Geniza Lab

Letter (tadhkira, memorandum) on two sheets of paper, written and signed by Menashshe b. David al-Ṣayrafī, probably in Fustat, probably to Nahray b. Nissim, perhaps in Qayrawān. In Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: ca. 1050 CE. Gil deduces that the addressee is Nahray b. Nissim from the fact that the letter mentions that Ukhuwwa (the Muslim ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz) wished to do business with the addressee and with Barhūn b. Mūsā al-Tahirtī, and the latter was Nahray's most established business partner (and his cousin). The letter deals with problems communicating with people in Alexandria by letter, and mentions a consignment of oil. Menashshe opens by asking the addressee to intervene on his behalf with Abū Ibrāhīm Ismāʿīl, who had cut off his correspondence with Menashshe for the last year. "If it is due to something I did or a fault of mine, perhaps it is something I can rectify or apologize for, and if it is the 'neglect due to illness' or the like, I have seen his letters to other people, such as to Maṭar and to you, many of them" (recto of the first sheet, lines 6–11). (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 4, p. 499. See also Goitein notes linked below.) ASE.

Memorandum (tadhkira) involving bringing something to Fustat, mentioning the name Abu Sa'd, on the back of a page of a literary work on the geology of stones written by Abu Yosef Ya'qub b. Imran.

Business letter (called tadhkira - i.e. a memo) in Judaeo-Arabic to an Ibn Sughmar mentioning, among other things, honey. On the back is an account (list of expenses? nafaqa).