Geniza Lab

Pen trials in chancery script consisting of poetry and an address formulary to al-Āmir. (Information from Baker-Pollack catalog.)

Recto: two documents. The first is an order for delivery of dues to the office of land tax (dīwān al-kharāj) written by the accountant Abū Musabbiḥī Abū l-Qāsim al-Ḥasan b. al-Ḥusayn, in which it is stated that Abū l-Ḥasan Mājid b. Yaʿqūb shall deliver to the land-tax office the dues that he received from Wasly b. Maymūn and that went through the hands of Abū Qalā ʿAbd al-Raḥmān […], Zakariyā b. Mukhtār, ʿAlūn b. Ḥanūn (the clerk), Ṣayfī b. Rashīd and Qolte b. al-Sarrī (surveyors). Dated: 423 AH, which is 1031/32 CE. The second document is a receipt issued by a tax officer testifying that he has received the total payment by the aforementioned Abū l-Ḥasan Mājid b. Yaʿqūb. This receipt is written in the form of a declaration: yaqūl ʿabd mawlānā.... On verso and on the left margin of recto, there is a homily in Judaeo-Arabic and Hebrew. (Information from CUDL and Khan.)

Fol. 2v: Copy of a document dated Jumādā I, 589 AH (= May-June 1193 CE) appointing Abū l-Maʿālī ʿAbdallāh b. Abū l-Riḍāʿ b. Faraḥ, who is known by his Jewish name ʿOvadya b. ʿUlla, as the Jewish leader in Syria issued by the court of al-Malik al-Afḍal ʿAlī (the eldest son of Saladin). The document praises Obadiah and states that Obadiah will be the head of Rabbanites, Qaraites and Samaritans in the Damascus area. On recto (fol. 2r) there are Hebrew writing exercises. On fol. 1, there are Arabic jottings and drafts of sentences for documents, including the name Al-Qādī Abū Ẓāhir. (Information from Khan and CUDL)

Fiscal or para-fiscal document (i.e., prepared by state officials or by the Jewish community for the government). List of indigent people equally divided between natives of the capital and residents originating from Alexandria, the Sharqiyya and Gharbiyya provinces, the villages around the capital (all entirely destitute), and towns such as Ashmum, Damietta, and Qūṣ. The document refers to three groups with different capacities to pay the capitation tax: (1) those who cannot afford to pay anything, (2) those who can afford to pay 2 dīnārs, but only in instalments and (3) the remainder, from whom 4 dīnārs should be exacted. Khan notes that Rabie (The Financial System of Egypt, 109–10) overlooked the last line of the list, which refers to the payment of 4 dīnārs. Rabie therefore concluded that the document reflected the payment of a flat rate of capitation tax at 2 dīnārs per head. Khan argues that there was variation in the rate of capitation tax in different historical periods (commentary to T-S H15.62, Khan, Arabic Legal and Administrative Documents in the Cambridge Genizah Collections, doc. 89, and commentary to this document, ibid., doc. 136): at the beginning of the Ayyubid period, the rates were fixed at 4⅙ dīnārs, 2 1/12 dīnārs and 1⅝ dīnārs. In the middle of the Ayyubid period, the high and intermediate rates were rounded down to 4 dīnārs and 2 dīnārs. Toward the end of the Ayyubid period, a flat rate of 2 dīnārs was introduced. On the basis of this periodization, Khan concludes that our document comes from the middle of the Ayyubid period, around 1200. (Information from Khan and from Mediterranean Society, II, p. 468, App. B 110)

Official receipt of some kind. In Arabic script. Dated: 556 AH (or kharājī?); if AH, this would correspond to 1160/61 CE. For Bū l-Ḥasan b. Bū l-Qāsim(?). The sum recorded, twice in words and once in Greek/Coptic numerals, is 2/3 dinar. Names the judge Abū Muḥammad ʿAbd al-Wahhāb b. ʿAbd al-Malik b. Ismāʿīl, and it also involves Maḥfūẓ al-Ṣabbāgh (or al-Ṣāyigh?). The text on verso may be a filing note, but it mentions [...] b. Lāwī who is not named in the main document. (Information from receipt team: LB, SL, MR, NV.)

State document, genre and content unclear. Dated: Muḥarram 42[.] AH. Needs examination.

State receipt? In Arabic script. وصل الى بيت المال المعمور...

Recto: Order from a higher official, or a copy of one. Issuing instructions about looking after the property of 'the two noble mosques,' something to do with expenses (maṣraf), and helping a qāḍī and an ʿāmil advance the interests of the government (maṣlaḥat al-dīwān). Verso: Multiple notes in different hands, with ʿalāʾim. The first begins, "I copied the document of the sulṭān..." (presumably referring to recto). At the bottom there is the beginning of a letter to Sharaf al-Dīn. Needs further examination.

Upper part of a tax receipt? Multiple hands/endorsements in the upper margin. The main text mentions Yūsuf b. Hiba and a jahbadh. Needs examination. On verso there is a rhymed Hebrew liturgical poem

Receipt for the capitation tax of a Jewish silk worker (qazzāz) in Fustat. Dated: looks like 524 AH = 1129/30 CE. Needs further examination.

Recto (reuse): Official receipt for [...] b. ʿAlī, mentioning the kharāj and a waterwheel (sāqiya). The payment was 1 dinar. The date is written at least once but is difficult to read. Verso (original use): Fragment of a legal document in Arabic script. Needs examination.

Bifolium from a fiscal account ledger. One of the four pages is headed "makhzūma." Needs examination.

Receipt relating to the tax farm of Abū l-Ḥasan b. Wahb written by Mīkhāʾīl b. ʿAbd al-Masīḥ, the cashier, and registered by the Office of Accounts on behalf of the Office of Supervision: the ware-house keeper has paid the sum of two, a half, a third and an eighth (dirham?) on behalf of Abū l-Ḥasan b. Wahb for the estates in Al-Fayyūm, under the supervision of the judge Ṯiqat al-Mulk Makīn al-Dawla wa-Amīnuhā, of the protégé of the commander of the faithful Abū l-Ḥasan ʿAlī b. Bahār, and the accountant Abū l-Sarī Theodor b. Yuḥannis. Dated: 25 Dhū l-Ḥijja 403 AH, which is July 1013 CE. (Information from CUDL)

End of a petition in Arabic script. Asking for permission to enter Egypt on behalf of a group of people. In a different hand, there are several dozen names written in the margins of recto and on verso; these may be the names of the petitioners or alternatively an independent list (e.g., alms distribution list). (Information in part from Goitein’s index card.)

The ends of 5 lines of a state document. Mentions a dīwān in l. 1. Needs examination. Verso is blank.

State document of some sort. Lists sums of money in words and in Greek/Coptic numerals. Multiple sections, some mottos and registration marks.

Tax receipt in the hand of the jahbadh Mīkhāʾīl b. ʿAbd al-Masīḥ. Additional (legal or administrative) note on verso. Needs further examination.

Document(s) in Arabic script. Possibly legal or having to do with fiscal accounting. Mentions sums of money and "government lands" (al-arāḍī al-sulṭāniyya). Receipt for produce or tax payments (ḥaḍara wa-tasallama...)? Needs further examination.

Receipt relating to the tax farm of Abū l-Ḥasan b. Wahb written by Yūḥannā b. Mīkhāʾīl on behalf of his father Mīkhāʾīl b. ʿAbd al-Masīḥ, the cashier, and registered by the Office of Accounts on behalf of the Office of Supervision: Abū l-Ḥasan b. Wahb has paid the sum of two and a half (dirhams?) for the estates in Al-Fayyūm, under the supervision of the judge Ṯiqat al-Mulk Makīn al-Dawla wa-Amīnuhā, of the protégé of the commander of the faithful Abū l-Ḥasan ʿAlī b. Bahār, the judge Ṣafī al-Dawla ʿAbd Al-Majīd b. Ḥasan (agent of the office of inspections) and the elder accountant Sadīd al-Dawla Abū l-Faraj ʿAbd al-Masīḥ b. Qūrīl. Dated: 27 Ṣafar 405 AH, which is August 1014 CE. (Information from CUDL)

Recto: Petition. The endings of 5 lines are preserved, with a raʾy clause at the bottom. The nature of the request is unclear. Refers to 'the aforementioned city.' Between the lines on recto and on verso there are jottings and prayers in Arabic script.