Geniza Lab

State document, a chancery hand; probably Fatimid. Starts with a Basmala and above it are words of blessings upon the Caliph li Maulānā Ṣalla Allahu (....). Mentions the royal kitchen (waṣala ilā l-maṭbakh al-Maʿmūr) and the rations that were sent to it and were claimed by the needful (arbāb al-ḥājāt ilaihi). Reused for a Hebrew text. Needs examination. Indirect join: Oded Zinger.

Petition or report. In Arabic script. Quite faded. The ends of 5 lines are preserved. Mentions that a certain ʿāmil is more capable than somebody else (aqdar minhu) and then mentions "the lofty order" (al-amr al-ʿālī). Reused for Hebrew literary text on verso.

Letter draft in Arabic script addressed to a Fatimid qāḍī and dāʿī. Needs examination.

State document, probably a fiscal order. Mentions rāhin/dāʾin in the first line, slaves (ghilmān), and property (ʿamāʾr). Some of the names mentioned are Abū Jawhar, Sayyid al-Ahl bin Muḥammad and ʿAbd al-Bāqī bin...Day recorded in the margin is Thursday; 'bi tārikh Yawm al-Khamīs'. Also mentions 'sulṭān' and '[...]al-Dawla', probably the title of an official. Verso: Hebrew text; Pizmonist ( Similar hand as ENA 3714.5, T-S Ar.38.119, T-S NS 145.22, T-S Ar.42.186).

Fatimid state report from a lower official to the caliph or other high official(s), including raʾy clause, ḥamdala and ḥasbala. Only the last two lines before the ending are preserved. Mentions Ibn al-Anbārī and excuses for why a group of people were prevented from arriving somewhere (possibly tempests—anwāʾ).

A few words from a decree. There are multiple notes underneath in different hands. The one on the left says "let it be copied in the Dīwān al-Mufrad lil-Iqṭāʿāt al-Murtajiʿa in shāʾa llāh." Underneath, "It was copied, praise be to God alone." The one of the right has a similar layout; maybe similarly instructions to copy it, for a different dīwān, and confirmation that it was copied. Apparently Barqūq established Dīwān al-Mufrad in either 1382 or 1395 CE; see Daisuke Igarashi, "The Establishment and Development of al-Dīwān al-Mufrad: Its Background and Implications," Mamluk Studies Review 10 (2006), 117–40.

Mamluk or early Ottoman petition.

Decree, probably. 3.5 words from the end of a line. Reused for writing exercises (including a Judaeo-Arabic jingle about Nebuchadnezzar destroying the temple).

Petition or report in Arabic script. Wide space between the lines. Reused for a Hebrew literary text (same scribe as T-S NS 111.63 and many others). Needs examination.

Report or petition. In Arabic script. Wide space between the lines. Fragment (upper right corner). wa-yuḥīṭu īlmahu l-sharīf... anna ahjābanā(?) bi-ḥukmihi(?) wāṣilīn... bi-daʿwa.... On verso there is a Hebrew poem bemoaning the writer's wretched state, mentioning בין בני צרפת and ויד אדום כבדה.

Letter in Arabic script addressed to al-Mawqif al-Ashraf and ʿIzz al-Dawla. Maybe Fatimid official correspondence. Mentions the amīrs Shujāʿ al-Dawla, Majd al-Dawla, and the city of Tripoli. The writer mentions sending a delegate/appointee to the amīr Shujāʿ al-Dawla, but the latter refused to accept him and sent the delegate back claiming that he hadn't received an amr (order) from al-Haḍra al-Muṭahhara (=Fatimid Caliph). The writer then sent the delegate/appointee back to the amīr Shujāʿ al-Dawla with a copy of the Noble Letter which was sent in this regard. He also mentions the case of the amīr Majd al-Dawla and explains that Ibn Dardār or someone else hadn't messed up but rather the cause was what he had mentioned in the previous letter. Deserves further historical inquiry into the names of the officials and especially for the light it may shed on administrative practices e.g., نسخت الفصل من الملطف الكريم الوارد في معناه. Al-Maqrīzī attests that the al-Mulaṭṭaf was a royal letter issued by the Caliph (al-Iṭṭiʿāẓ, vol.2, pg. 153). Reused for Hebrew literary text.

State document, possibly a decree. Suggests orders conferred upon an authority 'hayʾat (?) l-muṭālaʿa wa-l-āʿmāl bihā'. There is Arabic script in another not-so-elegant hand and a few words in Hebrew script towards the end. Needs further examination.

State petition regarding a Maghribī Jewish trader caught drinking with a Muslim woman and imprisoned. Cuts off right before the request: there arrived from the official who imprisoned them three sealed documents (khawātim khātim min qabl Munajjat al-Dawla) ... possibly to do with the jizya, a pretext for imprisoning them for moral offenses (?), suggesting that the trader was conspicuous and respectable, or his moral infractions might not have drawn attention. See also T-S NS J286, in which a man travels from Ceuta to Bijāya, Algeria, where the sāḥib al-Bijāya asks him how is related to a woman who is with him. (There is a ṣāḥib al-shūrṭa in ENA 3901.5, too.) The traveler (never described as a Maghribi trader, but a man from the Maghrib) claims she is his wife, but he has no kitāb to prove this. In T-S NS J286, they confiscate his māl and the man is put in prison with no reference to the woman. Although there is nothing about the three-day drinking binge, it’s plausible that these are the same case, and if not, they pair nicely.

Document tied to finances that according to FGP could be connected to state procedures. Dating: Ottoman-era. This designation seems feasible given the appearance of "diwan" on both the recto and verso (l. 3r, 11v). On the verso, the first few lines mention the act of payment and "miqdar/مقدار" or an "amount" or "quantity" (l. 3v). It may be from a literary treatise concerning financial relations with the state. It is filled with bureaucratic jargon referring to several different bureaus (e.g., Dīwān al-ʿUmūm and Dīwān ʿUmūm al-[...]," which is opposed to Nuẓẓār al-Furūʿ) and to "protecting interests" (عدم تعطيل المصلحة) and "necessary expenses" (المصاريف الضرورية). Needs further examination. MCD. ASE.

Decree fragment. The beginnings of three lines are preserved on recto (mentioning al-Ramla): الرملة وف . . م . . من ظهر . . وتحصيله اليه. The ends of two lines are preserved on verso: . . . ه كما هو اهله . . . Reused for an unidentified text in Arabic script written in between the lines.

Document in Arabic, unclear content, left half only, with sewing holes at left, top, and diagonally across the upper left corner. Likely an official document. Mentions "bi-Miṣr al-Maḥrūsa."

Recto: register of receipts of some kind? Mentions wheat and fava beans. There are several distinct entries, each with a different person's name, and each dated 5[..] AH. Verso: Letter in Arabic script, potentially related to recto. Needs further examination.

Official letter in Arabic script. Ends of 5 lines are preserved. Content unclear. The red/black border decoration on verso is very similar to T-S 12.459 + T-S G1.55 + T-S G2.150 + Halper 164 (might even be a join, though the text on recto does not match).

Receipt of some kind for Ibrāhīm b. [...]. A period of one year is specified. There is a word that looks like "halīlaj" (myrobalan), but this does not seem to fit. There is a filing note in Judaeo-Arabic at the top: zuqāq al-Turmus al-Maʿmūra ... the year '59.

Document in Arabic script. Unclear what it is. Perhaps a fiscal account: the word al-mablagh appears on recto, and al-ʿāmil on verso.