State document: Moss. IV,21.3

State document Moss. IV,21.3

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Description

Recto: Petition draft in Judaeo-Arabic. Abū ʿAlī b. Abū l-[ʿIzz al-Yahūdī] kisses the ground before al-maqām al-ʿālī al-sulṭānī al-malikī al-sayfī al-ʿādilī, and reports that he is a poor man and cannot pay even his own capitation tax (al-qiyām bi-l-jāliya) except through the charity of others. He has a brother who owes the capitation tax, and he insists that he is not a guarantor (laysa bi-ḍāmin lahu wa-lā kafīl) for him. He asks for the issuing of a rescript (khurūj al-tawqīʿ) confirming that he should only be liable for his own capitation tax. Verso: Draft of the same petition, it appears, in Arabic script.

Moss. IV,21.3 recto

recto

Transcription

Yusuf Umrethwala and Alan Elbaum, unpublished translations (n.p., 2023).

Recto

  1. אלממלוך אבו עלי אבן אבי אלעז
  2. יקבל אלארץ באלמקאם אלעאלי אלסלטאני
  3. אלמלכי אלסיפי אלעאדלי כלד אללה מלכה
  4. וינהי אנה רגל פקיר לא יקדר עלי אלקיאם
  5. בגאליתה אלא מן צדקאת אלנאס ולה אך
  6. וקד תסחב (=תחסב?) ואלממלוך ליס בטאמן לה
  7. ולא כפיל והו יסאל מן אלמראחם כרוג
  8. אתלוקיע אלעאל בחמלה עלי אלעדל
  9. ואלשרע פי אן לא יטלב אלא בגאליה
  10. נפסה פקד הלך מן אלכבי ואלגוע ואלראי
  11. אעלא אן שא אללה תע

Translation

Yusuf Umrethwala, unpublished translations (n.p., 2023).
  1. The slave Abū ʿAlī b. Abī l-ʿIzz
  2. Kisses the ground in the elated, mighty,
  3. powerful, brave, and just presence [of al-ʿĀdil] may God perpetuate his reign
  4. and he conveys that he is a poor man who cannot afford
  5. to pay his capitation tax except with the charity of others and he has…
  6. …….the slave doesn’t have a guarantor
  7. or a mentor, and he asks from [your] benefaction the issuance
  8. of the noble decree that adjudicates him with justice
  9. and law, and that he is not demanded except his capitation tax
  10. Indeed, he has perished because of hiding and hunger. And the lofty
  11. resolution, God willing.