Geniza Lab

Fiscal document. There is an ʿalāma at the top and underneath registration of various sums of money. Needs examination. Reused for piyyut on verso.

Petition. In Arabic script. Mentions a man from Tiberias, wicked people (fa-kathura fasāduhum), people who mentioned that they had entered Fustat, and the preoccupation of the hearts of the community (jamāʿa). Needs further examination.

Legal document in Arabic script. Ends of 7 lines. Penultimate line: al-jāriya bi-l-dīwān al-Farkhī. Last line: al-mutawallī ʿimārat rubāʿ dīwān al-khāṣa. Likely a join with T-S NS 139.52 and potentially related to the cluster T-S H11.90 + T-S NS 274.22 + T-S NS 114.79.

A few enormous words in Arabic script, likely from a decree. It is a title and a name, perhaps Thiqat al-Dawla Ḥammād b. ʿAlī. Above it, at 90 degrees, there is another text block in Arabic script. Possibly horoscopes (mentions Mercury/ʿAṭārid). But needs examination.

Small fragment of a decree. Reused for Judaeo-Arabic literary work.

Verso: Fragment of an official Arabic document, possibly a petition or decree. The ends of three lines are preserved. Unclear if any of the substance is preserved. Reused on recto for the Hebrew blessing to be recited before sleeping.

Recto: Letter or petition, fragment. In Arabic script. It seems to be addressed to the director of the bureau of mosques (mutawallī dīwān al-jawāmiʿ wa-l-masājid), asking for his permission for something (bi-idhnihi lahu fī dhālika). AA. ASE.

Petition from Ṭāhir b. Isḥāq, a poor man from Alexandria, to the amir Qarāqūsh. In Arabic script. Ṭāhir had rented a shop in Alexandria from a Christian, and confirms that he has paid all the installments of the rent and would like to be released in order to return to his family. Ca. the very end of the 12th century, as this was the time that Qarāqūsh served as regent for the young son of the Fatimid vizier after his father’s death, before he himself field in 1201 CE. On the margins of recto there is a Judaeo-Arabic passage on the uniqueness of God on the fact that he created the earth and the sky, but was not created Himself. On verso there are isolated blocks of text probably copied as a writing exercise, they include liturgical paragraphs and biblical quotations in Hebrew and the continuation of the Judaeo-Arabic text on recto. (Information from Khan and CUDL.)

Order or report in multiple hands to do with 131 dīnārs paid to the treasury (bayt al-māl). Person mentioned is Saʿd al-Mulk Ilyās, possibly a tax collector, asking for the issuing of a decree (al-amr al-ʿalī). Check for joins.

State document of some kind. Report or official correspondence? The ends of ~14 lines are preserved. Words include: sulṭānahū... hādhihi l-nāḥiya... al-dīwān al-maʿmūr... al-ḥisāb... wa-lammā sāra...al-istikhrāj.... Needs further examination.

A few words from a state document (including bi-aʿmāl). Possibly a decree. Reused for Hebrew literary text.

Small fragment of a state document in Arabic script. The ends of two lines are preserved. Reused for Hebrew piyyuṭ.

State document? In Arabic script. There are 4 lines in a very large hand and ~3 lines underneath in smaller letters. Needs examination.

State document, official correspondence. The ends of 8 lines are preserved. Mentions al-samʿ wa-l-ṭāʿa li-l-amr... Needs further examination.

Part of one line from a state document, perhaps a decree. Reused for Hebrew piyyuṭ

A few words from a state document, perhaps a decree. Reused for Hebrew piyyuṭ.

One line from a state document, possibly a decree. Mentions "jamīl al-raʾy" and "maqāṣidika wa-masāʿidika." Reused for Hebrew literary text.

A piyyut is written in between the lines of an official Arabic document- needs examination.

Bottom of a state document in Arabic script. Only the date (difficult to read, partially damaged) and the ḥamdala and ṣalwala are preserved. Reused for a bifolio of piyyutim.

Fragment of a state document containing blessings for 'mawlānā' and the date (563 AH = 1167/68 CE). Reused for piyyut on verso.