Geniza Lab

Letter in Arabic script. Reused for accounts in Arabic script. The letter seems to mainly deal with business matters. The sender may be named Bū Naṣr. Needs examination.

Letter from Ibn Abū l-Faraj to al-Shaykh al-Thiqa, in the Muṣāsa area of Fustat. In Arabic script. Needs examination.

Letter in Arabic script from a blind man, Barakāt al-Jiblī, to the man with whom his son Ḥassūn lives, Sābiq al-Kohen b. Maḥfūẓ, dictated to Yaʿqūb, the cousin (ibn ʿamm) of the addressee. The purpose of the letter is to rebuke Sābiq: "I think of you what I think of my son Ḥassūn, namely, that I have written him many letters and not received a single response. All this time he has not thought of me or inquired about my health (iftaqad ḥālī) at all. His mother passed away one year ago with a great fire (or: grief) in her heart on his account. I am an old man, and I have lost my vision and ceased earning a living." In the remainder of the letter he beseeches Sābiq to respond and to urge his son to behave properly and remember his father. Information in part from Goitein's note card and Med Soc, V, p. 124, n. 423. ASE

Note (ruqʿa) reminding recipient to fulfil his promise (of which no details are provided). On verso there is another text block in Arabic script as well as a rhymed Hebrew poem about the buying, stuffing, and marinating in wine of the greatest chicken in all the land. See Khan, Documents, p. 316 (note 48). (Information from Baker/Polliack catalog)

Business letter in Arabic script from Avraham b. Isḥaq, Ascalon, to Nahray b. Nissim, Fustat.

Recto (secondary use): Petition draft in Arabic script. The sender thanks the addressee for employing him in government service (khidma). Mentions "al-dawāwīn al-maʿmūra." Needs further examination. Verso (original use): Letter in Arabic script, in a chancery-esque hand. Opens with expressions of longing. The sender 'reports' that he continually asks after the addressee's news. Then mentions the victory (naṣr) or maybe aid (nuṣra) of al-Malik al-Manṣūr (a vizier?). Most of the continuation is lost. Needs further examination.

Document (personal notes?) written in a mixture of Judaeo-Persian and Arabic in Arabic script. The writer mentions members of the Ibn ʿAwkal family, and possibly two of the Tustarīs. The fragment is labeled "L4" in Shaul Shaked's (unpublished) classification of Early Judeo-Persian texts. OH. Alternate description: Letter from Iran to Jacob ibn `Awkal and his son Joseph in Fustat (FGP).

Letter from a man to his father (yā wālidī). In Arabic script. This seems to be the end of a long letter, as what remains mainly consists of greetings to perhaps dozens of people. Many of the names seem to be prefaced with the honorific "al-ḥājib." The people include: Sahl; Abū l-Khayr ʿUmar b. Khamīs(?); al-ṣabiyya wa-dhātihā wa-bint dhātihā wa-zawj bint dhātihā; Thābit b. Nizār al-Bazzāz; Ibn Abū Saʿīd. He asks his father to look after the ṣabiyya (wa-lā taqṭaʿūnahā min birrikum wa-min al-masʾala ʿanhā fa-mā baqiya lī ʿindakum ghayruhā wa-law kānat ṭalaʿat al-maʿīsha...). Mentions Abū l-Thanāʾ al-Tājir al-Baghdādī, and many more people on verso. Needs further examination.

According to Polliack & Baker catalogue this is a petition. It seems to have address on verso- needs examination. (AA.) Dating: looks late, probably Mamluk-era.

Personal letter. In Arabic script. After complaining about the lack of responses, the substance of the letter begins around line 10. Al-Shaykh Ibrāhīm sent something for Purim (ʿalā l-Fūr). The next few lines mention some sort of valuable good ([...] aswad... qaḍīb(?) dhahab). The sender is anxious that he (or she) will not receive what they need before the holiday (5 lines from the bottom). Needs further examination.

Letter from a father to his son. In Arabic script. The father's name appears in the right margin: looks something like كىى بن للسول. He had heard that his son was in Aswan but was very agitated when he came to Aswan and did not find his son there. As soon as the son receives this letter, he should come together with his brother. Mentions something the wife of Ibrāhīm has said (or "if she says..."). The father gives further instructions. On verso there are a few lines of accounts in Judaeo-Arabic and Greek/Coptic numerals.

Letter from Maḥmūd(?) to his cousins (awlād al-ʿamm). In Arabic script. Dated: beginning of Rabīʿ I 648 AH, which is June 1250 CE. The letter contains greetings and wishes for good health. Mentions the arrival of a letter sent from Sayyidnā al-Nāsī to Petaḥya reporting on the death of the addressees' uncle ʿAbd al-Kāfī at the beginning of Shawwāl 647 AH (January 1250 CE). The sender reports that al-Shams (or al-Shammas?) and Makīn are healthy. (Information in part from Baker-Polliack catalogue.)

Letter from Abū ʿImrān b. Ghulayb to Abū l-Bayān Ibn al-Ahuv (probably Moshe b. Levi ha-Levi (d. 1212 CE)). In Arabic script. (Aodeh misread the sender's name as Abū ʿImrān b. Khalīla and therefore dated the letter to ca. 1061 CE.) Contains copious instructions for business dealings, including the making of syrup/molasses (rubb). Mentions people such as Mawhūb, Abū Sahl b. Ayyūb, the sender's sister's son Abū Naṣr, Abū ʿImrān b. Mardūkh, al-Rayyis Abū Zikrī, and Surūr al-Ṣabbāgh (the dyer), and Abū l-Majd the dairyman (reading "al-labbān," though there is a missing lām). There is no Sahl al-Tūnisī in l. 21 (this actually says sharāʾ al-thawb). ASE

Letter in Arabic script. Addressed to a high dignitary. Sent from Alexandria to Fustat/Cairo. The sender reports that he arrived safely in Alexandria on Thursday after an easy journey. He has sent letters with Abū Saʿd to Ibn Hilāl, but the latter has not yet made time to see him. Ibn Ṭāhir already set sail before the sender’s arrival. Two ships arrived from Constantinople but already departed before the sender’s arrival. Another ship arrived from Constantinople but will not travel again until the fall. Another two ships were out of service but are now ready to set sail for al-Shām, one for al-Lādhiqiyya (Latakia) and one for ʿAkkā (Acre). The sender plans to travel with whichever one of these is most convenient and to return to Alexandria in time to board the ship for Constantinople in the fall. He has met with Jamāl al-Dīn. The bottom of the letter is torn off here. It is not immediately clear if the text on verso (the ending of a letter in Arabic script, with one name written in Hebrew) belongs to the same letter or a different one. If it is the ending of the letter on recto, it would mean that both sender and addressee are Jews.

Two letters in two different hands, probably literary exercises. Recto: Many eloquent expressions of longing "there is not a limb of my body but that yearns for your [...]," etc. But no apparent content beyond these expressions. Verso: a letter urging someone to adopt the noblest and manliest of disciplines (adāb) that promotes peace, order, and justice for all: being a government secretary (kātib). To this end, he should avidly study biographies (siyar).

The two leaves do not belong together. P1: page from an anatomical work, describing the upper and lower limbs and their functions. P2: private letter in Arabic script. (Information from CUDL)

Recto: Barely legible short note. Verso: Jottings. - needs examination.

Letter/petition/recommendation from Ṭalḥa (Nabaṭī?) to a dignitary. In Arabic script. Dating: Probably Ayyubid-era or later, based on hand and formulary. Not addressed to the caliph (as Baker and Polliack suggest) but merely to a dignitary. The addressee is asked to look after the bearer ʿUthmān al-[...] and his companions. On verso, there are jottings and possibly a draft of another petition. Needs further examination. (Information in part from Baker & Polliack Catalogue.)

Letter, possibly a draft. In Arabic script. Fragment (bottom part only). The sender may be writing from Qūṣ (l. 3). The letter contains many greetings, including to the sender's mother and father and siblings.

Note in Arabic script from Hārūn b. Nissim to Abū l-Isḥaq Ibrāhīm b. Hillāl.