Geniza Lab

Legal document. In Judaeo-Arabic. Tiny fragment.

Legal document. Tiny fragment.

Marriage document. Minute fragment. On recto only a few letters have survived, but they are clearly from the top of a ketubah. On verso few words in Judeo-Arabic, in a different hand, probably from a legal document connected to the same couple. We find such legal documents, written after a marital dispute or divorce, on the verso of some ketubahs (e.g TS 24.15 + TS 20.62, which contains two legal documents on the verso) Hebrew, Aramaic, Judeo-Arabic. AA

Marriage document. A torn and damaged ketubah. Contains few lines from the dowry list, the monogamy clause, the trustworthiness clause and the stipulation regarding the bride's ritual bath after menstruation, enacted by Maimonides in 1176 (see M.A Friedman, "Social Realities in Egypt and Maimonides' Rulings on Family Law” Maimonides as Codifier of Jewish Law [N. Rakover ed., Jerusalem 1987], p. 230). On verso remnants of colored decoration. Hebrew, Aramaic, Judeo-Arabic. AA Dating: after 1176

Legal query in Judaeo-Arabic. Concerning a man who had a debt to the heqdesh. He pawned his wife's property against her well, promising her that he would redeem it within a few days. He had property of his own (a chest of jewels and gold, perhaps in partnership with his father), but he wished to pay the debt out of his wife's property. The querier, apparently a local judge, emphasizes that the agent of the heqdesh must not accept the payment from the wife's property, but rather only from the property of the husband. Cites Ketubbot 101b, Mishna Bava Batra 10:7, Bava Batra 174a, and Ketubbot 81b. Information from Amir Ashur via FGP.

Recto: Letter fragment in Judaeo-Arabic. Mentions the police (shurṭa). Needs examination. Verso: Bill of divorce dated 1423 Seleucid, which is 1111/12 CE. Location: Fustat. There are two addenda, at least one of which certifies that the wife received the get. The document is quite damaged.

Document in Persian. Nastaʿlīq, diagonally oriented text blocks. Containing at least 3 records dated Safar 1218 AH, Rajab 1218 AH, and Shaʿbān 1221 AH (1803, 1803, and 1806 CE respectively). Needs examination.

Bottom of a large legal document in Arabic script. Contains some release formulae. Unclear if the date is preserved. Two signatures are partially preserved. Needs examination.

Legal record. In Hebrew, with a few Judaeo-Arabic words (e.g. ḥāṣil, murjān). Dating: Late, probably 18th or 19th century. Involves Yaʿaqov ʿAllūsh and Raḥamim Amarillo and a business deal that might involve selling coral, valued at 25 fonduclis, on commission.

Legal document in Arabic script. Very damaged.

Legal document in Arabic script. Very damaged.

Legal document. In Arabic script. Damaged. Of the main document, only portions of the last few lines are preserved (unclear if the date is preserved or not). The main text here is 6 different witness statements. Needs further examination.

Deed of acknowledgment (iqrār), with many lacunae in the fragment. In Arabic script. Involves [...] b. Abū Ṭāʿa(?) al-Ḥāmī and Manṣūr b. Faraḥ al-Ḥāmī in Cairo for default in debt payment. The testimony declares that the debt owed by Manṣūr is proven - "kitāb lahu dainan ʿalaihi ḥatman wa-ḥaqqan wājiban lāziman ḥāllan lahu ʿalaihi", and there is no record of a bankruptcy (wa lā yaddaʿī lahu fi dhālika falsan walā ʿadman) established in his favor till this date. Hence, the creditors are entitled to take from him what they want, when they want it, and how they want it, either at night or in the evening or in the day - yāʾkhozuhu bihi wa bimā shāʾ minhu ayyu waqtin shāʾ wa-kaif shāʾ min lailin av-nahārin masaʾin av-ṣabāḥin. The letter is signed by Sahal Ibrāhīm al-Ḥasan. Dated: Shaʿbān 459(?) AH, which would be 1066/1067 CE. Needs further examination.

Marriage contract between a Rabbanite man Khalfā b. Saʿūd, son of Farajallah b. Nafīs and a divorced Rabbanite woman Fāṭima. The marriage was commemorated upon the agreed sum of 7 dīnārs of Sulṭānī al-jadīd and 400 half Sūlaimānī dirhams.

Legal document, in Arabic script, dated 18 Dhū l-Qaʿda 750 H. An agreement between two parties with witnesses, probably rental, for a period of two years.

Legal document, 13 lines, in Arabic script. Dated: 9 Ramaḍān 883 AH, which is December 1478 CE (if read correctly). Mentions the Mālikī court (majlis al-ḥukm) in the Ṣāliḥī mosque in l. 2. Needs further examination.

Legal document(s) in Arabic script. Dating: Probably late Mamluk or Ottoman. Narration of commercial trade accounts. The word 'qabaḍ' appears in prolific numbers associated usually with commodities and sometimes with their price. Measures of some commodities in terms of their monetary value and sizes are also mentioned. Needs examination.

Receipt or legal document in Arabic script. Mīkhāʾil al-Dabbāgh (the tanner) sold cow hide(s) to Jaʿfar b. Muḥammad. "30 hides" is mentioned lower down. On verso accounts/sums in Greek/Coptic numerals.

Report or legal document in Arabic script. Dated: Jumādā II 1010 AH, which is 1601 CE. In the upper part mentions various people al-Ḥājj Muḥammad Ibn Ṣalāḥ al-Dīn al-Manārī and gives their tribal affiliations. Mentions the village of al-Muʿayṣira (المعيصرة) in the vicinity of Homs and قطيا (maybe the town of that name in Sinai). The contents have to do with mercantile goods, including silk and tamarind. Needs further examination.

Legal deed: iqrār (deed of acknowledgment) in Arabic script for Sulaymān b. ?, right half only, sewing holes in the right margin.