Geniza Lab

State document. Draft of a formal letter or petition in Arabic. The recipient's name and/or position may be present. Needs further examination. This side was reused for a document or composition that appears to be in Hebrew (but very little remains), and on verso is a Hebrew literary work.

Recto: Probably a fragment of a letter in Arabic, very damaged. Legible words include "the lamp/saddle maker" (السراج)." Verso: Probably a fragment of a Hebrew literary work. Legible words include "the 37th" and "the 38th."

Small fragment of a formal Arabic letter or a state document mentioning "the diwan" (wa-ʿalayhi al-dīwān al-maʿ[mūr] and wa-suʾāl al-maml[ū]k).

Either letter or state document in calligraphic Arabic script with wide space between the lines.

Letter, fragment, business related. Needs examination.

Letter from Ṣedaqa al-Yahūdī to Umm al-Khayr bt. Nūr al-Dīn al-Ḥakīm b. [...], possibly in Bilbays (the address is damaged). In Arabic script. Dating: No earlier than 1415 CE, since it refers to the currency 'nuṣf' (half-silver). The sender tells the addressee to deliver the 'qumāsh' immediatelly, or if she hasn't done anything, the 20 half-silver pieces.

Letter in Arabic dated 1737 CE (Ramadan 1149 Hijri). There is a seal on verso. Merits further examination.

Business letter or official correspondence in Arabic script. Dating: 11th or 12th century (paleographic dating). Written in a chancery hand with very large space between the lines; two lines preserved. Folded into a tight square; folds have gone both ways to judge by the ink that has bled in mirror form; the mirror-writing could yield another word or two from a third line (more dates; something else that is difficult to determine). The document concerns dates (tamr) and dye (ṣibāgh); they will be (sent?) with the people designated to take care of them (ṣuḥbat al-mandūbīn ʿalayhimā). Verso is blank except for a few Hebrew letters. (MR. ASE.)

Fragment of an Arabic letter or petition.

Letter from ʿAbd al-Raḥmān b. Muḥammad al-[...] to Abū l-Fakhr b. Ibrāhīm al-Amshāṭī (probably Abū l-Fakhr Seʿadya b. Avraham, active 1140–72), in Fustat, the square of the perfumers (al-ʿAṭṭārīn). In Arabic script. All that is preserved is the beginning of recto and the address on verso. On the addressee, see Goitein and Friedman, India Book III, pp. 40–45.

Recto: The opening three lines of a state document or formal letter starting with a basmala and containing mainly honorifics. "al-ḥaḍra al-Sāmiyya al-Ajalliyya al-Shaykhiyya al-Najībiyya adāma-llahu ʿizzahā...ḥirāsatahu wa naʿmāhu wa-min ḥusn tawfīqihi lā akhlāhu". Verso: Two more lines in Arabic, probably a date [Rabī] al-Ākhar 4(.)7? and a sum of money 12 dirhams preceded by a commodity (?). Needs further examination.

Letter of complaint, calling on the harassment of Abū l-Najm the filthy "al-Khabīth". Abū l-Najm broke the writer's trust, disobeyed their friendship (lit. sold off their friendship/companionship "abāʿ l-ṣuḥba wa-thiqatahu"), and will be traveling to Damascus. Also mentions Abū l-Faraj the owner of the shop. Regards to his cousin (ibn khālatī) Ibrāhīm and a bunch of other people towards the end.

Arabic letter, with the format closely resembling the Judaeo-Arabic letters ca.1800 CE.

Recto: Letter in Arabic script. Fragment (upper left corner). Addressed to a certain Fakhr al-Dawla (al-shaykh al-ajall, 'the esteemed elder'). The sender met with Muḥyī al-Dīn and delivered a qirṭās (can mean paper or bag), possibly containing 200 dirhams. Verso: Fragment of a different document in Arabic script. Wide line spacing. The beginnings of three lines are preserved. Possibly official correspondence. Needs further examination

Mercantile letter, complete, in Arabic script from Bundar b. Eliya al-ʿAṭṭār to Abū ʿAlī Ismaʿīl b Ḥananya al-Baṣrī (in Fusṭāṭ). Sent with ʿAlī b. Ṭalḥa b. al-Ḥusayn. This is a usual business letter mentioning commodities and their purchase and selling. Bundar urges Ismaʿīl to not delay in sending him cash after the goods have been sold off as he is in urgent need of cash: "fa-ḥājatī ilaihima māssa māssa". Among the commodities mentioned are sugar, musk, and honey. Names of several trade vessels and the province of Damietta are also mentioned. Placing the names of the ships in chronology could help in dating the document.

Letter in Arabic from Ṣāʿid, probably a Jewish merchant, in ʿAydhāb, to his mother and brother in Fusṭāṭ. He reports that his party left Qūṣ and celebrated Passover in the wilderness of ʿAydhāb. When they arrived in ʿAydhāb, Abū l-Ḥusayn the camel-driver (? spelled without the alif) had already departed, so they were unable to send a letter with him as planned. Ṣāʿid asks his mother to tell the teacher Abū Saʿd that the nakhuda (spelled nākhudhiya), probably the same Abū Naṣr named on verso, disagrees with his proposition (?). The writer then sends greetings to several people in Fusṭāṭ including his brother Abū l-Khayr and asks his mother to pray for him always. He then asks her to tell his brother to go to Abū l-Khayr b. Khalfa and tell him that Abū l-Surūr is with them and about to set sail with the nakhuda, and no one needs to worry on his account. He then writes (it seems) that he and his party will also be setting sail soon, presumably to Yemen or India, and may God preserve them. He then turns to addressing his brother, Abū l-Faḍl, exhorting him to look after their mother, perhaps "not to let her know" that he is setting sail, and "not to drink [...]." He concludes with asking his family to send letters to him and to the nakhuda, and gives the date: Friday the 5th of Muharram, 547 Hijri = April 1152 CE (if this is indeed the correct reading of the date). He concludes again with regards to al-Muʿallim al-Malījī and Abū Naṣr and the family of Dāwud. The first two words of the address are difficult to decipher: to madīnat al-[...]? or to sayyidat al-gharb? al-ʿarab? In any case, the letter is to be delivered to the shop of Abū l-Khayr b. Khalaf al-Ṣayrafī, who is then to give it to his brother Abū l-Faraj. ASE.

Letter in Arabic script, mentions a cloth (thawb) and the names of a few people. Needs further examination.

Arabic business letter sent from Istanbul (or written by someone named Constantine??), with the format closely resembling the Judaeo-Arabic letters ca.1800 CE. Needs further examination.

Letter in Arabic addressed to Ibrahim ʿAdda al-Marajini in Fustat/Cairo, from a certain Yusuf [...]. Dated 14 December 1802 (18 Sha'ban 1217). See AIU XII.82, another letter to the same recipient, from five years later. Needs further examination.

Letter in Arabic addressed to Muhammad Ḥasan al-ʿAttar in Fustat/Cairo, from a certain Hajj Muhammad ʿAthari (?) al-Attar. Appears to be dated 5 April 1809 (19 Safar 1224). The subject matter is business transactions the pair are conducting with Shimʿon Frances (well known from numerous Judaeo-Arabic letters, many involving his business partnership with Merkado Karo).