Geniza Lab

Tax receipt. Fragment (bottom half). In the hand of the jahbadh Mīkhāʾīl b. ʿAbd al-Masīḥ (active in the early 11th century in al-Fayyūm).

Bifolio from a fiscal accounting ledger. In Arabic script. About 10 distinct entries, each apparently with its own ʿalāma / registration mark. Cf. T-S NS 297.270. Needs examination.

Bottom of a petition. In Arabic script. Dating: Perhaps Ayyubid-era, based on the titles. The addressee (the caliph or vizier?) is asked to issue (or have issued) "the noble rescript" (al-tawqīʿ al-karīm) to al-Qāḍī al-Muwaffaq al-Sadīd Sayf al-Dīn(?). Might mention "the doctors" (الطب). Reused for Hebrew jottings. Needs further examination.

State document in Arabic script. 7 lines are partially preserved. Mentions a rescript (al-tawqīʿ) and probably a year in the 5th century AH (4[..]).

Official document of some kind. In Arabic script.

Tax receipt? Might be dated 637 AH. Mentions المستخدم بمصر.

Bottom part of a tax receipt in the hand of the jahbadh Mīkhāʾīl b. ʿAbd al-Masīḥ. On the other side there is a distinct document in Arabic script (legal? letter?).

Unidentified document in Arabic script. Dating: Looks late, perhaps Mamluk-era. Might begin with the word "qabaḍa" and might mention an iqṭāʿ. Needs examination.

Official document of some kind. Abū Naṣr al-[...] may owe 6.25 dinars. There is a date (Dhū l-Ḥijja something), but the year seems to be written as a cipher.

Fiscal accounting, probably. Mentions wheat and fūl and various numbers. Needs examination.

Receipt relating to the tax farm of Abū l-Ḥasan b. Wahb written by Mīkhāʾīl b. ʿAbd al-Masīḥ, the cashier, and registered by the Office of Accounts on behalf of the Office of Supervision: Abū l-Ḥasan b. Wahb has paid the sum of 3 and a half and a sixteenth (dirhams?) for the estates in Al-Fayyūm, under the supervision of the judge Fakhr al-Dawla Abū l-Faḍl Jaʿfar b. Ibrāhīm b. Sulaymān. Dated: 30 Jumādā I 403 AH, which is December 1012 CE. (Information from CUDL)

Tax receipt, probably.

Probably a report or official correspondence in Arabic script. In a chancery hand. Portions of 8 lines from the main text block are preserved, and 2 lines in the margin. It is difficult to read more than a few words: al-ḍayʿa... jamīʿ... dhālika... wa-fī l-wājib wa-l-ighnām(?).... On verso there are jottings in Hebrew script. Merits further examination.

Document in Arabic script, calligraphic. Likely a state document. The beginnings of 4 lines are preserved. The word "aʿrāḍ" appears. Needs examination. On verso there are lists in Hebrew script, perhaps of piyyutim (the hand is rudimentary and may be known).

Recto: Petition, fragment. Perhaps involving the plunder and occupation of a house (....al-bayt wa-nahabū... ikhrājuhum ʿanhu... fa-mā li-l-mamlūk illā marāḥim al-mawlā...). The form of the ra'y clause that appears here (wa-l-ra'y aʿlā) is typical of Ayyubid-era petitions. Mentioned several times in Geoffrey Khan's work (Khan, Historical Dev, 21; JRAS 52; ALAD, 315 n43, 373, 396). AA. ASE.

Document in Arabic script. Might be a petition addressed to the Mamluk sultan al-Malik al-Nāṣir (r. 1293–1341). (Information in part from CUDL.) Needs examination.

Recto: Leviticus 23:9-17. Verso: official Arabic document concerning monetary matters. (Information from CUDL)

Recto: Deuteronomy 16:9-12; 16:16-17. Verso: part of an official document in Arabic. (Information from CUDL)

Arabic letter, possibly official correspondence based on the handwriting and the wide space between the lines. This is the upper right corner. It might contain only the opening blessings. On verso there is some Aramaic literary text.

Opening of a petition (or report) to the caliph al-Ẓāhir li-Iʿzāz Dīn Allāh, mentioning Ḥusayn b. Yasīr. Dating: 1021–36 CE. On verso there is an Aramaic targum to Isaiah 22. (Information from Khan and CUDL)