Geniza Lab

Legal document in Arabic script. Fragment (five lines from the middle section). Dating: Likely late Mamluk or early Ottoman-era. Possibly a partnership agreement. Mentions a sum of 50 dinars. Needs further examination.

Bottom of an Arabic document, probably legal.

Verso: Legal document, probably. In Judaeo-Arabic. A lot of text is here, but it is extremely faded. Mentions Salmān b. Ibrāhīm and merchants and perhaps a period of time.

Legal document, ishhād, in Arabic, dated 1831 CE (18 Jumāda l-Awwal 1247 Hijri). Ibrāhim al-Yahūdī owes 700 Rūmī Kuruş and has to pay the Dīwān al-Maṣlaḥa at the end of the due date. The coin referenced in this document - قرش رومي, is likely a reference to an Ottoman Kuruş minted in the core imperial provinces such as Rumelia or Anadolu. "Rūmī" is a somewhat tricky term in the Ottoman period because– although it meant Roman or Byzantine throughout Antiquity-->Middle Ages –the Ottomans began to use it on a self-referential basis. This was to reference the mantle of the Roman Empire that they took on with the conquest of Istanbul and much of the Roman/Byzantine former territory. Needs further examination.

Recto: Legal document(s). In Arabic script. Madhhab: Mālikī. In Arabic script. Location: Fustat/Cairo. Dating: The main two text blocks appear to be dated 18 Dhū l-Qaʿda 1050 AH, which is February/March 1641 CE. (Line 11 of the main text block also mentions the date 10 Ramaḍān 954 AH, which is October 1547 CE—probably a reference to an earlier document or event.) The main text block is headed by 2 elaborate signatures/endorsements together with seals; underneath there are 7 witness signatures. There is a lot of verbiage praising the issuing authorities, and the import of the document is not immediately clear. The upper text block appears to be in the same handwriting (and was completed on the same date); it mentions a Jewish (court?) physician named Ibrāhīm b. Yūsuf b. Manṣūr. This document is large and complex; needs further examination.

Recto: Long, calligraphic legal document in Arabic, from Fustat (مصر المحروسة), dated October 1649 CE (7 Shawwal 1059). It bears seven signatures along the side, a seal at the top, and perhaps the scribe's name at top left (الامر كما ذكر فيه حرره الفقير اليه سبحانه احمد ال . . .). The seal may be that of the Ottoman governor in Fustat/Cairo (Tarhoncu Ahmed Pasha?): (. . . بين يدي متوليها سيدنا ومولانا الحاكم الشرعي الذي سيقع خطه الكريم اعلاه). The main protagonists are (1) al-Amīr Yūsuf b. (the late) Muḥammad, the provincial governor/inspector of the vilayet of Gaza (the word for provincial governor is kāshif—see Michael Winter, "Re-emergence of the Mamluks," in "The Mamluks in Egyptian Politics and Society," p. 92); (2) a certain Abū Turābī; and (3) al-Muʿallim Muṣliḥ b. Binyamil (i.e. Binyamin) al-Yahūdī al-Rabbān al-Ṣarrāf [...] bi-l-Dīwān al-ʿĀlī. The document addressed numerous matters, chiefly financial; it requires deeper examination. Verso: There is a legend in Judaeo-Arabic on the outermost fold of the folded document (חוגת אלאמיר יוסף. . . ). There are also several Arabic supplements to the document on recto, at least the upper two referring to al-Muʿallim Muṣliḥ al-Yahūdī.

Receipt for the price of sugar collected from a certain ʿAbdūn by the messenger Aḥmad al-Ḥawlī. The document is dated Tuesday, 13th RabīʿII 859 H. Similar receipt on verso issued on the 8th of the same month mentioning goods and prices, sugar being one of them.

Probably a receipt for a rent payment by Yashūʿ (?) al-Yahūdī for his store (? ḥānūt) in ḥārat al-yahūd, mentioning the date Dec 1832/Jan 1833 CE (Sha'ban 1248 Hijri).

Recto: Legal document in Arabic script. Late Mamluk or early Ottoman (paleographic dating). Acknowledgement of debt in the name of Muḥammad b. Qāsim b. ʿAlī known as al-Ḥamawi, the mudawlib (perhaps the technical assistant, or the one who maintains the balance and other equipment) in the ṣarf (the money-changing house; the mint would probably be al-ḍarb), and the teacher Khiḍr b. [...] al-Yahūdī al-Rabbānī known as Ibn ʿAbduh. Verso (and margin of recto): Drafts for piyyutim in Hebrew. (ASE and MR)

Recto (secondary use): Order from ʿĀzim al-Bayyāʿ (the grocer) to hand over 1/2 wayba of rice to the bearer of the note. Headed by a basmala. Underneath there is a taṣliya and above that (in a different hand) an ʿalāma (al-ḥamdu lillāh waḥdah). The layout is somewhat reminiscent of state receipts, which is not necessarily surprising as everyday receipts and documents had similar layouts. YU, MR, ASE.

Legal document in Arabic signed by three Muslim witnesses and dated 1823/4 CE (1239 Hijri). Merits further examination.

Receipt of payment for the rent of three stores (ḥawānīt) from a man called Khiḍr Zaytūn in ḥarat al-yahūd, near the waqf of Muḥammad al-Raḥlāwī (?). The total amount was 180, half of which is 90. Signed by Ṣāliḥ al-Laqānī. Dated 1220 H. On verso, in Hebrew script: "[...] Abū Ḥabīb."

Legal document in Arabic script. Dated: 14 Jumādā II 634 AH (=1236/37 CE). Certifying that Yaʿqūb al-Yahūdī b. [...] al-Māwardī and possibly one other person have received (qabaḍa) a sum of (61?) dirhams from Abū Saʿd al-ʿAtṭār. Needs examination.

Legal document, late, running transaction sheet with (related?) sequential transactions, probably a bill or a receipt of goods and services. Mentions a wage - "ujra", probably the rent of transportation of the goods in rīyāl and the price of soap (ṣābūn). The document is dated. 23rd Dhu l-Qaʿda 1222 H. The name of the beneficiary is al-Khawāja Ibrāhīm ʿAdda al-Marājīnī (the coral merchant). See AIU XII.86 for another Arabic letter to the same recipient, from five years earlier. Merits further examination.

Legal document in Arabic script. Only the witness signatures are preserved, e.g., ʿAlī b. ʿAbdallāh and Bū Bakr [...] b. ʿAbdallāh. Verso: love poetry also in Arabic script, ending with the rhyme ʿaīn(rawī).

Legal document. In Arabic script. Dating: The year is effaced, but it looks Ottoman-era. There is a faded filing note in Judaeo-Arabic on verso. Involves a Muslim named Saʿīd and Jews named Yaʿqūb and Dāʾūd. Needs examination for content.

Recto: The first few lines of an Ottoman-era legal document, bearing two seals and an annotation in a different hand, opening with an invocation of the Porte (bi-l-bāb al-ʿālī aʿlāhu) and pertaining to a certain Hanbali judge named Aḥmad b. Aḥmad Ḥijāzī al-Ajhūrī. Verso: In Hebrew script, the name of a syangogue or congregation (קק סקאלבין?).

Legal fragment (upper left corner). In Judaeo-Arabic. In the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. Mentions [...] b. Shemuel and [...] b. Moshe. Either a will or concerning arrangements after someone has already died

Document in Arabic script. Probably legal. Dated (on verso): 1173 AH, which is 1759/60 CE. There is an addendum in Judaeo-Arabic. Needs examination.

Dowry list (taqwīm). The groom may be Yeshuʿa ha-Kohen b. Ḥalfon. The bride may be [... bt.] Seʿadya. There are 12 items listed. There is also some practically illegible text on verso.