منحة في رسالة: Bodl. MS heb. c 27/82

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1. O my elder, my chief, my noble, my great one, Abū l-Faraj, may God prolong your existence and perpetuate your wellbeing, and may He be your protector, helper, and guardian in all your affairs. (I am writing) from al-Mahdiyya, with 6 days remaining in Elul
2. in a continuing state of wellbeing and not lacking in beneficence, abundant praise be to God, Lord of the worlds. I had previously sent letters from Sicily. I hope they reached you and you read them all. I trusted
3. in God and sent you with Qanbār ibn Yakhlaf from Sicily 3 bales of leather shared between you and the elder Abū Isḥāq, may God be his support, one third belonging to you and two thirds to Abū Isḥāq.
4. The very same ship contained a bale of leather comprising 95 Syracusan skins. I had purchased half of it from its owner, that is, 407 and a half skins, (all) Sicilian. The bale is labeled for Faraḥ and Yehuda.
5. All of it accompanied Abū l-Faḍl ibn Faraḥ ... and these 407 naṭaʿ and a half belong to your partnership; your brother has no share in them. In the ship there is also a container of wax with [ ... ]
6. for my personal account. I wrote with the aforementioned Abū l-Faḍl a memorandum (tadhkira) in which I explained everything we are sending him. I hope everything reaches you (pl.), God willing [  ] by His power, amen.
7. I had purchased 700 skins at a single price: 102 per 100 in Sicilian coins, but their processing was not complete, and I instructed Ismāʿīl to collect them along with the [ ... ]. I left (it) with the
8. fuller to bundle everything and also load it onto Ibn Suhayl's ship. I brought with me from the total skins 100 skins since I had no dinars left. I said I would sell them and spend (the proceeds) on the loads, since
9. we had heard that there's no market for flax in al-Mahdiyya. I hoped to bring it into Sicily, but when the loads arrived at Dār al-Zabīb, one of them was crushed and everything that was in the ship
10. was destroyed all at once. Whatever was saved is profit over what befell them. Had it not been for their fear of the attackers descending from the ship, they would have escaped with their lives. Between them
11. and the attackers, there was trouble, and they feared he would bring them down into the sea — "we will drown them at sea rather than surrender." People had sustenance in what remained to them. May God compensate everyone with good, amen, for He is the master of that.
12. What was saved for you personally from among the bales: 12 bales intact, the rest wet. From your partnership with Saʿāda: 9 bales intact, the rest wet. Saved for you from
13. your partnership with me: 5 bales intact, 5 bales wet. These wet [bales ... ] are worth nothing. When I departed from Sicily, Ismāʿīl
14. al-Andalusī asked me to collect all your goods, whatever was in his hands and in the hands of Barhūn, to collect and store in a warehouse until a letter would arrive from the elder with whatever he would instruct. The one who took charge was al-Faḍl ibn Faḍlān.
15. He unrolled it, and Saʿāda and Yaḥyā ibn al-Mājjānī tied it back up. [ ... ] arrived [ ... ] taken to the Dār al-Zabīb [ ... ]. The whole group ... to take possession
16. of the goods. When I arrived, I told them: Ismāʿīl asked me that this property be managed unless a letter comes [from the elder]. He said: "The matter is for you (to decide); we will do
17. what you think best." So Saʿāda stood by me, and I collected the loads and stored them in a warehouse of Ghālib ibn [ ... ] your letter [ ... ] — and the matter of the goods [ ... ].
18. (Upon?) my arrival, the sack: 140 dīnārs per load [ ... ] for 2 dīnārs [ ... ].
19. your personal account and the partnership with Saʿāda: 100 dīnārs [ ... ]. I sold from the intact bales 200 bales,
20. two of them Buṣīrī and two Mūsārī — [ ... ] from the customs house (dār al-maks), and the remainder of the advance sale and what remains for you [ ... ].
21. What [ ... ] the Dār al-Zabīb from the bales [ ... ] some of them [ ... ] with each other, because from each bale one qinṭār and two bales was deducted [ ... ].
22. There were [ ... ] bales intact, the capital amounts to 37 [ ... ] — and among them is one of less than 4, more or less. I found [ ... ] of the bales in the warehouse:
23. [ ... ] of them 9 intact, 10 wet. People [ ... ] sold some of the loads and he is about to sell the rest [ ... ].
24. [ ... ] in it by myself: one silver. I have sold some of the bales [ ... ] the rest; the price of Musārī linen from [gap].

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