Geniza Lab

Letter from Benaya b. Musa in Ibyar to Abu l-Ḥusayn Ṣedaqa b. Nissim in Fustat (sūq) al-ʿAṭṭārīn (Dated 1046 according to Gil). Mentions a shortage of grain and inquires about an apartment. He also mentions a sea voyage he had planned to Sicily which had not taken place and expresses concern for a certain Abu `Imran, urging him to take care of his wife and child. He mentions that he did not buy wheat and beans because the price in Fustat was much lower than in the countryside. "And inform him that I did not purchase anything for him because of the prevailing hunger (jūʿ) and food shortages in the countryside (al-Rīf). One and three-quarter waybas of wheat and beans...whereas an irdabb of wheat (in Fusṭāṭ) sells for 2 dīnārs."