Geniza Lab

Business letter in Arabic script from Yushāʿ (Yehoshuaʿ) b. Natan to Nahray b. Nissim in Fustat discussing commercial information that had come to Nahray via an associate (ṣāḥib) of the qāḍī; ʿAodeh thinks this is the Tyrean qāḍī Ibn Abī ʿAqīl.

Letter/petition from Bū Bakr to a notable named Burhān al-Dīn, in Fustat. In Arabic script. Dating: Probably Mamluk-era based on hand, layout, and formulary. Asking for alms. Contains many eloquent expressions of deference, including kissing the hands and the beautiful fingertips (anāmil) of the addressee (al-jināb al-ʿālī).

Letter in Arabic script. Written on particularly thin paper. "In which the widow of Mubārak b. Mundhir b. Sābā asks a ḥaver in the name of her orphaned children to pronounce a ban. It should be directed against anyone falsifying documents affecting her late husband and submitting them to a Muslim court. She accused a definite person, of course, but asked for the proclamation of a ban in general terms, and on the little fast (the Ninth of Av), when everyone attended the service.... The writer emphasizes twice that the pronouncement of the ban was a matter of public concern and not only for the benefit of the orphans." Connected with T-S 18J1.1, since one of the witnesses there signed this document also. Dating: ca. 1000 CE. (Information from Goitein’s index card and Med Soc II, 602, n. 40.)

Long letter from one government official to another. In Arabic script. The name Abū l-Ṭāhir appears in the address (likely the addressee). It seems that the sender is not happy in his current position (...ḥattā annahu ashghala nafsahu fī khidma lam yaʿlam mā hiya qabla yakhdum fīhā fa-lammā kashafahā wajadahā lā shayʾ...) and he is requesting intercession to change positions. Needs further examination.

Business letter in Arabic script to a certain Abū l-Munā.

Letter in Arabic script from Naṣrallāh (he begins the letter "mamlūkuhu akhūhu Naṣrallāh," line 2) to his brother Sharaf al-Dīn (line 3). The writer seems to be a provincial official of some sort. He reports awaiting the arrival of al-Qāḍī al-Ẓahīr (?) (named in lines r5, r10, and rm1). When the judge arrived, it seems that he started hearing the suits (? jihāt) of the locals. As the local tax assayer (mushārif) was new, he knew nothing of these (wa-dhālika anna l-mushārif jadīd lā yaʿrif jihat aḥad). The writer therefore prepared a register that the judge approved of (ʿamiltu lahum jarīda istaḥsanahā l-Qāḍī al-Ẓahīr). In the margin he is pleased to report that the Qāḍī plans to continue employing him and to promote his interests and to speak well of him to the governor (. . . yaqṣad an yastakhdimanī ʿindahu . . . wa-l-ẓāhir annahu yastakhdimunī fīhā wa-yaqṣad fī ḥaqqī wa-yashkurunī ʿind al-wālī). On verso he seems to describe a waterwheel on the Nile, for some reason of interest to his brother, that he found broken (. . . sāqīya ʿalā -baḥr fa-innī wajadtuhu kharāb bi-bāb. . .). He asks his brother to keep him informed about "the story of the Ra'īs." He sends regards to ʿAlā al-Dīn b. [...] and to their mother, among others. ASE.

Recto: Letter from ʿAlī b. [...] addressed to Sharaf al-Dīn apparently requesting clarification of a decree. Full address (unclear where Baker/Polliack got this from): al-malik al-muʿaẓẓam Sharaf al-Dīn, Ayyubid Sultan of Damascus (1218-27?). - needs examination. Verso: Hebrew pen trials, citing Mishna Berakhot 4:7. Also citing Isaac Kinzi's poem יום באתם לחלות (see Davidson, Otzar ha-piyyut, X, no, 1633). Written by Nadiv b. Yiṣḥaq, who signed his name. In the left margin, accounts in Arabic script and Greek/Coptic numerals, probably unrelated to recto. (FGP and AA)

Recto: Letter in Arabic script. Fragment (upper half only). The addressee is greeted as ḥaḍrat mawlāya al-raʾīs al-jalīl. The sender reports that Abū l-Ḥusayn told him that he and his son took the ruqʿa (petition?) to the Kurds 'who opposed them' but did not reach them. The addressee and ʿUddat al-Dawla are asked to help in some way. Verso: Letter in Arabic script. Asking for a loan of 20 dinars "for an important matter." The margins are filled with undeciphered jottings in Arabic script in a smaller hand. AA. ASE.

Letter of recommendation. In Arabic script. Sent from Damascus to two high-placed addressees (al-majlisayn al-sāmīyayn) presumably in Cairo, al-Majlis al-[...] and al-Majlis al-Nūrī. Dating: Perhaps Ayyubid or Mamluk era. The letter opens with two lines of poetry. The sender then reports that the bearer, al-Ḥājj Aḥmad from the city of [...] has been living for some time in Damascus. He traveled to the Ḥijāz with Ibn Shādī Bedouins but apparently lost a sum of money and has petitioned the government for help. The addressees are asked to assist him. A ḥadīth is quoted: الخلق كلهم عيال الله واحب الخلق الى الله انفعهم لعياله نفع الله بمعروفه يوم يحتاج الناس الى معروفهم. The honorific "Sayyidnā" is used for multiple people including the addressee(s). Regards to various people, including Najm al-Dīn al-Bahnasī and Ayyūb. The Qāḍī Fakhr al-Dīn b. Abī l-Manāqib(?) was present at the time of the writing of the letter. Needs further examination. ASE

Business letter in Arabic script to Abū l-Ḥusayn b. X b. al-Simsār (son of the broker), in Fustat, from his son. 'Aodeh's transcription is available on FGP.

Recto: Letter concerning the demolition of a building (possibly a mosque) and the sale of its timber and bricks. Verso: Letter concerning 'iqta'. Letter on recto mentions al-qadl ibn Ja'fer ibn Na'man.- needs examination.

Business letter in Arabic script from Ṭāhir b. Sālim to the shop of the ḥaver in the port of Dumyāṭ.

Letter/petition in Arabic script. The tarjama containing the name of the sender at upper left seems to have been deliberately torn away; the remainder of the fragment is perfectly preserved. The sender/petitioner excuses himself from coming in person because of his work in the shop. He asks the addressee to meet with somebody (al-amīr?) about the matter of the sender's brother. "My lord knows that my brother was one of the group (or a porter? or a bearer of a document? the word is either jumla or ḥamala), but the qāḍi heard testimony from some people that he was not one of the jumla/ḥamala." Closes with a raʾy clause, an afterthought ("please meet with him in the alley of Wikālat al-Qand"), then another raʾy clause. On verso there are several lines of accounts in Arabic script.

Letter from Ṣamṣām, a prisoner in Nāblus, to al-Qāʾid Muʿizz (according to the body of the letter) or to the heirs of Ṣārim al-Dawla, in Cairo (according to the address, which also specifies "to al-Bāṭiliyya, under the cross-street bridge (sābāṭ) of the house of Muʿizz al-Dawla"). In Arabic script. Of note, there are few details about what it is like to be a prisoner in Nāblus. The letter mainly consists of a complaint about a lack of letters and the sender's isolation and cut-off state. He may be particularly disconsolate about having to pray alone. He urges the family members to respond quickly with their news and the news of who is alive and who is dead and news of a certain Murhaf ('and spare me nothing'). Edited by Claude Cahen, “Une lettre d'un prisonnier musulman des Francs de Syrie,” in Etudes de civilisation medievale... melanges offerts a E. R. Labande (Poitiers, 1975), 83–87. Transcription and translation (into French) are available on the Arabic Papyrology Database: https://www.apd.gwi.uni-muenchen.de/apd/show2.jsp?papname=Cahen_Prisonnier&line=1. (Information in part from Goitein’s index card.) AA. ASE.

Recto: Hebrew liturgy. Verso: A few lines of Hebrew liturgy and a note in Arabic written by another hand - needs examination.

Letter in Arabic script. From a (Muslim) spiritual authority who is firing a would-be disciple. The sender originally thought that this man was genuinely seeking the hereafter (al-ākhira), but he now knows that he is looking out only for his own, worldly benefit. There follow many lines of rebuke and exhortation, and the sender tells the addressee never to come to him again. (Information in part from Baker/Polliack catalog, though they read the letter as seeking a meeting with the addressee.) On verso there is a note in Arabic script in a different hand, together with several lines of accounts in Arabic script and Greek/Coptic numerals.

Letter of condolence from Abū Naṣr to his brother's son ʿImrān. In Arabic script. Aodeh notes that the introduction contains formulae similar to those in Fatimid state documents. Abū Naṣr, his wife, and his sons Mufaḍḍal, Makārm, and Abū l-Khayr all offer their condolences upon the death of the young woman (ṣabiyya) Sitt Zaynihim (Aodeh reads "sayyidatuhum"). The sender excuses his delay in sending this letter by explaining that he was mortally ill, to the point that he made a will. Abū Manṣūr told the sender that the addressee had sent some bitumen (qifār), but it has not arrived. Regards to Umm Abū Isḥāq and her sister and to Abu l-Faraj. (Information in part from Aodeh)

Letter from a mother to her son. In Arabic script. She bemoans her separation from him and says that she cries all night long (wa-lā yaʾkhudhnī nawm wa-lā qarār illā bākiya ḥazīna). "My son, people raise children so that they won't have to rely on other people, but you are making me rely on other people even as you are prospering (wa-anta bi-kull khayr)." Someone (Abu [...]) took her to Alexandria. She mentions Abū Yaʿqūb b. ʿAṭā(?) and two dinars and how they are were given to the synagogue(?). Needs further examination.

Letter of appeal for charity. In Arabic script. Written in two columns. Asking the addressee to exchange the writer's possessions for food. Mentions Abū ʿAlī al-Parnas and the judge Efrayim. The writer is without work "and the mice have eaten my clothing." (Information in part from Baker/Polliack catalog)

Letter in Arabic script. Doesn't seem to be mercantile; purpose and content unclear. Mentions 'my lord the Rayyis' in the second to last line. On verso there are Hebrew liturgical jottings and a quote from Ecclesiastes 9:11-12. And one line in small Arabic script. Needs further examination.