Letter: ENA 4020.30

Recto

1. In your name, merciful one.
2. I am writing to you — my lord, the lofty elder, may God perpetuate your existence and make your protection and benefactions eternal 
3. and humiliatingly vanquish your enviers and enemies, and not deprive you of great success …
4. … matters, God willing — to inform you, my lord, that 
5. after leaving you on Sunday, I went on foot together with ʿImrān and Ibrāhīm 
6. to Minya looking for a boat. When I did not find one, I set out
7. as I was, walking to Giza and — as God is my witness — I plodded along 
8. until I arrived on Tuesday afternoon almost dead. At the very moment I arrived,
9. there also arrived the riding animals of the amīr. This was the blessing of my staying with you over the Sabbath. I went 
10. on my way and met the elder Abū l-Faḍl and handed over the document to him.
11. He said he didn’t know much himself. Had he not stayed, he wouldn’t have gotten
12. more than what happened to him. He said, “I couldn’t take anything from him, and if I could have, 
13. I would have done it.” I stayed with him for five days. Then Abū ʿImrān — may God keep him alive —
14. realized that this was going to be a drawn-out affair. So he took me to the elder Abū l-Maʿālī 
15. and said to him, “Introduce this man to (the official titled) Tāj al-ʿAjam (diadem of the Persians).” But the elder Abū l- Maʿālī replied, “(Even) the amīr is
16. of lower rank than this one.” So he wrote a note for me to the elder Abū Isḥaq ibn Mubashshir, 
17. who is the head of the bureau of Ibn Qadīsh. (Abū Isḥaq ibn Mubashshir) asked me to sit down until one of his assistants came, 
18. to whom he then said: “Tell Zaʿīm al-Dawla (another official) to clear this man’s produce (of its tax obligation). If not, I myself will serve as the receipt.” 
19. He told Abū ʿImrān, “Go with him.” Indeed — God is my witness — he went down with me to 
20. Fusṭāṭ four times in one day until we found him. He wrote me (a document) to clear (the produce).
21. But then Abū ʿImrān said to him, “I will only accept a clearance for the two (batches of) produce together.” 
22. So he wrote me a clearance for everything, after all this upheaval. But he (also) wrote to the elder Abū Isḥaq, saying, 
23. “Tell him they (the officials) have eaten up my produce and conspired to take all my property. Had it not been for 
24. you, I would not have handed over a single grain of wheat.” Abū ʿImrān said to me, “… 
25. to the elder Abū Naṣr, had there remained anything for him, he would have told me. Perhaps
26. he will take two other books and pawn them.” I found a turban after turning the world upside down. I lodged a complaint with our lord, and what he did for me was not negligible. Don’t ask  

Recto, right margin

1. what I had to go through
2. because of my lord. 
3. He said to me, 
4. “I raised you,
5. and you’re 
6. like a son to me.
7. You’ve disappointed
8. my hopes.”
9. I said
10. to him, “I have no idea 
11. from whom you 
12. …”

Recto, top margin

1. So then your brother-in-law came
2. calling me a liar.
3. He said: “A guy 
4. and a group of people 
5. told me
6. that he 
7. was up to such-
8. and-such." 
9. I swore it to him, 
10. but he wouldn’t 
11. believe me.
12. For God’s sake,
13. for God’s sake,
14. I don’t need 
15. your admonitions!
16. People talk

 

Verso

1. a lot, and God has not granted them blessings. As God is my witness,
2. I sold the threadbare kerchief I used to wear for 13½ dirhāms, and paid 
3. the capitation tax with it. The flax reached your sister … But I didn’t pay a thing for it.
4. I collected five raṭls of flax from Hibba. Your sister sends greetings to your maternal uncle. 
5. Many congratulations on your sister delivering a boy and a girl. But don’t ask 
6. me how she scolds you. Were it not for the fact that I had to stay put because of your maternal uncle,
7. I would come instead of sending this letter, may God ordain life. Enclosed in this 
8. letter is the signature of Zaʿīm ad-Dawla for the release of all the produce, both batches. Kindly 
9. sell them for me for any price God grants, as my situation is not unknown 
10. to you. You — may God keep you alive — know the underground cellar (where it’s stored). The elder
11. Abū ʿAlī reprimands you a lot, saying, “I sent him forty dirhams 
12. in Qāsim’s care with which to buy me barley, but he hasn’t sent any yet.” 
13. Accept for yourself the most perfect greetings. Greetings to my lord Abū Naṣr and to Abū l- … ,
14. and everyone protected by your solicitude [i.e., those to whom you serve as social patron], best greetings and peace. 
15. By God, by God, I do not need your admonitions. If every dog badmouths
16. your honor, do not blame me for this statement of mine. I assure you, had I not heard 
17. lowlives talk badly about you, I would not have told you anything. I have told you all this (already).

Verso, address

1. To my master the elder Abū l-Ḥasan ʿEli, son of Hillel the cantor
2. from his servant Abū Saʿīd Ibn Qaṭāʾif.
3. Convey and you will be rewarded.