وثيقة رسميّة: Bodl. MS heb. b 18/23

الوصف

Petition to the Fatimid ruler Sitt al-Mulk. Dating (Rustow): 411–14/1021–24. In which an official of a congregational mosque, perhaps the chief khaṭīb, complains about delayed payments to the deputy khaṭīb Mūsā b. Azhar. The tenants of the pious foundation (ḥabs) of the mosque have fallen in arrears and owe about ten dinars for the period ending Rajab 415 AH (September 1024). He requests that a decree (manshūr, line 11: literally, an open letter, a decree without a seal) be issued to the governor (ʿāmil) and administrator (mutawallī) of the district that housed the mosque asking them to help the deputy, Mūsā b. Azhar, by supporting his efforts to extract payment from the tenants; by sending him money directly; and by generally enforcing the terms of the trust. The scribe who copied the biblical passages has glued this petition to another petition to Sitt al-Mulk, ENA 3974.3 (PGPID 19304), to form a single rotulus. This fact suggests that the two petitions may have survived together in an archive (Rustow). A small triangle of the Bodleian petition has remained attached to the JTS petition. (Information from Marina Rustow's analysis and edition.) A note on images: The FGP image of the Arabic side acquired from the Bodleian has cut off a few lines of the Arabic text and needs to be replaced. The image in Rustow, BSOAS 2010, is complete, but in black and white. The fragment was later rephotographed in color for Rustow, "The Fatimid Petition," Jewish History 2019. The FGP photo of the Hebrew-script side is complete. MR