Abū Saʿīd al-ʿAfṣī

Description / Bio

Abū Saʿīd b. Abū Naṣr al-ʿAfṣī was a Jewish merchant and druggist based in Fustat, active in the second quarter of the twelfth century. He was the son of Abū Naṣr al-ʿAfṣī, a Fustat merchant attested around the turn of the twelfth century (see T-S 8J21.15, T-S K15.106, Halper 466, and ENA NS I.64). Abū Saʿīd’s commercial correspondence connects him with merchants in Alexandria and Rashīd and, more broadly, with trading networks extending westward toward North Africa and al-Andalus. He dealt especially in drugs, materia medica, dyes, aromatics, wax, and related commodities, including mercury, white lead, saffron, brazilwood, costus, musk, and ambergris. The letters show him receiving goods for sale, purchasing merchandise on behalf of correspondents, and handling proceeds in the Fustat market. He maintained a particularly sustained commercial relationship with Binyām al-Rashīdī, a druggist associated with Rashīd and Alexandria, and also corresponded with other merchants active in Egypt. The nisba al-ʿAfṣī, already borne by his father, was probably a hereditary occupational appellation by Abū Saʿīd’s generation rather than independent evidence for his own specialization.