Letter: Unknown (excavation images 1974_P04_08A-09 and 1974_P04_09A-10)

Letter Unknown (excavation images 1974_P04_08A-09 and 1974_P04_09A-10)

Metadata

Shelfmark
Unknown (excavation images 1974_P04_08A-09 and 1974_P04_09A-10)
Primary Language
Arabic

What's in the PGP

  • 1 Transcription
  • 1 Translation

Description

Letter from Ibrāhīm b. ʿAbd al-Raḥmān(?) to ʿUbayd Allāh ʿAlī, probably the secretary (kātib) of the eparch Uruwī in Qaṣr Ibrīm. The sender asks the addressee to intercede with the eparch on his behalf in order to obtain a continuation of the favors which he had previously enjoyed under Uruwī's father, the eparch Īsū. Khan notes that recto l. 3 may read وزير مولاى الملك, and that the readings احد دينار and عبد الرحمن on verso are uncertain. Alternative readings (ASE): In r6 it is possible to read الكتاب (the letter) instead of الله وسلامته. In r7 it is possible to read تاخير (delay) instead of باخير. In r11 it is possible to read من اهل قرما (from the people of Qarmā) instead of كذا هل فزنا. Al-Masʿūdī lists the Qarma (spelled القرمة) as one of the tribes of the Sūdān along with the Marīs and the Beja among many others (https://dhspriory.org/kenny/NWAfrA/NWMas%60udi.htm). The name may or may not be related to the ancient site of Kerma, north of Dongola. Khan, Qaṣr Ibrīm, doc. 27.

Related People

Mentioned
Master of the Shipmasts, Abū l-Khayr Uruwī ibn Khiyākh
Recipient
ʿUbayd Allāh ʿAlī al-Kātib

Related Places

Destination
Ibrīm

Tags

Additional metadata

Collection
Museum of Islamic Art in Cairo, Qaṣr Ibrīm
Input date
In PGP since 2025
Image
Transcription
Translation

Unknown (excavation images 1974_P04_08A-09 and 1974_P04_09A-10) recto

°
recto
Geoffrey Khan, Arabic Documents from Medieval Nubia (University of Cambridge and Open Book Publishers, 2024).

Recto

  1. بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
  2. العبد يسل حضرة مولاى الشيخ الاجل الكاتب ادام الله عزه
  3. قبول يدى مولاى الاجل صاحب الخيل روى بن مولاى الاجل [يسو]
  4. عبده وعبد ابوه قبله ويعلمه توصل كتاب حضرته الى عبده
  5. ووقفه عليه وما يمنع العبد ان يكتب الى حضرته كتاب
  6. الا انه لم يبق مع عبده شى فينفذه مع الله وسلامته
  7. فهو الذى اوجب باخير كتاب عبده اليه حق يمتع
  8. له فى العدن والعبد يسل حضرته ان تكتب كتاب
  9. لـ{ـلـ}ـعبد يكون بيده تذكر فيه الخليفة بتى
  10. وصاحب السوارى ان لا يسمعوا قول احد
  11. كذا هل فزنا على عبده فى المحال والخفى عليك
  12. اصحاب ذلك القول وممن يانس سو كذا هو واريد
  13. من مولاى فى الكتاب يذكر فيه الى عقيل العجمانى
  14. تعرف فيه فى مواضعى وفى عبيدى وحراثين الذين
  15. لى وتعرف بتى الخليفة وصاحب السوارى فى حالى
  16. حتى يرجع مولاى ان شا الله من سفره فريت
  17. انا اصعد اليه ان شا الله والعبد يسل
  18. مولاى الشيخ عبيد الله ان يحرضه باخذ لى كتاب
  19. وينفذه الى مع صاحب السوارى
Geoffrey Khan, Arabic Documents from Medieval Nubia (University of Cambridge and Open Book Publishers, 2024).
  1. In the name of God the Merciful and Compassionate.
  2. The slave asks my honourable master, the sublime elder, the secretary, may God cause his strength to endure,
  3. to kiss the hands of my sublime master, the Master of the Horses, (U)ruwī, the son of my sublime master [Īsū],
  4. (the slave writing the letter being) his (the eparch’s) slave and the slave of his father before him, and informs him (the secretary) that the letter of your honour has reached his slave (the writer)
  5. and he has read it. The only thing preventing the slave (the writer) from sending your honour a letter (earlier)
  6. is that the slave (the writer) no longer had the means to send it safely.
  7. He (the secretary) is the one most deserving of the best letter of the slave (the writer), which would give him (the secretary) the right to enjoy
  8. Eden. The slave (the writer) requests his honour to write a letter
  9. to the slave (the writer) so that it be in his hand and mention in it the lieutenant Peti
  10. and the Master of the Shipmasts (asking them) not to listen to anybody saying
  11. things like “Have we triumphed over his slave in the (trading) places?” It has been hidden from you who
  12. the people saying this are. It is like somebody with malicious intent. I request
  13. my master (to write) a letter in which this is mentioned to ʿUqayl al-ʿAjmānī
  14. in which you inform him of my situation, my slaves, and my cultivators
  15. and you inform the lieutenant Peti and the Master of the Shipmasts about my situation
  16. before my master (the eparch) returns from his journey, God willing. I have decided
  17. to go up to meet him, God willing. The slave will ask
  18. my master, the elder ʿUbayd Allāh, to encourage him (the secretary) to draft a letter for me
  19. and send it to me with the Master of the Shipmasts.

Unknown (excavation images 1974_P04_08A-09 and 1974_P04_09A-10) verso

°
verso

Verso

  1. فهو اكبر حاجة لى عند مولاى وانا قد كنت فى
  2. ايام والده مولاى صاحب الخيل ما تعرض احد
  3. الى فى شى وانا عزيز والقدوم ليسل حضرة مولاى
  4. ان يجرينى على ما كان والده اجرانى عليه ورعيتم
  5. منى الدعا الصالح المشا وحسن الشاكر ان يصل
  6. مع السلامة وقد انفذت اليه مع صاحب
  7. السوارى سنخرجه احد دينار حق عين
  8. لمولاى الشيخ عبيد الله والسلام عليك
  9. وحسبنا الله ونعم الوكيل

Verso - address

  1. حضرته مولاى الكاتب عبيد الله
  2. على كاتب صاحب الخيل
  3. من عبده
  4. ابرهيم بن عبد الرحمن

Verso

  1. This is what I need the most from my master (the eparch).
  2. In the days of his father, my master, the Master of the Horses, nobody opposed
  3. me in anything. I am well respected and (request) that he goes to ask my honourable master (the eparch)
  4. to treat me in the same way that his father treated me. Please be aware
  5. that I pray sincerely and with kind gratitude that it (the letter)
  6. will arrive safely. I have sent (this letter) to him with the Master of
  7. the Shipmasts and we shall request him to pay one dīnār as cash commission
  8. to my master the elder ʿUbayd Allāh. Greetings to you.
  9. Our sufficiency is God. What a fine keeper is He!

Verso - address

  1. My honourable master, the secretary, ʿUbayd Allāh
  2. ʿAlī, the secretary of the Master of the Horses.
  3. From his slave
  4. Ibrāhīm ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān.
Museum of Islamic Art in Cairo, Qaṣr Ibrīm, Unknown (excavation images 1974_P04_08A-09 and 1974_P04_09A-10). Available online through the Princeton Geniza Project at https://geniza.princeton.edu/documents/40699/ (accessed December 7, 2025).