Legal document: T-S Misc.29.24

Recto 

1. In the name of God, the merciful and compassionate, his blessings and peace be  upon our lord Muḥammad, his prophet and his  family.  

2. This is what Efrayim ibn ʿEli, the Jew, leased from Abū al-Futūḥ Ghālib ibn Fahd,  the clerk in charge of the government foundations and aḥkār administered in the  office of prosperous Friday and neighbourhood mosques in Fusṭāṭ, under the  supervision of the elder [Bū al-Ḥasan ʿAlī ibn Aḥmad ibn]  

3. Muḥammad ibn ʿUbaydallāh al-Qāʾifī, the certified witness, the supervisor of what  is administered in this office. He leased from him, with one clapping of the hands and one contract, all the plot of land, the government quarter, the mound, bare to the sky, which is on the island of Fusṭāṭ - Miṣr, on the bank of the Nile between  the aforementioned island  

4. and the Jīza of Fusṭāṭ - Miṣr, It is surrounded and enclosed by four boundaries.  The southern one extends to the cemetery and the plot rented by the rayyis Bū al-Tāḥir ibn al-Bayān. The northern extends to the plot rented by 'Adwa ibnat  'Askar and the small house of Ibn ʿAbd aI-Ḥākim and one of  

5. the two small houses of the sponge-seller, which are administered by this office and which are situated on the aforementioned bank of the Nile. The eastern  extends to the road that divides it from various places and. that leads to mosques  that are situated there, the house of the rayyis Bū ʿAlī ibn al-Bayān, the plot rented by the tanner, the tannery that is situated there,  

6. the aforementioned two small houses of the sponge seller <and other> places and  roads. The western one extends to the bank of the Nile near the land of the  jīza of Fusṭāṭ- Miṣr. Its being granted as a ḥikr was minuted on the back of the  petition concerning it (sent by) this lessee named herein to the Judge and certified witness [ ] Abū al-Ḥasan Muḥammad ibn Hibatallāh ibn al-Ḥasan,  

7. the head of the office of prosperous Friday and neighbourhood mosques in al-Muʿizziyya - Cairo, the guarded, and in Fusṭāṭ, of the mawārīth al-ḥashriyya  and  of the auspicious granaries, may God make eternal the rule of the one who rules  them. Its (the petition's) content, omitting the initial blessing, has the following form:  

8. His slave reports [to that on the island of Fusṭāṭ] - Miṣr, there is a  plot of land, a mound, [ without buildings], bare to the sky, on the bank of the  Nile near Gīza that he desires to lease, paying whatever ground rent by fixed  instalments and optional deposit in advance as is customary in  

9. such cases. [ ] It was endorsed on its verso [Let] the  office [look] into that, if God wills. Then the following statement was written:  The case was referred to the office of mosques [ ] and it was indicated  that  

10. it was the custom to [let as ḥikr the lands] and plots of ground that.  [ ] .in the lands of the jazīra of Fusṭāṭ- Miṣr, and they constitute  assets of this aforementioned office and are within the purview of my master, the  Judge [ ]  

11.  if God wills. It was written in the first ten days of Ṣafar, of the year five-hundred  and nine. He, in turn, made an endorsement addressed to the aforementioned  office, the text of which is as follows: My master, the elder, Bū al-Ḥasan ʿAlī ibn  Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad ibn ʿUbaydallāh al-Qā​​ʾifī, supervisor of the government  quarters administered in the office of mosques [ ]  

12. let him take cognizance of what the petition on its recto contains and what is  stated by the office on its verso. Let him examine the land for which the lease  has been requested and (establish) whether it is administered in this office,  whether it is land that is permitted to be let publically as a ḥikr, whether the rent  of its property and objects of value has been fixed ... [ ]  

13. with a specific rent, then request from the office verification as to what the customary procedure is in such matters and apprise me of this so that I may  execute it, God willing. The supervising witness named herein replied with the  following note, headed by his name: I have obeyed what my master, the glorious  judge - 

14.  may God prolong his life, cause to endure his support, his brilliance, his success and his wide influence and crush his enemies - instructed in his minute above and  I have taken cognizance of what is at the top of the recto and on the verso of  this document. I inspected the area that is alluded to in it and I found that it was  bare, without buildings on it,  

15. and that it was permissible to grant it as a ḥikr. I measured it and its  measurement was, from the south side to the north side, thirty cubits and, from  the east side to the west side, forty cubits, with sides equal in length, according to  the (length of) cubit that is in current use. Two dirhams a month have been fixed  by way of ground rent for the applicant  

16. and he has made an optional advance deposit of five dīnārs of good alloy  [ ] granting a ḥikr, and the aḥkār of the island in which this plot  is situated are administered by this office and it (the island) does not have any aḥkār belonging to other offices. In what has been fixed by way of ground rent  and will be paid in advance  

17.  .. ... [ ] ....... [ ] ...... [ ] in the year five-hundred and nine.  Then after this the head of the aforementioned office added a minute instructing  that it be registered in the office, that the documents of lease be written and that  one of these be archived  

18. for the office [ ] . [ ] .. this lessee undertaking this ḥikr mentioned herein in these terms, for a period of ten [complete,  consecutive years],  

19. starting the beginning of Ṣafar of the year five-hundred and nine and finishing  the end Muḥarram of the year five-hundred and nineteen, for  [ which] constitute currency in Fusṭāṭ- Miṣr, in its celebrated land,  reckoning at twenty-four dirhams a year [ ]  

20. [and] this lessee undertaking a ḥikr has made an optional deposit in advance to  the office for the ḥikr mentioned herein of five dīnārs and [ ] . the order of payment from the office fully ratified by signatures, as is the custom in  such cases. [ ] handed over [everything]  

21. that this ḥikr lease mentioned herein entailed and this lessee undertaking the ḥikr received it from him in the customary way and it passed into his possession,  his hold and his tenancy. His right to use it came into force and also his right to  the freedom of action that is customarily granted to those undertaking a ḥikr in  connection with their ḥikr, without anyone obstructing

22. or preventing, and his right to build upon it buildings of any kind he chooses, to plant any type of plantation he wishes and to dig a well, if he wishes. He will be free, regarding any of these undertakings, to lease, receive rent, sell and receive a  price after the office has received  

23. what is owed to it in dues, at the times that they fall due, without delay,  withholding or protesting unfeasibility of cultivation, inability to deal with it,  impracticability, excess cost of building or anything else whatsoever.  

24. These terms will hold throughout the period of this lease until its end. When it ends the status of what he builds is that of buildings owned on ḥikr land. This was after they had acknowledged seeing what this lease entailed and recognizing  

25. it. They mutually contracted that [ and] separated physically after it was  completed and came into force, mutually satisfied with it and executing its  provisions. Should any claim be made against this lessee undertaking the ḥikr with respect to what this lease contained  

26. by anyone, [it is the duty of the office] of Friday and neighbourhood mosques [to  hand over what is due] to him. The acknowledgement by the lessor granting the ḥikr and of the lessee undertaking the ḥikr of what is contained herein was  witnessed, after it had been read to them and they had acknowledged  [understanding it ]  

27. in sound health, their actions being legal and acting willingly. This was (written)  in six identical copies in the last ten days of Ṣafar, in the year five-hundred and nine. The following corrections and additions should be made: 'the rights of action inherent in a lease', (this is) the correct (text); "Eli', to be corrected, (this being)  the correct (text) herein. Each of these [was witnessed ]  

28.  'from the southern side to the northern forty cubits, and this is (also) the  measurement from the eastern to the western, according to the cubit in common use'. This was witnessed. Valid.  

Witness Clauses 

1. ʿAlī ibn Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad ibn ʿUbaydallāh al-Qāʾifī testified  

2. to the acknowledgement by the lessor granting the ḥikr and by the lessee  undertaking the ḥikr of what is contained herein, on its date. Valid.  

3. Ibrāhīm ibn Aḥmad ibn Manṣūr testified to [the acknowledgement by the lessor  granting the ḥikr]  

4. and by the lessee undertaking the ḥikr of what is contained herein, on its date, in  his own hand.  

5. Al-Ḥusayn ibn Musāfir ibn al-Ḥusayn ibn Muḥammad testified  

6. to the acknowledgement by the lessor granting the ḥikr and by the lessee undertaking the ḥikr of what is contained herein, on its date.  

7.  ʿAlī ibn Ḥusayn ibn Hibatallāh testified to the acknowledgement  

8. by the lessor granting the ḥikr and by the lessee undertaking the ḥikr of what is  contained herein, on its date. Valid.  

9. Murshid ibn Yaḥyā ibn al-Qāsim aI-Madanī testified  

10. to the acknowledgement by the lessor granting the ḥikr [and by the lessee  undertaking the ḥikr of what is herein, on its date.]  

Verso 

1. In the name of God, the merciful and compassionate. Praise be to God alone and  his blessings be upon our lord Muḥammad and his pure family and save them.  

2. Abū al-Ḥusayn ʿEli ibn Abī Saʿd 'Efrayim ibn ʿEli, the Jewish sawduster, son of  the buyer named on the recto and his heir, acknowledged, 

3-5. in the presence of the witnesses of this supplementary document, calling them to testify, while acting willingly, in sound health and legally capable of conducting  his affairs, (acknowledged) that all the buildings that this day stand upon the plot  described and defined on the recto and the wells and plantations on it have passed  from his possession and have been transferred from his ownership to the  ownership of his son ʿAlī, by way of the seller, his uncle, according to his  stipulation, Abū al-Ḥasan ʿAlī ibn ​​Ḥusayn, known as ibn Ḥayyūn, the cashier in  the auspicious dār al-wakāla, by the right of his purchasing it from him for his son [the aforementioned ʿAlī,, the one for whom the acknowledgement was made]  with his money, which  

6. is in his possession, with a valid purchase, as the document of sale, the date of  which is the same as that of this supplementary document, testifies [ ]  …[ ]  

7. the price, which is one hundred and forty dīnārs, full weight, of good alloy  [ after ]  

8. seeing (the property), acknowledgement and warranty against fault in title. This  acknowledger no longer has any right to his property, or to any part thereof, [nor  any claim, on account of ]  

9. nor (on account of) a price, a value, or any type of landed or mobile property,  either real or [notional].  

10. The one for whom the acknowledgement was made accepted all that from him  with a valid acceptance. The acknowledgement by the acknowledger and the one  for whom the acknowledgement was made of what is contained herein was  witnessed. [That was in the last ten days]  

11. of Shaʿbān, in the year five-hundred and thirty-two. There are corrections that are  to be added at the end of the document, as follows: ‘His son, the aforementioned  ʿAlī, the one for whom the acknowledgement was made, with his money, which was in  

12. his possession, by a valid purchase’. This abrogates the other text. Valid. ‘And this  price, with which he made the purchase for his son, the one for whom the  acknowledgement was made, passed into his care from the money of his son's mother,  

13. who transferred it to him’. Valid. ‘By way of the seller, his uncle, according to  what he stipulated’. Valid.  

Witness Clauses 

1. Muḥammad ibn ʿAlī ibn Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad al-Qāʾifī testified  

2. to the acknowledgement by the acknowledger named in this verso 

3.  of what is contained herein and on the recto in Shaʿbān,   

4.  in the year five-hundred and thirty-two.  

5. Hibatallāh ibn Yaḥyā ibn Muḥammad ibn Jābir testified to the acknowledgment 

6. by the acknowledger of what is contained herein and on the recto in Shaʿbān, in  the year five-hundred and thirty-two.