State document: T-S K2.96

State document T-S K2.96

Metadata

Shelfmark
T-S K2.96
Inferred Date
Primary Language
Arabic

What's in the PGP

  • Image
  • 1 Transcription
  • 1 Translation

Description

Petition to Saladin from ʿAbd al-Bāqī b. Yaḥyā, the Jew, a resident of Malīj, in the province of al-Gharbiyya, in the Delta. Dating: ca. 564–89 AH, which is 1169–93 CE. The petitioner complains about the tax collectors, who forced him to leave his family and job and to work for them, and asks for the issuing of a rescript that would allow him to go back to his town and family. On verso is an answer to the petition maintaining that since ʿAbd al-Bāqī b. Yaḥyā had some experience as a tax collector, he could not avoid this service. Also on verso is a work on calendar reckoning mentioning the maḥzorim, the moladot and the different kinds of Hebrew year; names of the months of the year in the Julian(!) calendar and the numbers of their days are written vertically on the leaf. The column on the far right on the verso is a list of calendar-related values in Coptic alphanumerals, numbered 1-19 for each year of the Jewish calendar cycle number 260, then ten values for 10, 20 etc. cycles until 100 cycles; then ten values for 100, 200, until 1000 cycles; and finally ten values for 1000, 2000, until 10,000 cycles, a calculation for 190,000 years ahead. There are also a few draft lines of some phrases contained in the petition that appears on verso, and a list of figures in the marginalia. (Information from Khan and from Sacha Stern) See also T-S Misc.28.191 (PGPID 23409).

Related People

Recipient
Salāḥ al-Dīn al-Ayyūbī

Related Places

Mentioned
Malīj

Tags

Additional metadata

Provenance
Geniza
Collection
Cambridge University Library, Taylor-Schechter
Historical shelfmarks
TS Box K, 2, fol. 96; TS K, 2, f. 96; TS Box K, 2, f. 96; TS K, 2, fol. 96
Input date
In PGP since 2018
Image
Transcription
Translation

T-S K2.96 1v

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

Verso, upper margin

  1. ⟦ناصر⟧
  2. ناصح الدين اسحق

Verso

  1.              المملوك 

  2.              عبد الباقى بن يحيى اليهودى 

  3.              المقيم بلمليج

  4. بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم 

  5. خلد الله تعالى ملك المجلس العالى السامى السيدي الاجلي الملك الناصر 

  6. جامع كلمة الايمان قامع عبدة الصلبان صلاح الدنيا والدين

  7. سلطان الاسلام والمسلمين محيى دولة امير المومنين وادام قدرته

  8. واعلا كلمته    المملوك يقبل الارض وينهى انه رجل صعلوك

  9. ذو عائلة واطفال يتمعش بين ظهور المسلمين بمليج باعمال الغربية

  10. ويقوم بجزيته الواجبة عليه وما بينه وبين احد معاملة الا يسل الخير

  11. وقد قصد فى هذا الوقت بلاضرار والاذية من قبل المستخدمين فى 

  12. الجوالى ونزقوا منه ان بيطلوه عن معيشته ويجعلوه جابى لهم 

  13. ومعرف ولم تجر بذلك عادة عليه من قط من ستين سنة والى الان 

  14. وعدل المولا يمنع من اضراره وتبطيله عن معيشته ويسل 

  15. فى خروج التوقيع العالى زاده الله نفاذا الى كافة المستخدمين فى 

  16. جباية الجوالى باعمال الغربية بازالة الاعتراض عنه ولا يحدث عليه

  17. حادث وحمله فيما انباه على قضية العدل والانصاف

  18. ليجد السبيل الى مقامه بوطنه وعائلته واطفاله ويقر التوقيع العالى بيده

  19. انعاما عليه واحسانا اليه 

  20. الحمد لله وحده وصلواته على سيدنا محمد نبينا وسلم تسليما

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

Verso upper margin

  1. Nāsiḥ al-Dīn Isḥaq

Verso

  1. The slave
  2. ʿAbd al-Bāqī ibn Yaḥyā the Jew,
  3. who lives in Malīj.
  4. In the name of God, the merciful and compassionate.
  5. May God, the exalted, perpetuate the rule of the exalted and lofty seat, the mighty lord aI-Malik al-Nāṣir,
  6. uniter of the word of the faith, conqueror of the servants of the cross, Salāḥ al-Dunyā wa-al-Dīn,
  7. sultan of Islam and the Muslims, reviver of the dynasty of the commander of the faithful, and cause his power to endure
  8. and exalt his word. The slave kisses the ground and reports that he is a poor man
  9. with a family and children, who makes his living among Muslims in Malīj in the province of al-Gharbiyya.
  10. He pays the capitation tax for which he is liable, and there is no one with whom he has bad relations.
  11. Recently he has been damaged and afflicted by tax officials.
  12. They have summarily made him give up his livelihood, and forced him to work for them as a tax collector
  13. and an informant. There has been no precedent for this for sixty years.
  14. The justice of his lord should prevent his being caused damage and his being made to give up his livelihood. He asks
  15. for the issuing of an exalted decree, may God increase its efficacy, to all the officials concerned with
  16. the collection of the capitation tax in the province of al-Gharbiyya to release him, so that nothing will happen to him,
  17. and to treat his case with justice and impartiality,
  18. so that he may be able to live in his native town with his family and children. Let the exalted decree be deposited in his hand,
  19. as a kindness and benefaction to him.
  20. Praise be to God alone and his blessings be upon our lord Muhammad, his prophet, and save him.

T-S K2.96 1r

°
1r

Recto (verso of doc)

  1. ان كنت جرت عادتك بالجباية
  2. فلا عذر لك فى خدمة المذكورين

Recto (verso of this doc)

  1. If there has been a precedent for you to work as a tax-collector,
  2. you have no excuse with regard to the service of the aforementioned people.
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Cambridge University Library, Taylor-Schechter, T-S K2.96. Available online through the Princeton Geniza Project at https://geniza.princeton.edu/documents/18940/ (accessed August 16, 2026).