Scholarship on Letter: T-S Ar.39.471

Letter T-S Ar.39.471

Bibliographic citation
Jane Hathaway, Ottoman-Era Documents from the Cairo Genizah (Open Book Publishers, 2026).
Relation to document
- Digital Edition
- Digital Translation

Image

Transcription

Translation

Editor: Hathaway, Jane

Editor: Hathaway, Jane

Translator: Hathaway, Jane (in English)

Translator: Hathaway, Jane (in English)

T-S Ar.39.471 1r

100%

Zoom and Rotate

Jane Hathaway, Ottoman-Era Documents from the Cairo Genizah (Open Book Publishers, 2026).

Recto, main text

[Devletl]ü sulṭānım ḥażretler[inin?]
[ ]-i bī-şümār ümīdi olunduḳdan ṣoñra, żamīr-i münīr-i mihr-tenvīr ve ḫaṭīr-i ʿaṭīr-i Müşterī [ ]
//eğer// deryā-yı mürüvvetleri temevvüc ve tefevvüc idüb, cānib-i devlet-ḫvāhları ḳıbelinden [su]ʾāl [buyurılursa]
sulṭānımın ʿulüvv-i himmet-i ʿālīyeleri berekātıyla ṣıḥḥat ve ʿāfiyet ü[zere?] [ ]
Ṣāḥib-i devlet efendimiz ḥażretlerinin ḥāk-ı pāy-ı şerīflerine yüz sürü[b] [ ]
reyb ü gümān buyurılmaya. Benim sulṭānım, ʿilm-i şerīf-i ʿālem-ārālarına [ ]
Yehūdīlerinden olub, ḳadīmī bu bende-i devlet-ḫvāhınızın dosti olan Ḫāḫām Şemvāl nām Yehūdī [ ]
üzere Ḳuds-i Şerīf’e ziyāreti niyetiyle meşyen ʿale’l-vech olcāniblere revāne olub, gitmişlerdir. Varaḳa-yı bende-i [ ]
vuṣūli müyesser olub, yüz sürdükde sulṭānımın ḳatre-i himmet ve şemme-i şefḳatların mebzūl buyurılub, üzerine [ ]
şefḳatları bī-dirīġ buyurılub, menāzil ve merāḥilde rencīde itmeyüb, maḥall-i maḳṣūdına irsāl itmek [ ]
temennā ve ricā olunur. Mercūdur ki bu ḫuṣūṣda zerre-i mürüvvetleri mebzūl buyurıla ve sulṭānımın luṭf-ı cemīllerinden [ ]
zāt-ı melik-ṣıfātlarının ṣıḥḥat aḫbārı, ve bu bende-i devlet- ḫvāhlarına müteʿallıḳ olan ḫizmet-i şerīflerine mektū[b]
merġūblarıyla işāret-i şerīfe buyuralar ki edāsı cāna minnet olub, ṣıḥḥat aḫbārınuz ʿıṭṭ[ilā] [ ]
nüzhet ve sürūr ḥāṣıl idüği muḳarrer ve muḥaḳḳaḳdır. Bāḳī ne taḥrīr olunur ki ʿilm-i şerīflerine lāḥik olmaya [ ]
Müyesser ve muḥaṣṣal bād. Fī 20 Ṣ[afer] sene 1024. Ṣaḥḥ.

Recto, right margin

Ve mezbūr ḳulları ḥaḳḳında
Ḳuds-i Şerīf yollarına ḫiṭāben
tezkere-yi şerīfleri ʿināyet buyurılursa,
cānib-i devlet-ḫvāhlarına iṭmīnān-ı ʿaẓīme olduġuna
iştibāh buyurılmaya. Bāḳī mürüvvet şāh luṭfundur.

Jane Hathaway, Ottoman-Era Documents from the Cairo Genizah (Open Book Publishers, 2026).

Recto, main text

[To his excellency] my esteemed lord ______________________
After having set numberless hopes on [ ], the luminous, sun-like conscience and the fragrant, Jupiter-like influence [ ]
//if// the sea of [your] munificence were to swell and boil up, causing you to ask how the well-wisher [i.e., the writer] is, [then praise be to God],
due to the divine blessings that stem from the loftiness of

my lord’s favour, I am healthy and vigorous [ ].
I rub my face in the noble dust [beneath the feet] of his excellency the possessor of good fortune [i.e., the official to whom the letter is addressed] [ ];
let there be no doubt or suspicion [about my loyalty and friendship to you]. My lord, [let it not escape] your noble, world-adorning knowledge [that] [ ]
one of the [ ] Jews who has long been this slave the well- wisher’s [i.e., the writer’s] friend, a Jew named Rabbi Samuel[ ],
desiring to visit holy Jerusalem, to that end has set out on

foot [probably meaning ‘by land’] for those parts. This let- ter of the slave [i.e., the writer] [ ]
when he arrives and rubs his face [on the ground before you], it is desired and requested that my lord will spend a droplet of his favour and a fraction of his compassion [on Samuel] [ ].
May you not withhold your compassion; may no one harm him on the various stages of his journey, and send [him] to his intended destination [ ].
It is requested that, in this matter, you spend a speck of your generosity and your beautiful munificence [ ]
the news of the health of your kingly-virtued self, and the noble services related to this slave the well-wisher [i.e., the writer][ ]
indicate with a [ ] letter so that carrying out [these ser- vices] will be a favour to the soul. Hearing news of your health [ ]
is certain and sure to bring pleasure and delight. What re- mains to be written that might add to your noble knowledge? [ ]
Let it [the letter] be successful and received. [Written] on 20 Ṣ[afar] in the year 1024 [29 March 1615]. Verified.

Recto, right margin

Concerning the aforementioned servant [of yours],
if you were to grant a noble document
addressed to [all the stages] on the road to Jerusalem the noble,
have no doubt that it would be a great relief to the well-wisher [i.e., the writer].
Munificence is the lord’s pleasure.

T-S Ar.39.471 1v

100%

Zoom and Rotate

Image Permissions Statement

T-S Ar.39.471: Provided by Cambridge University Library. Cambridge University Library This image may be used in accord with fair use and fair dealing provisions, including teaching and research. If you wish to reproduce it within publications or on the public web, please contact genizah@lib.cam.ac.uk.