State document: T-S Ar.40.37

State document T-S Ar.40.37

Metadata

Shelfmark
T-S Ar.40.37
Document Date
Primary Language
Arabic

What's in the PGP

  • Image
  • 1 Transcription
  • 1 Translation

Description

Decree (manshūr) issued by the caliph al-Hafiz on 21 Rajab 528/1133 to stop two cases of malpractice which were adversely affecting the Delta province of al-Nastarawiyya. Merchants from al-Nastarawiyya who traveled to the neighboring coastal regions to buy goods were being mistreated by government officials and their business was being disrupted; and fishermen from al-Gharbiyya province were fishing illegally along the shores of Lake Burullus within the territory of al-Nastarawiyya, causing financial harm to the ḍamān for fisheries held by ḍāmins from al-Nastarawiyya (and thus to the fisc). (Khan, 1986, p. 441) This version of the decree was copied onto a bifolio in the chancery for storage in its archives; for more on this process and the relationship of compact archival decrees to monumental rotuli, see Rustow, The Lost Archive, 326–34. See also T-S Ar.39.304 (PGPID 20876).

Related People

Legal and state personnel
Al-Ḥāfiẓ (caliph), Muʿizz al-Dawla wa-Shujāʿuhā

Related Places

Mentioned
Alexandria, Al-Nastarāwiyya (region), Burullus

Tags

Additional metadata

Collection
Cambridge University Library, Taylor-Schechter
Historical shelfmarks
TS Arabic Box 40, fol. 37; TS Arabic Box 40, f. 37
Input date
In PGP since 2017
Image
Transcription
Translation

T-S Ar.40.37 1v

°
1v
Geoffrey Khan, Arabic Legal and Administrative Documents in the Cambridge Genizah Collections (Cambridge University Press, 1993).

Verso, left side (1 recto in Khan's edition)

  1. رسم فى رعاية أرباب المراكب بالنستراوية والمنع من سخـ[ـرة مراكبهم]
  2. ومنع من يتعرض الصيد بالشطوط
  3. من اهل الغربية
  4. Mark
  5. منشور كريم
  6. ثبت باعلاه العلامة بالخط الشريف
  7.          الحمد لله رب العالم
  8.                 نسخته
  9. لما انتهى الى حضرة امير المومنين ان التجار
  10. ارباب المراكب المُقيمين بلاعمال النستراوية وما معها
  11. يترددون الى سواحل البحور البحيرية والشرقية
  12. والغربية وثغر الاسكندرية حماها الله
  13. لابتياع ما يبتاعونه من الاعمال المذكورة وان

Verso, right side (2 verso in Khan's edition)

  1. من يتطرق الى ما هو محظور منها عليه وممنوع منه
  2. ويستبيح ما هو غير مباح له وليعتمد الامير المختار
  3.      وكافة الامرا الولاة والمستخدمين
  4. ناهض ديوانها سلمه الله العمل بما في هذا
  5. المنشور من الاوامر والنواهي وليقف عند حدود
  6. مجلسه وقوف المبايع في الطاعة المتناهى
  7. وليقصد بانجاز اصلاح التجار وصيانتهم من
  8. كل اذيّة واضرار واجرا امور الضُمان
  9. في ضمانهم واستيفا حقوقهم على القانون المحمود
  10. المـ[ـعمور (؟)] بعد ما ثبت هذا المنشور في ديوان النظر

Verso, right side, margin

  1. الحافظى السعيد وثبوته بحيث يثبت مثله وكتب لتسع بقين من شهر ربيع الاول 
  2. سنة ثمان وعشرين وخمسمائة
Geoffrey Khan, Arabic Legal and Administrative Documents in the Cambridge Genizah Collections (Cambridge University Press, 1993).

Verso, left side 

  1. A decree has been made concerning the protection of the shipowners in al-Nastarāwiyya and the prevention of the requisitioning of their vessels
  2. and the prevention of people from al-Ġarbiyya
  3. from fishing along the shore.
  4. Mark
  5. A gracious decree.
  6. At the top there is the motto (written) in the noble hand:
  7. Praise be to God, lord of the universe.
  8. Its copy.
  9. Since it has been reported to the presense of the commander of the faithful that merchant
  10. shipowners living in the province of al-Nastarāwiyya and in towns bordering upon this region
  11. are travelling to the sea coasts of al-Buḥayra, al-Šarqiyya,
  12. al-Ġarbiyya and the frontier region of Alexandria - may God protect her -
  13. to make purchases from the said provinces and that

Verso, right side

  1. those who seek to gain access to anything thereof that is forbidden to them or that is disallowed
  2. and those who regard as permissible what is not permissible for them. Let the chosen ʾamīr,
  3. (3–4) the diligent representative of its dīwān - may God save it - (and all the ʾamīrs, governors and employees) ensure that
  5. the commands and prohibitions contained in this decree are carried out. Let him stand within the bounds of
  6. his office in loyalty and absolute obedience,
  7. and let him seek to ameliorate the lot of the merchants, protect them from, 
  8. all harm and damage, set right the affairs of the ḍāmins
  9. in their ḍamān and levy their dues in full according to the praiseworthy and prospering law.
  10. (Let this be done) after this decree has been registered in the auspicious office of inspection

Verso, right side, margin

  1. of al-Ḥāfiẓ and its registration where such documents are registered. It was written when nine days remained of the month Rabīʿ I,
  2. in the year five-hundred and twenty-eight.

T-S Ar.40.37 1r

°
1r

Recto, right side (1 verso in Khan's edition)

  1. الولاة والشادّين والمستخدمين يعنتونهم ويسخرون
  2. مراكبهم فيضيع ما معهم من التجارة فيطرحونها
  3. على سواحل البحور المنقطعة بحيث لا يومن عليها
  4. ويكون ذلك سبباً مودياً الى وقوف احوالهم
  5. وانكسارهم وان الصيادين الخارجين عن هذه الاعمال
  6. المقيمين بلاعمال الغربية يصطادون في شطوط
  7. البحيرة بالاعمال المذكورة فتقع من ذلك جميعه
  8. المضرة على الضُمان ومال الديوان انكر كُلّ

Recto, left side (2 recto in Khan's edition)

  1. مضرّة تقع على التجار وكل اذيّةٍ تتجه على
  2. الضمان وخرج عالى امره بكتب هذا المنشور وتلاوته
  3. مراعاة التجار المترددين وحفظهم وصونهم
  4. من سُخرة المراكب التي تكُون حاملة بضايعهم
  5. وموسقة متاجرهم والشد منهم في
  6. تسليم ما يبيعونه ومنع من يوذي الضُمّان
  7. في ضمانهم ونهى من يتعرض لسواحل اعمالهم
  8. ممن ليس هو من معاملهم والانكار علي

Recto, right side

  1. the governors, the šādds and the government employees are mistreating them and are requisitioning
  2. their ships, with the result that their merchandise is being lost, for they are dumping it
  3. on the isolated seashores where it cannot be protected,
  4. and this is causing disruption to their trade
  5. and their ruin; and (since it has been reported) that fishermen from outside this province
  6. living in the province of al-al-Ġarbiyya are fishing along the shores
  7. of the lake in the said province and all this is causing
  8. damage to the ḍāmins and to the finances of the dīwān - he was displeased with all

Recto, left side

  1. the harm that is befalling the merchants and all the damage that is being done to
  2. the ḍāmins and his exalted order was issued for this decree to be written and for it to be read out in public.
  3. (It enjoins) the safeguarding of the travelling merchants and their defence and protection,
  4. the prevention of the requisitioning of the ships that are carrying their goods
  5. and are loaded with their merchandise, the granting to them of the power to
  6. deliver what they wish to sell, the checking of anyone who harms the ḍāmins
  7. in their ḍamān, the prevention of people who are not their tenants from encroaching upon the shore of the province
  8. and the outlawing of
Image Permissions Statement
  • T-S Ar.40.37: Provided by Cambridge University Library. Zooming image © Cambridge University Library, All rights reserved. This image may be used in accord with fair use and fair dealing provisions, including teaching and research. If you wish to reproduce it within publications or on the public web, please contact genizah@lib.cam.ac.uk.
Cambridge University Library, Taylor-Schechter, T-S Ar.40.37. Available online through the Princeton Geniza Project at https://geniza.princeton.edu/documents/8264/ (accessed September 6, 2026).