Geniza Lab

Petition from a certain Manṣūr to an unidentified addressee (though Goitein assumed that "Sayyidnā" meant "the Nagid"). In Arabic script. The sender is a poor man ("ṣuʿlūk") who complains about his dependents and debts. "The knife has reached the bone, and I have come to nobody's gate but God's and Sayyidnā's, and Sayyidnā knows what our/my state was. By God, death is better than this." The lower part of the fragment is torn away. In the margin, he threatens to run away (...wa-anā hārib... wa-illā usāfir...).

Letter addressed to Abū ʿImrān, in Fustat. In Arabic script. Reporting that the addressee's son (also named Abū ʿImrān?) arrived with nothing but [...] and a kind of fūṭa garment. They set him up with al-Qazzāz (the silk weaver), but then he ran away and was gone all day. When he came back, the sender took him into his own shop. Then he ran away again, and they chased him, but couldn't catch up with him, and now his whereabouts are unknown. The other details of the letter are still obscure; needs examination. There are a few lines of accounts in Arabic script and Greek/Coptic numerals on verso, probably unrelated.

Letter from a father who has traveled away to his son at home. In Judaeo-Arabic and some Hebrew. Rudimentary hand and orthography, with many colloquialisms. The sender is worried about Abū Isḥāq. He gives detailed instructions about business transactions involving wheat, gallnuts, and perhaps a fruit harvest (qiṭf, last line of recto). The instructions involve Ibn al-Tājir and Nuṣayr. The sender has been stuck in al-Minya for 8 days; it seems that the boat is stuck in the mud. Regards to al-Shaykh al-Neʾeman, Elʿazar(?), and his cousin (ibn ʿamm) and his female cousin (bint ʿamm) Zahra. He adds in a postscript: “I ran into the son of Wazīra(?) in a boat (not my boat). I said, “Where to?” He said, “Running away from my father and mother.” I said, “Go back!” He said, “Leave me alone(?). I will not ‘drown myself’ (by returning?). He said, “They don’t let me have anything (as long as) I am near/with them. (Or maybe: I am in debt to them?)” I kept trying to turn him back, but I couldn’t… I gave him a rebuke (ʿiẓa), and he didn’t respond(?) and went to Bahnasa to stay with Abū Saʿid. He is in good health, so reassure [his father] about him.” ASE