Geniza Lab

Long letter in Arabic script. The two folios join directly with each other. Needs examination.

Letter in Arabic script. The first halves of ~7 lines are preserved. (It seems that the writing originally extended across the page, but it is entirely effaced at the ends of the lines.) Mentions various people (X adāma Allāh ʿizzahu... al-shaykh al-jalīl... mawlāy al-shaykh(?) Yaʿqūb...). Needs further examination.

Letter in Arabic script. Mentions an administrator/supervisor (nāẓir); a Muslim judge: al-qāḍī al-ajall Muḥammad al-[...] Ibn al-Khalīlī; advice to the addressee that if business dries up, he should go to any of Ashmūn, Sakhā, Abyar, or Sammanūd, and write with an update, and the nāẓir will provide him letters/documents for whichever town to ensure that he doesn't meet any opposition. Another judge, al-qāḍī al-sadīd Ibn Karajūn (or Karjūn), is involved with these business dealings. In the margin there are business instructions about particular garments (20 ʿarḍīs and 5 awsāṭ, with instructions about the colors and types). On verso there is related text in Arabic script in different handwriting ("to Abū l-Bahāʾ to deliver to al-qāḍī al-sadīd Ibn Karajūn) with information about the same garments which were specified on recto. Underneath, there are headings naming cities in the Delta (Dumyāṭ, Minyat Ghamr, al-Maḥalla, and at least three more), with sums in Greek/Coptic numerals underneath.

Recto: Petition or letter from Mubārak b. Ibrahīm Ibn Sabra to Muʿtamid al-Dawla, who seems to be a Fatimid dignitary. In Arabic script. The Sender asks for (or heavily implies that he would like) a renewal of business relations. There is at least one other Mevorakh b. Avraham Ibn Sabra who appears in many other Geniza letters. (Information in part from Goitein’s index card and Khan.)

Family letter. In Arabic script. Nearly complete, but faded in places. Perhaps addressed to a 'paternal uncle' (yā ʿamm[ī], recto, l. 7). Mentions that someone "arrived and traveled to al-Shām." Mentions a cousin of the sender (ibn ʿammatī) (last line of recto). Mentions a cousin of the addressee (bint ʿammak) (verso, l. 7) and the sender's mother (verso, l. 8). Needs further examination.

Letter or petition. In Ottoman Turkish. The addressee is repeatedly called "sultanım" ("my sultan"). Dated: 1024 AH, which is 1615/16 CE. Mentions a certain esteemed friend Hakham Shemuel the Jew (l. 9) and travel to Jerusalem (Quds-i Şerıf ziyareti) (l. 10). ASE. MCD. Needs further examination.

Recto: Letter in the hand of Ṭoviyya b. ʿEli. In Judaeo-Arabic. Presumably addressed to Natan b. Shelomo ha-Kohen, Ṭoviyya's main correspondent and the person who reused verso for legal records. Dating: Probably shortly before Elul 1141 Seleucid, which is 1130 CE. Ṭoviyya extends congratulations on "the great happiness" that God has granted; he asks for advice on something; and he sends regards to "al-Segulat."

Letter from an unidentified sender, in Fustat, to Abū l-Ḥasan Muslim al-Maqdisī al-Tājir b. Ḥasan, in Alexandria. In Arabic script. Dating: Possibly the second half of the 11th century (per Aodeh). Dealing with various business transactions and past shipments, including of cheese. Mentions [...] b. Naṣr b. Faraḥ and Abū l-Ḥasan the brother of the Rayyis. (Information mainly from Aodeh.)

Letter from a certain Ibrāhīm (verso, l. 1). In Arabic script. Fragmentary (only the upper right corner is preserved). Mentions another Ibrāhīm (recto, l. 6) and discusses various business transactions. In the upper margin, mentions either a power of attorney or inn (wikāla), probably the former, since the next line mentions "the sign of the owner is on it in the name of the agent" (wa-ʿalāmat al-mālik ʿalyayhi bism al-wakīl). (The term "mālik" could also be short for mālik al-riqq, referring to the addressee.)

Letter from Ṭāhir, in Qūṣ, to his mother, in Alexandria. In Arabic script; large, very regular characters. Dating: Possibly 11th century. Goitein notes that this fragment is a palimpsest, but the 'undertext' may simply be a mirror-image imprint. The sender has rented animals (either donkeys or camels) to travel to ʿAydhāb for 8 dinars. He hopes to set sail at the end of Rajab. A large part of the letter is devoted to greetings to everybody at home and requests for prayers. He reports that a man known as [...] al-Farsī (or al-Qurashī?) told him that his cousins (awlād ʿammī) are well, living in a place called تبليه ?نبايه? in Yemen. (Information in part from Goitein’s index card and attached notes.)

Personal letter. In Arabic script. Written by a Muslim, as he begins and ends with prayers for Muḥammad. He refers to himself as "the slave" (al-mamlūk). Most of the letter is occupied with accounts of monthly expenses or income or rent (needs further examination) over a period of 15 months. Mentions Yūsuf, "the mother," and "the daughters." There is probably a substantial piece missing from the bottom. Needs further examination.

Letter. In Arabic script. The sender says that he initially planned to go to Alexandria "as soon as I heard the news" but then saw fit to delay his travel until he asked permission from the addressee (evidently the purpose of the present letter).

Long mercantile letter in Arabic script. Damaged and very difficult to read. Mentions names such as ʿAbd al-Raḥmān and Abū Isḥāq Ibn al-Qābila ("Son of the Midwife," a family name). Needs examination.

Family letter in Arabic script. "Inform your mother that my mother is well...." Needs further examination.

Letter addressed to Abū l-Mufaḍḍal, in Alexandria. Fragment (left side of recto). In Arabic script, in an eloquent style. Dating: Likely 12th or 13th century. Most of what is preserved consists of flattery and blessings. The sender says that he sent something with Abū l-Faraj, and he seems to be reporting on his attempts to carry out errands for the addressee. Verso contains the end of the letter and the address.

Letter from a man to his son. In Arabic script. The address is rubbed out, although the word thaghr is still legible, so it was probably sent to either Fustat or Alexandria. After about 10 lines of prologue, the sender complains about the lack of letters; reports that the addressee's paternal aunt died, and her inheritance is in the hands of the government ("aṣḥāb al-mawārīth"). Also, the addressee's brother has had a son in Qūṣ. The rest of the letter mentions an upcoming holiday a few times. (Information in part from Goitein's index card.) Merits further examination.

Letter in Arabic script, with one phrase in Hebrew script. From the medieval India trade. Dating: likely second half of the 12th century (mentions Ibn Daghīsh, who appears ca. 1180 CE in T-S Misc.28.187). The sender is a well-connected Jewish merchant, possibly writing from Yemen. He refers to the arrival of goods from Fanṣūr (=present-day Barus in NW Sumatra); to a trader in Malabar (Malībar), to his own meeting with Abū l-Maʿālī b. Abū ʿAlī Ibn al-Amshāṭī in Sunkhalā (=present-day Songkhla), and to how Abū l-Maʿālī gave him a power of attorney to collect goods on his behalf in Aden. Other names mentioned are Abū ʿImrān Ibn Nufayʿ (well-known from the published India Book documents), al-Fāsī, possibly Bū Ṣāliḥ Mūsā, and Maḍmūn b. Isḥāq. ASE

Letter/note from Ismāʿīl(?) al-ʿAṭṭār to Maḥfūẓ. In Arabic script. Dating: Probably 12th or 13th century. After the tarjama and basmala, it opens abruptly, "Yā shaykh Maḥfūẓ...." Mentions 300 of something; meeting with someone; and the shop. Might be coordinating some logistics. Needs further examination.

Petition from a certain Manṣūr to an unidentified addressee (though Goitein assumed that "Sayyidnā" meant "the Nagid"). In Arabic script. The sender is a poor man ("ṣuʿlūk") who complains about his dependents and debts. "The knife has reached the bone, and I have come to nobody's gate but God's and Sayyidnā's, and Sayyidnā knows what our/my state was. By God, death is better than this." The lower part of the fragment is torn away. In the margin, he threatens to run away (...wa-anā hārib... wa-illā usāfir...).

Letter in Arabic script. Calligraphic. Dating: Unknown. Probably from Muḥammad b. Salāma (these are the only words from the address that are preserved). The remaining text is mostly formulaic. Apart from that, he says that he has already sent previous letters and mentions a friend/colleague of his (ṣāḥib lī) and maybe some merchandise (...bi-l-mutāʿ...). Essentially nothing else is preserved, but chances of a join seem pretty good.