Geniza Lab

Informal note from Abū l-Faraj. In Arabic script. He complains about his illness and inability to go out (on account of the jāliya?). He asks the addressee to send something with the bearer. Maybe wine—the second word of the penultimate line looks like nabīdh.

Small fragment of a letter in Judaeo-Arabic. "What have you done with the fūṭa?... please try to send it to her..."

Small fragment of a letter in Arabic script. Mentions Khalluf b. Mūsā(?) and silver.

Business letter to Abū l-ʿAlāʾ(?) [...] Ibn Shaʿyā. In Arabic script. Dating: 11th or 12th century. The paper is almost completely preserved, but the text is damaged, faded, and a difficult hand to begin with. Mentions names such as Abū Naṣr and Abū Isḥāq Ibrāhīm b. Mūsā. Needs further examination.

A few words in Arabic script. Possibly a blessing and a jotting of an address of a letter? It refers to a woman named Sitt al-Naẓar bt. [...] and then "his brother Shela."

Letter addressed to Abū ʿImrān, in Fustat. In Arabic script. Reporting that the addressee's son (also named Abū ʿImrān?) arrived with nothing but [...] and a kind of fūṭa garment. They set him up with al-Qazzāz (the silk weaver), but then he ran away and was gone all day. When he came back, the sender took him into his own shop. Then he ran away again, and they chased him, but couldn't catch up with him, and now his whereabouts are unknown. The other details of the letter are still obscure; needs examination. There are a few lines of accounts in Arabic script and Greek/Coptic numerals on verso, probably unrelated.

Top of a letter in Arabic script addressed to Sittī al-Wasṭāniyya (cf. T-S 10J11.11 for this as a woman's name). Only the first four lines with the formulaic greetings are preserved. Begins "ruqʿatī ilā ḥaḍrat sittī al-wasṭāniyya wa-l-ʿazīza ʿalā qalbī wa-ʿindī...."

Too little text remains to identify; possibly a letter. (Information from CUDL)

Note/order in the handwriting of Avraham Maimonides. In Judaeo-Arabic. He tells Eliyyahu the Judge to go together with Abū l-Faḍl al-jābī (the collector) and the messenger of the amir to the house of the glassmaker (or 'the house of glass (manufacture?)'), to honor the messenger, and to fulfill the order of the amir by paying the rent of the מכנאס(?). AA. ASE.

Family letter in Arabic, in Arabic script. There are a handful of Hebrew words, also in Arabic script. Dating: Likely 11th century, based on the reference to the Tustaris. After the opening greetings, the sender reports on somebody who was sick with fever (ḥummā) and chills (bard) for 40 days but who then improved. Mentioned next: a house, rent, a banker (al-Ṣayrafī), 2.5 dinars paid in nuqra every year, and renovations (tarammum/tarammama). In the upper margin of recto, mentions a woman planning to travel; also mentions the Tustaris (al-Dasātira) and Umm Abū l-Khayr(?). On verso the sender is talking about another woman (Umm ʿAzzūz?) and says more about the house — cleaning it and its roof (naẓẓafnā al-dār kullhā... al-saṭḥ...). There is a line that contains the Hebrew word "dreams' (الحلوموث). The letter concludes with a report on the children, who are all well. One of the female family members wishes to travel. She has been studying a tafsīr but has finished (qad faraghat). Sittūna (a female name) is studying the book of Kings. Abū Manṣu{r?} is studying the book of Samuel. Someone is studying the Torah with Shelomo Ibn al-[...]. This letter offers a rare glimpse into the religious education of girls, perhaps upper-class Qaraite girls, based on the casual reference to the Tustaris. Merits further examination. ASE

Letter in Arabic script to the writer's father Abū Isḥaq Ibrāhīm b. Sunbāṭ al-Siqillī. Only the opening greetings and the address are preserved. The writer is most likely Shemuel b. Ibrahīm, the same writer as T-S 10J11.22. ASE.

Recto: Letter, probably. In Arabic script. Too rubbed to be read clearly.

Informal note from Eliyyahu to a certain Kohen asking him to give Umm ʿAzīza the sister of al-Makīn one dirham so that she can buy two pullets. ASE

Letter in Arabic script. The writer mentions his distress (al-shidda wa-l-ḍīqa wa-l-khawf). Later (three lines from the bottom) he clarifies that he is scared of the collectors of the capitation tax (aṣḥāb al-jawālī). The writer refers to the addressee as سيدنا القلفي and thanks him for his generosity (inʿām) and perhaps asks for more. ASE

Letter in Arabic script, with several phrases in Hebrew mixed in. The writer may be named Abū l-Faraj (upper right of recto, although this is an unusual place to sign one's name), and the addressee is his paternal uncle (or at least addressed ʿammī), probably a merchant. The writer's father recently died (first line of recto margin), and it seems there is an inheritance dispute between the writer and a woman, perhaps his sister (e.g. "may God judge between me and her," antepenultimate line of recto). The writer excuses himself for not having come in person (five lines from the bottom of recto) and then mentions someone or something coming to Fustat. Starting in the margin of recto and continuing for the remainder of verso, the writer exhorts his uncle to send him money, for which he will reap a great reward from God for supporting a Torah scholar. The margin also contains these curious sentences in a mixture of Arabic and Hebrew, "O my uncle, see that the Goyim, how will they know (yadrūna?), what they know (yaʿlamū) is that I am (? or he is?) an imām in a jāmiʿ (typically meaning mosque) or in a zāwiya (typically meaning Sufi lodge). I occupy myself in the house of God and with His holy Torah" (this reading is tentative). Much of verso is devoted to the exegesis of Deuteronomy 33:18, in which the tribe of Zebulun is understood as a tribe of searfaring merchants who support the tribe of Issachar, Torah scholars in their tents. In the version in this letter, the writer adds that whenever the ships of Zebulun were on the verge of capsizing, the prayers of Issachar would save them. (Throughout the letter the writer has emphasized his copious prayers for his uncle.) In the margin he reveals his intention of making a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. ASE.

Recto: Letter fragment in Arabic script. Too fragmentary to understand the context, but in the margin it says, "Do not delay... a single one of you. Save yourselves and save....!" Verso: Unidentified text in Arabic script. In a different hand than recto. Poetry? In the margin, it says, "Shit in the beard of whoever reads even one word of this!"

Letter in Arabic script. Very faded.

Recto: letter from a certain Abū l-Qasam (?). Verso: title page of a book of recipes used in the ʿAḍūḍī hospital in Baghdad. (Information from CUDL)

Fragment of a letter, probably. In Arabic script.

Small fragment of a letter or petition in Arabic script.