ثيقة شرعيّة: PUL Islamic Manuscripts, Third Series no. 584e.32 (Michaelides 32)

الوصف

Recto: Deed of acknowledgment (iqrār). Dating: possibly 841 AH = 1437/38 CE (l. 4), but this is uncertain. In which Maymūn b. Ṭālib al-Dalāṣī acknowledges receipt of two irdabbs of seeds for planting (taqwiya, lit. "reinforcement") from the treasurer (al-khāzin) Marzūq b. Yūsuf al-[...]. It seems that he also commits to repaying the treasurer at a future date. On taqwiya, see Tsugitaka Sato, State and Rural Society in Medieval Islam, 200–01. There are one or two undeciphered place names, and there is a reference to the government in l. 6. The bottom part of the document is torn away. The text in the upper left margin seems to be an oddly placed witness clause (by ʿUmar b. ʿAlī b. ʿAbd al-[...]) but this requires further examination. Other legal documents often have specific notations related to legal procedure in this position on the page. Verso: There seems to be a remnant of a faṣl (later addendum) to the iqrār on recto. Only the first few letters of each line are preserved. At 90 degrees there may be a name (probably Maymūn, but potentially Masʿūd or Manṣūr). The last text block to be added, in a different hand than all the preceding text blocks and unrelated to them, appears to be technical instructions related to alchemy and/or medicine. The procedure involves placing an iron sheet on a forge, placing silver on top of the iron, blowing on it until something happens, and repeating this nine times. Line 8 refers to "the medicine" (al-dawāʾ) that is in a vessel, and it seems that the silver is supposed to be placed in the medicine. The overall purpose is unclear. ASE