Geniza Lab

See ENA 3912.1

Arabic, literary.

Medical text. An extract from the Egyptian-origin physician ʿAlī b. Riḍwān's (d. 1060s) citation of Galen's views on the four humours and the causes and effects of imbalances between them. Verso: Schematic representation of the four seasons and humours.

Literary work. In Arabic script. Probably medical. Discussing various appetites, such as for food and for sexual intercourse.

Literary text in Arabic script. Includes the well-known story of Ibn al-Sammāk who visited Hārūn al-Rashīd, who was drinking water. Ibn al-Sammāk stopped him from drinking and asked what he would give to be able to drink if he were forbidden from doing so. "My whole kingdom!" He then let him drink, upon which he asked what he would give to be able to void the water. "My whole kingdom!" Ergo, a kingdom is worth nothing more than a drink and a void.

Literary text in Arabic script. Probably belongs with the previous shelfmark.

Literary text in Arabic script. Has a diagram.

First page of a treatise of phlebotomy regarding nomenclature, names, and the number of blood veins (360) in a human body according to Galen and the (appropriate) sites for bloodletting. The author says that physicians should be wary of letting blood only from specific veins so as to not cause harm to people. They are veins of the elbow, arms, hands, vein in the forehead, vein between the two eyes, vein inside the nose, and two veins of the temple. Verso: Title page of the book: Kitāb fīhi tasmiyat al-ʿurūq li Jālīnūs [sic] wa ʿadaduhā wahiya thālāthumiʾa wa sittūn ʿirqan wa al-mawāḍi‘ allatī yufṣadu minhā. The name towards the bottom reads as Muḥammad Ibrāhim abū ʿUmar ibn Zaydūn al-Qabsh[..].

Astronomical or astrological work. In Arabic script.

Literary text in Arabic script. Mentions Aḥmad Ibn Ṭūlūn and the mosque named after him; also Ptolemy and astronomy.

Astrological text. In Arabic script. A list of celestial objects in various configurations.

Two pages from an Arabic literary text on logic (manṭiq), pivoting around the theme of qiyās.

Literary text in Arabic script.

Fragment of a legal Islamic (fiqh) manual. The preserved text is a commentary passage on the Islamic ritual of ṭahāra and ablution. Discussions circle around whether ablution can be done with honey and arguments are established for the same from the Quran, hadīth, and a narrative from the wife of the Prophet, ʿĀʾisha. The infamous hadīth transmitter Qāḍ.ī Abū al-Faraj is also mentioned.

Recipe or instructions in Arabic script. Likely alchemical. Mentions lead (three lines from the bottom) and "it becomes elixir" (iksīr) in the next line. On verso there are Arabic letters accompanied by their numerical values.

Literary text in Arabic script.

Literary text in Arabic script. Possibly medical.

Literary text, probably. In Arabic script. Contains prayers for Muḥammad and mentions many names.

Medical recipe in a beautiful hand, from a literary text. Mentions antidote (tiryāq) and wheat flour (daqīq al-ḥinṭa).

Poems, probably. In Arabic script. There are also a couple lines of sums in Greek/Coptic numerals.