Geniza Lab

Receipt for the capitation tax (jizya) for the Jewish man Bū l-ʿAlāʾ b. Bū l-Faḍl al-Qazzāz (the silk trader) in Fustat. Dated: 545 AH = 1150/51 CE. Same man: T-S AS 182.90, T-S AS 182.186, T-S Ar.35.170, and T-S Ar.35.204.

Official-looking account in Arabic script. Bifolium from a ledger. Fiscal account from the Fatimid arsenal/navy? Mentions the Red Sea (baḥr al-qulzum) and "the ships" (marākib) on recto and again "the ships and the skiffs" (al-marākib wa-l-ʿushāriyya) at the bottom of the right page of verso. Higher up, refers to "the glass pipes" (mawāsīr zujāj), then, "of that which was broken from the heaving of the sea" (mimmā takassara min hazz al-baḥr), and further down, possibly items which were damaged by mice (mimmā taʿaddā(?) ʿalayhi al-faʾr). On the left page of verso, one entry begins, "that which was lost at se[a]..." (mimmā ʿudima fī l-baḥ[r]...). The same page includes expenditures for steering wheels (maqāwid), fuel (waqūd) and anchors (marāsī).

Receipt or account in Arabic script. For Abū l-Afrāḥ Yūsuf (the well-known merchant). Needs examination.

Fiscal account in Arabic script. One section is headed "māl al-jawālī" (revenue from the capitation tax). Reused for Hebrew jottings.

Capitation tax receipt for Musāfir b. Yūsuf, a Jewish man whose profession is "dīwānī." Same man: T-S Ar.35.132, T-S Ar.35.174, and T-S Ar.35.217. Dated: Muḥarram 504 AH = 1110 CE.

Receipt for the capitation tax of Ibrāhīm b. Yūsuf the Jew, a silk worker (qazzāz) and craftsman (ṣāniʿ). Same payer: T-S Ar.34.224, T-S Ar.34.282 (where he is called qazzāz wa-ʿaṭṭār instead), T-S Ar.35.55, and T-S Ar.35.22.

Three lines from a letter to a high official with titles such as "sharaf al-umarāʾ" and "ʿaḍud al-mulūk." Reused for jottings in Hebrew, Judaeo-Arabic, and Arabic script.

Receipt for the capitation tax of Zayn b. Hiba in New Cairo.

Receipt for someone's capitation tax in Fustat for the year 6[..] AH (approx. 13th century CE). Needs examination.

Account in Arabic script, looks fiscal. Needs examination.

Fiscal account. Needs examination.

Probably a tax receipt. Needs examination.

Receipt of some kind. The sum named is 1/2 dinar. Dated: Possibly 13 Ramaḍān 490 AH, but this should be checked. The payment seems to have been owed and paid by the tax farmer (ḍāmin) for the revenue from a waterwheel (sāqiya) which broke and had to be replaced (taḥwīl). There is probably at least one place name given. Four names are mentioned: Ḥusayn al-Khamīrī, ʿAbd al-Ḥamīd al-Najjār (the carpenter who repaired the waterwheel?), the qāḍī [...] Ḥamīd b. Aḥmad b. Muḥammad b. Abī ʿAbdallāh, and the tax farmer himself ʿAbdallāh b. Ibrāhīm. On verso there are accounts. Needs further examination.

Official report in Arabic script. Small fragment. Mentions the caliph (… ين الله), probably al-Ẓāhir (li-Iʿzāz Dīn Allāh), al-Ḥāfiẓ (li-Dīn Allāh), or al-ʿĀḍid (li-Dīn Allāh). Then, "when I arrived in this district, I found that all of the "rasm"...." It is hard to extract much more of the content. On recto there are Hebrew jottings in a very crude hand.

Recto (side of later use): Tax receipt from the dossier of Abū l-Ḥasan b. Wahb, in the hand of the jahbadh Mīkhāʾil b. ʿAbd al-Masīḥ. Verso (side of earlier use): End of a petition or formal letter in Arabic script. The words mamlūkhā and istikhrāj appear. Needs examination.

Part of an Arabic document. Likely a petition. Probably used at one point for a book binding. Portions of 5 lines are preserved. Needs examination for content.

Tax receipt. From the archive of Abū l-Ḥasan b. Wahb. Join: Alan Elbaum.

Official report to an amīr who is addressed with many titles (al-muʾayyad al-manṣūr al-amīr Shihāb al-Dīn ʿumdat al-dawla etc.). The sender reports that he arrived in Dhū [...] and met with the secretary al-Makīn... Abū l-ʿIzz, who said that he intended to travel to the 'victorious' army encampment (al-mukhayyam al-manṣūr). The sender asks for the addressee's instructions, and whether he has sent the ships for the shipment of colocasia (qulqās). (The word qalʿa/fortress also seems to appear here, and ḥaml can mean "campaign" as well as "shipment"; needs further study.) Reused on recto for Hebrew writing exercises with Tiberian vocalisation.

Receipt for the capitation tax of Mūsā b. [...] the Jew in Fustat. ʿAlāma at upper left: al-ḥamdu lil-lāh al-wāḥid al-ḥaqq. Dated: 504 AH?

State document: End of a Fatimid petition or report from the period of al-Ḥākim (996–1021) or earlier.