Geniza Lab

Legal document in Arabic script, fragment, 7 lines. Dating: Ottoman or possibly late Mamluk era. Mentions people such as Niʿmat (or Nūr?) al-Dīn, [...] b. ʿAbdallāh, Mūsā the Rabbanite Jew, Yaʿqūb b. Ibrāhīm [...] al-Lāwī, the wife of al-khwājā Niʿmat (or Nūr?) al-Dīn, and the daughter of the late (al-marḥūm) khwājā Zakariyā b. Muḥarrar and her daughter-in-law. Includes standard phrases about legal competence (sound health, willingness, and free choice—fī ṣiḥḥatih wa-salāmatih wa-ṭawāʿiyyatih wa-ikhtiyārih). Possibly a will of al-khwāja Muḥarrrar(?) Niʿmat(?) al-Dīn. Benefactors(?) include his wife (zawj al-Khwājā) and his deceased son (al-Marḥūm) al-Khwājā Zakariyyā b. al-Muḥarrar. A debt owed by Yaʿqūb b. Ibrāhīm associated to the wife of the khwājā is forgiven (wa inna dhālik taghliq mā ʿalā Yaʿqūb b. Ibrāhīm [...] al-Lāwī min al-dayn... al-mutaʿalliq bi-zawjat al-khwājā...). Might also be a release or another kind of legal document.

Bottom of a legal document (draft?) in Arabic script. Dated: middle decade of Rabīʿ II 4[..] AH. Mentions al-Ḥasan b. ʿAbdallāh b. [...].

Recto: Letter with petition-like language. In Arabic script. Fragment (the ends of 7 lines are preserved from the lower part of the document). Concerning farming and safeguarding of land (fī zirāʿatih wa-ḥifẓihā wa-ṣawnihā) for a particular amount of time the parties had asked for (al-mudda alladhī iltamasūhā). Then deferent petition-like language: [anhā maml]ūkuhā dhālika ilayhā wa-raʾyuhā al-muwaffaq. Then urging haste, followed by petition-like language: ...wuṣūluh surʿa surʿa fa-anā muḥtāj ilayhi... wa-raʾyuhā al-muwaffaq in shāʾ allāh.

Fragment, few lines a very faded script. Mentions silver pieces (waraq). Needs examination.

Legal document in Arabic script. In which two people testify (wa-ashhadā ʿalā anfusahimā fī ṣiḥḥa . . . ). Mentions the "aṣḥāb arbāʿ" (pl. of ṣāḥib rabʿ/rubʿ) of a certain area. Needs further examination.

Recto: Small fragment of a deed of acknowledgment (iqrār) in Arabic script. The one making the acknowledgment may be named Salmūn b. Isḥāq al-Māwardī.

Upper part of a deed of acknowledgment (iqrār) in Arabic script. The name and the city of the person making the acknowledgment are given. Needs examination.

Fragment of a legal document in Arabic script (very neatly written, with diacritics). Concerning al-muʿallim Ibrāhīm and Isḥāq and a house. Dating: Probably late Mamluk or early Ottoman-era. Needs examination.

Order in Arabic script. Abū l-Ḥasan is to pay or hand over two dinars, 1 qirat, and 2 ḥabbas of "ḥawāʾij."

Document in Arabic script, possibly legal.

Legal document in Arabic script. Needs examination.

Legal testimony in Arabic script. Dated: 4 Ramaḍān 545 AH, which is 25 December 1150 CE. "Lammā ḥaḍara ilā majlis ḥ[ukm X]..." Needs examination for content.

Business memorandum in Arabic script. The layout resembles a state document. (Same genre: ENA 3957.11, T-S Ar.35.269, and T-S AS 184.265.) Dated: 18 Ramaḍān 438 = 18 March 1047 CE. Headed by a basmala, next to which appears the name al-Faḍl b. Sahl (= Ḥesed b. Yashar al-Tustarī, presumably the issuer of this document). Begins: "Owed by Nahray (b. Nissim) the associate of the son of Barhūn al-Tāhirtī: two loads of brazilwood (ʿadlayn baqqam), 820 raṭls; vinegar (khall), 10 raṭls...." Sums are given in dinars further down. Similar entries with weights follow on verso with numbers (sums of money) at the bottom. There are several other documents from the 1040s CE concerning business between Ḥesed al-Tustarī, Nahray b. Nissim, and the Taherti family (e.g., Bodl. MS heb. b 3/19–20 = PGPID 5595 and Moss. IV,1 = PGPID 5761). YU. ASE.

Legal fragment. In Arabic script. The beginnings of the lines and the right margin are preserved. The first line after the basmala may read, "we testify against Isḥāq b. Yū[suf]." There is one surviving witness signature in the margin.

Legal query. In Arabic script. Addressed to "al-sāda al-fuqahāʾ al-ajillāʾ." Regarding a woman who sold a property; what happened next is not entirely clear. Mentions "the aḥbās" and an order of the government (amr al-sulṭān). There are two lines underneath, also written in Arabic script, likely the response/ruling (fatwā). On verso there is Aramaic poetry.

Legal document in Arabic script. Mentions the date Dhū l-Qaʿda 606 AH = April/May 1210 CE. Also mentions a period of two years and very large sums of money (over 800 dinars). Needs examination. On verso a calendar in Hebrew script.

Legal document. In Arabic script. Dated: Wednesday, 23 Rajab 1244 AH, which is January 1829 CE (but this may be off by one day). The head rabbi (خاخم باشي) who seems to be named مادكاره(??) borrows 15,000 gurush from Elkan(?) ʿAminadab, to be repaid in installments of 300 gurush/month. Shimʿon Frances guarantees the loan.

Legal document. In Arabic script. Dated: 16 Rabīʿ I 911 AH, which is August 1505 CE. Starts with a basmala, authorizing a trade (bayʿ) of some sort (al-bayʿ ... al-mushtamil ʿalā l-ījāb wa l-qubūl wa l-taslīm).

Legal query addressed to a Muslim faqīh. In two drafts. In Arabic script. Concerning a Jewish man who teaches medicine in public and in the antechamber (dihlīz) of his house. Is he permitted to teach "things in Hebrew" "from his religion" alongside the medicine that he teaches? One of the drafts adds that the teaching of medicine is "for the benefit of Muslims and others." This fragment also has geomancy markings, miscellaneous jottings, and the following text: "These are the materia medica that I need: aloeswood 1/2 ounce; Indian boxthorn 1/2 ounce. The itemized sum mentioned in the large daftar is 1,160 (or 2,160?) and a quarter and kharrūba and a ḥabba."

ENA 3960.6–10 are five distinct but related Mamlūk-era legal documents in Arabic script, all dated 909 H (1503/04 CE), and involving the same people (e.g., Shams al-Dīn Muḥammad b. al-Khwājā Yūsuf b. al-Ḥājj ʿAbd al-Qādir al-Tājir al-Saffār(?) al-Ḥalabī) and the same witnesses (Aḥmad ʿAbd al-Qādir b. [...] and Ismāʿīl [...]). The document is a deed of sale pertaining to jawārib (stockings) of different colors. The genre of the sale document is an iqrār, i.e., an acknowledgment which is also a sub-genre of with Islamic legal manuals (shurūṭ al-fiqh). It is an iqrār (acknowledgment) of ghubn (defect) and barāʾa, meaning that the buyer acknowledges and accepts any (possible) defects in the object of sale (ghubn) and the seller is ‘innocent’ (hence barāʾa) of any allegation of defect, or effective defect, in the object. (For reference, see Asyuṭī, Jawāhir al-Ūqūd). The style of mentioning the price of the object of sale (jawārib in this case) as 14 dīnārs and its half seven dīnārs is a typical fashion of indicating prices in a sale deed to avoid any errors. The document is dated 18th Rabīʿ al-Awwal 909 H/19th September 1503 CE. The other five documents bear similar clauses with a variation in objects of sale and prices. They are as follows: ENA 3960.6: 66 medins (nuṣf) for 20 red and yellow sufras, ENA 3960.7: 69 medins for 20 red and yellow sufras, ENA 3960.8: 6 dinars and 8 medins for 10 Aleppan shaylas, ENA 3960.9: 14 dinars for 15 black mayzars and 30 sufras, ENA 3960.10: 14 dinars for 100 red and yellow Aleppan …(?)