Geniza Lab

Memorandum (tadhkira) for a trader named Mufliḥ b. Binyamin Ibn Ahwāzī. In Judaeo-Arabic. In which he orders a scarf (radda) with his son’s name (Yaʿaqov b. Mufliḥ b. Binyamin) to be embroidered on it in Hebrew script. This fragment contains additional accounts in Arabic script and Greek/Coptic numerals, as well as a recipe in Judaeo-Arabic for a kind of wine (nabīdh al-dā[..]). The trader is based in Aden, as a note in Arabic script on verso reads "wazana/wuzina ilayhim fī furḍat ʿAdan," referring to a payment made in the customshouse (furḍa) of Aden. Goitein writes, "Another order for a garment embroidered with a name, pre­sented by a father to his son, written, as usual, in Arabic language, but Hebrew script, raises problems. It is an incomplete draft of a memo to be sent from Aden to Egypt. I translate in full, line by line, so that the reader may be the judge: (1) Memo from the sheikh Mufliḥ [Successful]: (2) A Dabīqī scarf (radda) (3) five cubits long and (4) five spans broad (4a) of highest quality, (5) bordered by two embroidered inscriptions (maḥshiyya bi-ṭirāzayn) (6) each running from one edge to the other (ḥiwālayn kull ṭirāz) (6a) the first (7) written in Hebrew script: (8) Yaʿqūb b. R. Mufliḥ (9) b. R. Binyamin (10) [Given] to Ibn Ahwāzī." For further information on tirāz, see Stillman, Arab Dress, 120–37. (Information in part from Goitein's attached notes; Goitein, Med Soc IV, 197–98; and Goitein and Friedman, India Traders p. 428 n. 80.) ASE