Geniza Lab

Fiscal document, top and bottom missing. Refers to kharāj payments for the year 437 kharājī (about five lines up from the bottom of the page); 437AH is 1046 CE, but the kharājī year might be off by two or three from the hijrī year. In addition to numbers, there is also the name Masīḥ(?) b. ʿAbdallāh. Needs further examination. Reused on both recto and verso for Hebrew-script documents.

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).

Letter of appeal from a cantor to a certain Moshe ha-Sar who is in government service. The letter also addresses Ṣedaqa ha-Sar. He asks for assistance in the payment of his capitation tax, of five months of rent, and of three months of payment incumbent on him from a promissory note. The writer had led prayers for Moshe's health during the public services in the syngaogue, and the prayer was evidently heard. He now conveys wishes for full recuperation and that the addressee will retain the favor of the sultan and his entourage (Goitein suggests that this refers to a new sultan, possibly Saladin). ASE.

Letter fragment. In Judaeo-Arabic. The writer reports on receiving authorization (al-ʿalāma) to collect the kharāj tax from the official in charge of estates (ʿāmil al-mawārīth). The number 15 (dinars) is mentioned, as are Abū l-Mufaḍḍal and the tax farmer (al-Ḍāmin) Ibn Ḥabīb. Information from FGP.

List of several dozen donors to the public appeal (pesiqa) for the kharāj (here probably meaning capitation tax). Last line contains a reference to Abū Mūsā Hārūn al-jahbadh.

Letter draft from an anonymous shaliaḥ, in Fustat/Cairo, to an unknown addressee, in Jerusalem. In Hebrew. Dated: Monday, 22 Raḥamim, 5595 AM, which is 1835 CE. There is some ambiguity about the specific day. If Raḥamim is Elul, the 22nd should have been a Wednesday. But perhaps Raḥamim here means Av, when the 22nd did fall on a Monday. The letter conveys a remarkable tale of the writer's fortunes ever since he left Jerusalem on a fundraising mission on behalf of a certain Kollel. He first went to Gaza (not Giza as his spelling might suggest), where he bought passage to Suez with some gentiles from Bethlehem. In Suez (or before arriving there?), he came down with a terrible fever for ~24 days. He paid a Muslim woman a qirsh a day to wash his soiled clothing in the sea. When he entered the city, he found an epidemic (cholera?). All the gentiles were trying to flee in boats to Jedda. The writer too tried to flee, but a certain officer came and commandeered the boat, kicking him and a group of Damascenes off of the boat. The writer then had a second bout of fever ("my whole body burnt, and my tongue cleaved to my palate, and I went to the doctor, who treated/cured me a second time"). By this point all his money had run out. Shortly thereafter he developed an eye disease. There follows a long tale of how he relied on the hospitality and charity of various strangers, mentioning various "polisas" (securities), various letters proving his status as a shaliaḥ that he had to present, and various people--Jews and gentiles--whom he turned to for help. Relatively early on he made his way to Fustat/Cairo, where he had little success raising money or gaining allies. The capitation tax collector (baʿal ha-kharāj) apprehended him for failing to pay for 'the third year' (he had only paid for the years '50 and '51) and he spent three days in prison, where he fell ill again for the fourth time. He got out of prison through the intercession of Muʿallim Bekhor. His subsequent luck raising money was no more successful than before. He mentions going to the Beit Midrash to sleep there, because he had nowhere else to turn. The end of this letter is a plea for the addressee to send him money. The letter ends mid-sentence, and there is no address, suggesting that it was never sent (and thus could find its way into the Geniza). ASE.

Letter of appeal for charity. In Hebrew and Judaeo-Arabic. Interesting format: the opening praises are written in large blocky Hebrew, with the remaining content in smaller letters in Judaeo-Arabic in the margin. The writer initially left large space between the lines but crammed them together by the end. He is perishing on account of the tax collectors demanding the kharāj (probably capitation tax in this context) and needs help.

Recto: Letter of appeal from Mahfūẓ b. Mūsā and his brother Musallam/Muslim. In calligraphic Judaeo-Arabic. The writer describes the humiliation his family (or wife?) has experienced at the hands of the authorities (al-sulṭān) because he is delinquent in paying the capitation tax (here called kharāj) for the last two years ('years 8 and 9'). He asks for help. Verso: Document in Arabic script, which looks like it mentions various quantities and saffron. Information in part from CUDL. ASE.

Recto: two documents. The first is an order for delivery of dues to the office of land tax (dīwān al-kharāj) written by the accountant Abū Musabbiḥī Abū l-Qāsim al-Ḥasan b. al-Ḥusayn, in which it is stated that Abū l-Ḥasan Mājid b. Yaʿqūb shall deliver to the land-tax office the dues that he received from Wasly b. Maymūn and that went through the hands of Abū Qalā ʿAbd al-Raḥmān […], Zakariyā b. Mukhtār, ʿAlūn b. Ḥanūn (the clerk), Ṣayfī b. Rashīd and Qolte b. al-Sarrī (surveyors). Dated: 423 AH, which is 1031/32 CE. The second document is a receipt issued by a tax officer testifying that he has received the total payment by the aforementioned Abū l-Ḥasan Mājid b. Yaʿqūb. This receipt is written in the form of a declaration: yaqūl ʿabd mawlānā.... On verso and on the left margin of recto, there is a homily in Judaeo-Arabic and Hebrew. (Information from CUDL and Khan.)