and everything belonging to the government from a certain location (a ruined mosque?); and from other ruined mosques; and to assert the government's authority over the aforementioned mill.

Decree fragment: one line on verso. wa-ri'āyan li-kum[ ]. Cut, reused, and bound in a Hebrew script literary text: 15 lines plus notes on recto, 13 on verso. Ink seems to show through the page (i.e. no palimpsest). Not a join with ENA 979.2, but they are probably from the same decree and reused context. Reading the Hebrew might indicate whether these two are conescutive pages--and therefore perhaps consecutive lines of the decree.