State document: T-S K25.214
State document T-S K25.214Tags
Description
Petition from Ṣāliḥ al-Khaybārī, a Jew from the community of Baghdad, to the Fatimid amīr Tāj al-Dawla. In Arabic script. Ṣāliḥ petitions regarding a miserable situation into which he fell after a pledge made to Abū ʿAlī al-Ḥusayn b. Ḥasan. As a consequence, Ṣāliḥ was imprisoned for six months and is still in debt for 300 dinars. In order to repay his debt he was given the task of producing a tunic out of two pieces of Persian fabric, one yellow and one white. This task has not yet been completed, and Ṣāliḥ seems to be seeking the amīr’s understanding and support in this delay. Dating: 11th or 12th c based on the amīr mentioned. There are two amīrs by the title Tāj al-Dawla attested in chronicles: Tāj al-Dawla b. Abū l-Ḥusain, the governor of Sicily in the period of al-Ẓāhir, active in 415/1024; and Bahrān the Armenian, governor of al-Gharbiyya province under al-Ḥāfiẓ, active in 529/1134 (al-Maqrīzī, Ittiʿāẓ, II, 161 and III, 159). On recto and between the lines and in the margins of verso is a Judaeo-Arabic commentary on passages from Genesis, including the days of the creation, the creation of men and the incident of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. (Information from CUDL, Khan, and YU).
Edition: Khan, Geoffrey
Translation: Khan, Geoffrey (in English)
T-S K25.214 1v
Transcription
Geoffrey Khan, Arabic Legal and Administrative Documents in the Cambridge Genizah Collections (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1993).Recto
- عبده وغلامه صلح الخيبرى البغدادي
- بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
- عبد مولاى الامير تاج الدولة اطال الله بقاه وادام تاييده وعلاىه وكبت حسدته وعداه
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رجل اسرايلي خيبري من اهل بغداد ممن كان الله [اتم] عليه نعمه وقعد الزمان به
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[فـ]ـي [هـ]ـذا العصر من اجل ضمان ضمنه عبده من ديوان الشيخ ابي علي الحسين بن حسن
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ادام الله تاىيده وانكسر وعليه ثلث مائة دينار واعتقل العبد تسع اشهر
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بجعل دينار الى افتقر عبده وهلك واخرج للخلاص بعد شدة عظيمة
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وعلى عبده عباية تمنعه العودة الى بلده ومقره قد عانا شي من الصنعة
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بيده وتقصر عن مونته للزوم عمله من قماشين فرسي الماخذ بياض وصفرة
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{بـ}ـزواج قد وثق قلب عبده بمتع حسن رايه كتب انبا عبده ..هم
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فان راي ادام الله عزه وبلغه محلته مساعدة عبده في [...........]
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يكون عمله فعل متفضلا مثابا وقد مونته مختصرة لاجلها مومية وراغبة
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من فضله ونائله سرمدا ان شا الله
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حسبي الله[ونعم الوكيل]
Translation
Geoffrey Khan, Arabic Legal and Administrative Documents in the Cambridge Genizah Collections (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1993).Recto
- .In the name of God, the merciful and compassionate.
- The slave of my master the amīr Tāj al-Dawla, may God prolong his life and cause to endure his support and exaltation and crush those who envy him and his enemies,
- is a Khaybarī Jew from the community of Baghdad, from among those upon whom God had bestowed his bounties. Recently he has been brought low by misfortune
- on account of a pledge that his slave made in the office of the elder Abū ʿAlī al-Ḥusayn b. Ḥasan,
- may God cause his support to endure. He went broke while still owing three hundred dinārs. The slave was imprisoned for nine months
- with a fee of one dīnār until his slave became impoverished and suffered affliction. He was released after great hardship.
- His slave is obliged to make a tunic, which is preventing him from returning to his hometown. He has undertaken some of the work
- by himself, but has not completed his task due to the necessity of making it out
- of two pieces of Persian material (coloured) with a combination of white and yellow.
- The heart of his slave is confident in the comforts of his sound opinion ........ ,
- If he, may God make his power endure and cause him to attain his goal, should resolve to help his slave in [ ]
- .. his work, let him kindly do so and be rewarded. His task is made short and approaching its end
- through his kindness and generosity, forever, if God wills.
- My sufficiency is God; [what an excellent keeper is He.]
T-S K25.214 1r
