Geniza Lab

Tax receipt, Fatimid.

Tax receipt for jizya in the name of Bū Naṣr al-Yahūdī for the year 514, beginning with addā and containing a registration mark.

Tax reciept for jizya in the name of [..] b. Ghālib with two registrations marks; 'al-ḥamdu lil-lāh al-muʿīn al-dāʾim', praise be to God who is the steadfast supporter, and 'al-ḥamdu lil-lāh waḥdahu karīm niʿamuhu', praise be to God who is one, generous are his benefactions. Dated 514 (517?).

Tax receipt, late Fatimid, for the jizya payment of a Jewish person (name difficult to read), with registration mark - 'al-ḥamdu lil-lāh al-wāḥid al-ḥaqq', praise be to God who is One and He alone is the truth. Dated 562/1166-67. MR, YU.

Tax receipt for Khalaf b. Ya'qūb.

Fiscal account. Needs examination.

Petition. In Arabic script. From Yaḥyā al-Tājir. The nature of the request is not clear, nor is it clear how much is missing from the bottom. This may be a nearly complete document, since he gets to the point very quickly without buttering up the addressee first: المملوك يحيى التاجر يقبل الارض ويسل الانعام عليه والاحسان اليه بالفسح(؟) عنه بالخط الكريم زاده الله شرفا ونفاذا بالهلا . . السعيد(؟) . . . . . . . . . . .

Tax receipt, Fatimid. (In fact the handwriting looks Ayyubid, and the date seems to be 7 Muḥarram 607 AH = 1 July 1210 CE. The payment is made (min jihat) by a government employee (al-mustakhdam); the name Fakhr b. Yūsuf appears at the end of the line.)

Likely a fragment of a fiscal account. There are four text blocks arranged in a grid, each headed by the name of a person written in larger letters (e.g., Naṣr b. Aḥmad al-Mawṣilī and Maḥmūd b. Ḥasan).

Petition from a Jewish man to a Muslim general (al-isfahsalārī > isfahsalār), possibly named Bahāʾ al-Dīn or Bahāʾ al-Dawla. In Arabic script. Fragment (upper left corner). . . . اليهودي الفقير الضعيف الغريب . . . الاسفهسلاري البهآي سلطان جيوش المسلمين . . . انه وينهي انه رجل يهودي ضعيف غريب كان . . . به الحال من الفقر والعدم ولم يكن له ما يقوم . . . باوده وستر قدم اهل ملته اليهود

Receipt for the capitation tax of Mubārak b. Ibrāhīm Ibn Sabrā, in Fustat. After the basmala, the trigger phrase is "tadhkira bism" (memorandum/receipt in the name of—unusual wording but also found in ENA 3967.25). Registration mark at upper left: al-ḥamdu lil-lāh shukran li-raḥmatih (praise be to God and gratitude for His mercy). At upper right: al-shukr lil-lāh taʿālā (gratitude to God, may He be exalted). Date: difficult to read, perhaps 464 AH = 1071/72 CE. The payer is known from documents ca. 1049–90 CE (see Goitein, Mediterranean Society III, p. 176).

Petition or formal letter from ʿAbdallāh b. Bū Bakr to ʿIzz al-Dīn the amīr shikār (master of the hunt). In Arabic script. Dating: Mamluk-era. Only the first few lines are preserved (tarjama, basmala, and first two lines of the actual document, beginning with a taqbīl), and there is an address on verso. ASE

Fiscal account. Needs examination.

Fragment of a letter about government business. In Arabic script. ". . . if he has it done by the jahbadh of the arsenal (al-ṣināʿa), that would be better for him, but your opinion is the most excellent. And Ibn Bū l-Ghanāʾim—I asked him to bring the report(?) for the Dīwān al-Mufrad and to come himself as well, so that we can reach an agreement over the deed of his ḍamān which. . . . that he made for your highness a memorandum (tadhkira) for the delayed taʿrīfs. . . out of fear that Ibn Bū l-Ghanāʾim will be audited or anything else. And you will not find any knowledge of this with him(?), also, they will be submitted(?) without signatures (khuṭūṭ). As for the market of the [...], when it was brought to his attention, there is no doubt that he supplied it to the Dīwān al-Hilālī, the documents (awrāq) of the treasury (bayt al-māl). . . ." ASE

Fiscal accounting document, probably. Large and well preserved. Needs examination. Alt description: Fragment, recto, and verso both contain what look like pen trials (some repetitions, abusive ligatures, no lines but broken up words and phrases).

Verso: Fragment from the end of a state document, probably a decree. In a very large chancery hand: على آله الطاهرين وسلم تسليما. There are two additional blocks of text, also in Arabic script; it is not clear if these belong to the letter on the recto or to separate documents.

A mercantile ruqʿa / dār receipt for Abū l-Afrāḥ ʿArūs (b. Yūsuf) al-Urjuwānī. Mentions a bale of lac. (ENA 3957.5, T-S Ar.35.128, T-S Ar.35.269, and T-S AS 184.265 are all similar and all for ʿArūs; ENA 3957.11 is from the same genre and for Nahray b. Nissim). On recto (secondary use) a few words in Judaeo-Arabic, which are related, and seem to be in the hand of ʿArūs.

Verso (original use): Petition or decree. The ends of ~6 lines are preserved. Between the lines and on recto (secondary use): Account in Arabic script. Needs examination.

Petition, likely Mamluk-era. Needs examination.

State document, fragment, in a chancery hand with long swoopy letters. Describing an issue/conflict associated with merchants (li dhālik(?) al-amr(?) maʿahu min al-tujjār, l. 2). Needs examination.