Letter: ENA NS 75.11

Description

Letter fragment in Judaeo-Arabic. Rudimentary hand and spellings. Concerning an audience with a state official, potentially even the caliph, based on the involvement of the Ṣāḥib al-Sitr ("a curtain behind which the Fāṭimid caliph was concealed at the opening of the audience session (majlis) and which was then removed by a special servant (ṣāḥib/mutawallī al-sitr) in order to unveil the enthroned ruler" (H. Halm, "Sitr," EI2)). The letter is fragmentary and the full context is lacking. Mentions the writing of a petition (ruqʿa), then officials including [...] al-Riyāsa Ḥaydara, then "they were standing before us and arranged for us on Monday another session (majlis) in the antechamber (dihlīz), and they were the ones who advised the governor (wālī), so I gave a petition to the master of the veil (ṣāḥib al-sitr)...." Dating is uncertain; likely 11th century, but it is worth noting that "dihlīz" became a term for the military tent where the sultan would receive petitioners beginning in the late Ayyubid period (see A. Fuess, "Between dihlīz and dār al-ʿadl: Forms of outdoor and indoor royal representation at the Mamluk court in Egypt," in Court Cultures in the Muslim World, 2011). ASE