State document: T-S Ar.51.106
State document T-S Ar.51.106Tags
Description
State document. Petition to a Fatimid official titled ʿAmīd al-Dawla requesting that the state seize the petitioner's properties in Palestine because they are not producing revenue and are essentially abandoned, and the petitioner doesn’t want to incur further liability on them. This probably dates to just before the reassignment of iqṭāʿ properties in 1107-1108 CE, when state revenues had dwindled and government officials were harassing the owners of iqṭāʿāt for revenue. A Fatimid state official by the title ʿAmīd al-Dawla appears in at least seven documents (see: T-S AS 145.353, BL OR 5561A.2, ENA NS 48.20, CUL Or.1080 J156, T-S 10J21.10, and T-S 10J23.2). One was active during the reign of al-Ẓāhir and toward the beginning of the reign of al-Mustanṣir and was a close associate of the wazīr al-Yāzūrī (al-Maqrīzī, ʾIttiʿāẓ II, 161, 243). He also appears on a state document dated to 1024–27 CE along with Tāj al-Dawla (see BL OR 5561A.2 and cf. T-S K25.214). The second official by the same title appears mostly in Judaeo-Arabic documents dated around 1140–50 and was a Jewish state official named Yiṣḥaq b. Yosef. On verso there is Hebrew liturgical poetry. (Information from CUDL and YU).
Edition: Khan, Geoffrey
Translation: Khan, Geoffrey (in English)
T-S Ar.51.106 1r
Transcription
Geoffrey Khan, Arabic Legal and Administrative Documents in the Cambridge Genizah Collections (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1993).Recto
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والاجحاف به وبهم والظلم له ولهم وعدل الدولة النبوية خلد الله ملكها وحرس عزها
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ومولاي الاجل عميد الدولة ادام الله نعماه وكبت حاسديه واعداه يمنعا من ذلك ويعاقبا من
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يفعله ومملوكه يجدد السوال لشريف حضرته حرسها الله في التقدم
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بقبض هذه الاملاك من مملوكه واعفاه مما لعله يتعلق بها في ديوان جند فلسطين من
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بقية وتبعة وبلية وترك التاول عليه والاعنات لينحسم بذلك عنه الظلم الذي خالفه
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احسانا اليه وانعاما عليه وقد كتب مملوكه رقعة ثالثة الى الحضرة السامية
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جعلها طي كتابه هذا مولاه الاجل عميد الدولة ادام الله نعمته وكبت حسدته
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ينعم بالوقوف عليه وعليها ويتطول بالتوقيع بقبضها والتوفر على عمارتها
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وفي ذلك حظ لبيت المال المشمول بالعز وحسن نظر لمملوكه لانها الساعة لا لمملوكه
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ولا لبيت المال توكل وتنهب ولا يرتفع لها ارتفاع بوجه ولا سبب
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فان راى مولاي الاجل عميد الدولة اطال الله بقاه وادام سموه وارتقاه وتاييده
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وعلاه وتمكينه ونعماه وكبت بالذل والصغار حسدته وعداه الانعام على مملوكه
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بالوقوف على كتابه والتامل لخطابه واجابة سواله وتصديق ظنونه واماله
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احسانا اليه وتصدقا عليه وتشريفه باوامره العالية ونواهيه السامية وما .[ ]
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عنده من خدمة وينهي اليه من مراسمه فعل منعما ان شا الله عز [و]جل وبه الثقة ونستعيـ[ـن]
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[الحـ]ـمد لله رب العلمين وصلواته سبحانه [ ر]سولـ[ـه ]
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[ ]. الاراوعـ[ ]...[ ]...[ ]
Translation
Geoffrey Khan, Arabic Legal and Administrative Documents in the Cambridge Genizah Collections (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1993).Recto
- ... harm and wrong done to him and to them. The justice of the prophetic dynasty, may God make its reign eternal and protect its strength,
- and of my great master ʿAmīd al-Dawla, may God cause his happiness to endure and crush those who envy him and his enemies, will prevent that and punish those
- who perpetrate it. His slave again requests his noble presence, may God guard him, to give instructions
- for the repossession of these properties from his slave and remitting from him whatever arrears, claim or damage maybe associated with them in the office of the military district of Palestine
- and the putting a stop to the suspicion against him and the oppression, so that the injustice that has beset him may thereby be discontinued,
- as a kind act and a benefaction for him. His slave has written a third petition to the lofty presence,
- which he has enclosed within this missive. Would his great lord ʿAmīd al-Dawla, may God cause his bounty to endure and crush those who envy him,
- kindly take cognizance of them and munificently issue a rescript commanding that possession be taken of them and that the (necessary) repairs on them be undertaken.
- This would constitute a favour for the mighty fiscus and kind consideration for his slave, since at the moment they are administered neither by his slave
- nor by the fiscus. They are being plundered and do not yield any income by any means.
- If my great lord ʿAmid al-Dawla—may God prolong his life, cause to endure his loftiness, eminence, support,
- sublimity, power and happiness and crush with humility and contempt those who envy him and his foes—should resolve to do his slave the kindness
- of considering his missive carefully, responding to his request and realizing his expectations and hopes,
- as a benefaction to him and as an act of charity, and honour him with his lofty commands and his exalted prohibitions or [ ]
- service for him and communicate his orders to him - let him kindly do so, by the will of God, he is great and mighty, him we trust and ask for succour.
- [Praise] be to God, the lord of the Universe, and his blessings, praise him, [ ] his prophet [ ]