Geniza Lab

Recto: Possibly letter (illegible) Verso: Account

Recto: Opening formulary of petition and a draft Verso: Arabic jottings of poetry and Judaeo-Arabic jottings describing amounts of commodities probably medical. Abu 'Ala is mentioned. (AA)

Recto: Letter in Arabic script (with the words שער הנשיאות in Hebrew) to a Nasi, by ʿImrān b. Muhājir. According to Goitein's note card, it is an apology for disrespectful remarks about the latter's origin. Gotein likely succeeded in reading an obscure passage of the letter, but on its face it seems more like a straightforward appeal for financial aid invoking the afflictions of fate: "al-mamlūk mustaḥiyy min fiʿl hādha l-zamān alladhī ṣayyaranā [[anā]] lā naqdir al-qiyām bi-mā ʿalaynā min al-maḥqūq al-wājiba idh ḥukimat ʿalaynā al-iqrār. . . . wa-baʿd inna l-kull zamān wa-kull waqt aḥwāl yudabbirhā hādha l-falak bi-mā amar wa-bi-mā rakkab fīhi fa-l-mamlūk mustaḥiyy. . . ." Verso: A note in Judaeo-Arabic about the distribution of bread "from the Talmid, from the day of our arrival." This is followed by a pair of verses in Arabic, which have been transcribed into Judaeo-Arabic, against chess. ASE.

Business letter in Arabic script, lengthy, ca. 1055, with a list of pharmaceutical items, spices and herbs from Fustat.

Letter from Abū ʿAlī b. Bū ʿUmar, in Upper Egypt, to his family (his son Abū l-Maḥāsin and his wife), probably in Fustat. In Arabic script. Dating: ca. 1167 CE. The sender is also known from ENA 1822A.75. In this letter he praises Ḥalfon b. Maḍmūn (here called Khalaf b. Maḍmūn) for his help after the sender had been stripped of everything by the Ghuzz (a Seljuk contingent) and for an invitation to Aden, from which he would proceed to India. Ḥalfon also took care of a young woman of the sender's family, who had been divorced by her husband in Aden. (Information from Goitein and Friedman, India Book II.)

Letter draft in Arabic script. The addressee's name may appear in line 1 (Abū l-Murajjā?) and several words of the content of the letter appear in line four before it was abandoned (mentioning a dukkān?).

Letter in Arabic script. Fragment. There is one name in Hebrew script (אלמהראני); the addressee is called "my son" (yā waladī); and the writer mentions "when I left the country" (kharajtu min al-balad). Needs examination.

Recto: Literary. Page in calligraphic Hebrew from the beginning of Sefer Zmanim in the Mishneh Torah, dating the fragment to ~1180 CE at the very earliest. Verso: Notes in calligraphic Arabic script to a higher-ranked individual. There are two, oriented at 180˚ to each other. Probably drafts. The one at the top gives a string of titles (al-majlis al-sāmī al-ajallī al-ʿulwī al-dīwānī. . .), then praises for how the addressee helps those in need (... al-ṭālibīn wa-malja' al-muḥtājīn ʿindahā), then briefly brings up some matter relating to seafaring merchants (? aʿrāḍ al-tujjār al-sāfirīn). Concludes "fa-lahā waffaqahā allāh al-ra'y al-[...] fī dhālik." The one at the bottom complains that the addressee's letters have been cut off (inqaṭaʿat kutub sayyidī. . .) and requests that he please bestow the favor of continuing to including the writer in his business (fa-uḥibb an tamunna wa-tunʿima. . . bi-mā yashtaghilu bihi. . . wa-huwa waliyy bi-mā ya'mur bihi in shā' allāh). Needs further examination. ASE.

Letter to 'al-rayyis al-ajall' in Arabic script. The sender has sent 1/8 dinar with the bearer of the note, which should kindly be parceled out to the teacher (apparently the Abū l-Faḍl mentioned further down) in payments of 1/2 dirham a day, because of the sender is absent. Verso contains pen trials in Hebrew and Arabic. Goitein's notes must pertain to a different shelfmark (Ar.40.96?).

Letters in Arabic script. Recto and verso are in two different letters in two different hands. Needs examination

Verso (secondary use): Petition/letter of appeal for charity in Arabic script. From Manṣūr. The sender and his family have perished from illness (maraḍ, awjāʿ), poverty, and nakedness, and their rent is due. The sender reiterates in the final line that he is perishing "from the disease of arwāḥ (hemorrhoids?)."

Recto: Letter fragment in Arabic script. May mention the arrest of somebody. On verso there is an Aramaic targum of Joshua.

Business letter in Arabic script from Ibrāhīm b. Hillel to Abū l-Afrāḥ ʿArūs b. Yosef (who ʿAodeh thinks was in India at the time), mentioning shipments of copper, textiles, brazilwood, pepper and cardamom.

Letter from Abū l-Ḥusayn b. al-Rayyis b. Nāḥūm, in the Rīf, to his brother Abū Thābit, in Fustat. In Arabic script. Concerning the capitation tax of the bearer of the letter, who is (or was) the muqaddam of Damīra (his name may be given in line 6: النارين؟ الغاريب؟). The sender insists that this muqaddam is deserving and that they must help him. Interestingly he calls him a בעל תורה but writes it in Arabic characters: باعل تورا. In recent years, this person had paid his capitation tax in al-Maḥalla. It seems that this year he is registered as a newcomer in Fustat (and therefore exempt), but the authorities in al-Maḥalla refuse to recognize his documents. The recipient is to go to Abū l-Majd Thiqa, who is to get a certificate from the authorities in Fustat proving that he is exempt. If Abū l-Majd is unable to help, the recipient is to go to Abū l-Faraj b. al-Kohen. If it weren't for all the sender's work in the Rif, he would have come along himself to help this person. In the margin, he reminds the recipient of the books that he is supposed to send. Regards from the sender's nephew Abu Sahl. Regards to: the addressee's son Abū Naṣr; Abū l-Maʿālī and his children; Abū Isḥāq; Abū Saʿīd and his son. Goitein read the name of the sender as Abū l-Khayr and connects him to the Abū l-Khayr b. Naḥum in line 9 of T-S NS J403, a list of contributors to be solicited, ca. 1080. (See Med Soc II, App. C, #18.) MR. ASE.

Letter or petition. In Arabic script. Surrounded by additional jottings in Arabic script (accounts?).

Business letter, draft. In Arabic script. Dated: 20 Shawwāl 741 AH, which is 1341 CE. Information from Baker/Polliack catalog.

Business letter in Arabic script from Abū l-Surūr b. Abū l-Munā to Abū l-Majd al-Dumyāṭī in Asyūṭ regarding commercial litigation in a qāḍī court decided in favor of Abū l-Bakr al-Qasṭāllānī against a silk weaver (bazzāz) and the payment of various debts using textiles as currency.

19th century letter, Verso is blank apart from a jotting which may be an acknowledgement of receipt. There also seems to be a square stamped signature at the foot of the recto (FGP)

Recto: A letter in Arabic script regarding a suftaja (bill of exchange) and mentioning Abū Saʿd al-Tustarī and [...] b. Yaʿqūb al-Tustarī. Verso: Accounts in Judaeo-Arabic for three different types of indigo: jūdī, sindānī, and ʿamtānī. Information from Goitein's note card.

Letter in Arabic script. Written in large, calligraphic script. Containing a renunciation(?) of a friendship. (Information from Goitein’s index card.) Needs further examination.