Scholarship on State document: T-S K2.96

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.

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.