Geniza Lab

This fragment is actually several fragments stuck together. Much of it consists of extensive business accounts of an India trader. In Judaeo-Arabic. Mentioning many items of clothing and ʿAydhāb. There is also an imprint of an unrelated letter in Judaeo-Arabic. Much more of the text would likely emerge with proper conservation.

Letter from Peraḥya b. Yosef Yiju to Abū l-Fakhr Seʿadya [b. Avraham Ibn al-Amshāṭī]. In Hebrew (for the introduction) and Judaeo-Arabic (for the body). This is an extremely deferential letter thanking Abū l-Fakhr for helping Peraḥya's son Yosef 'and his orphan girl,' in the same way that Abū l-Fakhr had helped Peraḥya himself in the past. Information from Friedman and Goitein, India Book III, 41–42 n. 40.

Letter from Khalaf b. Isḥāq to someone whose name includes Shemaʿya, sent to the house of Abū Yaʿqūb Yūsuf b. al-Qudsī, in Fustat. In Judaeo-Arabic with the address in Arabic script. Mainly concerning business matters, including the silk trade. Mentions Damietta and then "all the Jews are turning to the government" (v6). ASE

Business letter. In Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: Likely 12th century, based on handwriting. Mentions red sulfur (kibrīt aḥmar), the estate of the addressee's dead brother, and perhaps Jibla in Yemen.

Letter from Hārūn b. Bunyām to Abū Zikrī Yehuda b. Yosef ha-Kohen. (Same sender and addressee as T-S AS 153.193.) Little of the content remains. On the second piece of paper under the same shelfmark, some 20th-century scholar has written out 20 lines of a Sanskrit-English glossary (e.g., sattva = nature, existence).

Legal query written by Halfon b. Netanʾel ha-Levi sent to Elʿazar al-Qasabi. Addendum to India Book IV. AA

Letter. In Judaeo-Arabic. The writer's name appears in the upper left corner but is very faded. He mentions having left Aden recently. Also mentions people including Bū l-Faḍl b. ʿAjamī and Ḥasan the paternal uncle of Dā'ūd.

Letter from [...] Sulaymān Kohen to [...] b. Mūsā. In Judaeo-Arabic. Mentions Abū l-Raḍiyy; the purchase of an ʿarḍī cloth from Fustat; 'the prices of the country'; [...] b. Elishaʿ; Makhlūf. Possibly related to the India traders.

List of items-mainly futa (a piece of cloth to cover the bosy commonly found in India) - with prices. AA

Letter fragment from Khiyār b. Yaʿqūb to Abū l-Afrāḥ ʿArūs b. Yūsuf. In Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: Late 11th century. Reused for business accounts on verso. On the writer, see India Book II, 6 (DK 230.3) and II, 9 (Moss. II,160). Very little of the content of this letter remains.

Letter from Abū l-Faraj b. Sāl[im] to Abū l-Fuḍayl Ibn al-Amshāṭī. In Judaeo-Arabic. Not a great deal of the content remains. It seems that the addressee has sent kohl/antimony and that the writer is sending qumqums.

Accounts in Judaeo-Arabic and in Arabic script. Dating: 12th century. Featuring Abū ʿAlī Yeḥezqel Al-Dimyāṭī, the brother of Ḥalfon b. Netanel, as well as Khalaf al-ʿAdanī.

Business letter in Judaeo-Arabic. The writer may be located in a Red Sea port like ʿAydhāb; he mentions Aden numerous times as well as the difficulties he would face in traveling to Fustat whether by land or water. Needs examination

Lower fragment: Letter in Judaeo-Arabic. Opens with a poem in Hebrew. The addressee is asked to bring a "fine ingot" (sabīka ṭayyiba) from India weighing 5 raṭls, free of "taqalluʿ(?)." The handwriting is probably known. ASE

Accounts in Judaeo-Arabic. Detailed and well-preserved. People named: Ibn al-Maqāniʿī; Abū ʿAlī al-Ṣūrī; Zikrī b. Yaḥyā; Yūsuf b. A[...]; Yiṣḥaq b. Bundār (perhaps the same as in T-S 8.27, ca. 1110 CE). Commodities: mirwāḥ, brazilwood. Mentions the customs tax (maks).

Letter in Arabic script from Abū ʿAlī(?) Yefet(?) b. Avraham Ibn al-Amshāṭī. Mentions going to Abū ʿAlī b. al-Dimyāṭī (=Yeḥezqel b. Netanel ha-Levi) and borrowing money. Only the beginning is preserved. ASE

Letter in Arabic script, with one phrase in Hebrew script. From the medieval India trade. Dating: likely second half of the 12th century (mentions Ibn Daghīsh, who appears ca. 1180 CE in T-S Misc.28.187). The sender is a well-connected Jewish merchant, possibly writing from Yemen. He refers to the arrival of goods from Fanṣūr (=present-day Barus in NW Sumatra); to a trader in Malabar (Malībar), to his own meeting with Abū l-Maʿālī b. Abū ʿAlī Ibn al-Amshāṭī in Sunkhalā (=present-day Songkhla), and to how Abū l-Maʿālī gave him a power of attorney to collect goods on his behalf in Aden. Other names mentioned are Abū ʿImrān Ibn Nufayʿ (well-known from the published India Book documents), al-Fāsī, possibly Bū Ṣāliḥ Mūsā, and Maḍmūn b. Isḥāq. ASE

Letter in Arabic script. The writer is in Aden. He reports that something of the addressee's is safe in his keeping. "If his (or your?) son arrives to Aden this year, I will give him the letter. . . and if he does not arrive to Aden, and I learn his whereabouts, I will write to him." ASE.

Legal document. In the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. May be a declaration made by the merchant Benaya b. Mūsā (line 6). Mentions "all that my son left" (when he died?) (line 4) and Upper Egypt and Yemen and another geographical location that begins with אלאס. Another trader, al-Nafūsī, is involved.

Letter fragment. In Arabic script, with a single word in Hebrew script (ניסן). Dating: Likely 12th or 13th century. The preserved text is written at unusual angles; maybe these are the margins of the original letter. The sender describes suffering dangers and misfortunes (muqāsāt akhṭār wa-ankād) and then something to do with the government: "...fa-mā waqaʿa fīhi min ṣādif(?) ṭulūʿ al-khizāna(?) al-sulṭāniyya sallamahā Allāh....," then refers to a happy ending (...al-ʿāqiba illā ḥamīda...). The sender reports that ʿAbdallāh arrived safely in Qūṣ ("maḥrūsat Quṣ") on the date of 12 Nisan together with al-Shaykh al-Rayyis. On the other side: "...and with him are letters for al-mawlā al-rashīd b. al-dayyān, and the slave has (=I have) sent with him [...] Indian myrobalan, a quantity of 80 Egyptian raṭls or more... ... Aden. In sum, the slave has imposed on the favor of al-mawlā al-ajall al-rashīd to collect it, and if he (cannot?) do that, may my lord please collect it...." This letter was subsequently reused for Judaeo-Arabic jottings of names of commodities, such as frankincense, costus, wax, pepper, and bamboo chalk.