Letter: T-S Ar.41.9

Description

Letter in Arabic script from Naṣrallāh (he begins the letter "mamlūkuhu akhūhu Naṣrallāh," line 2) to his brother Sharaf al-Dīn (line 3). The writer seems to be a provincial official of some sort. He reports awaiting the arrival of al-Qāḍī al-Ẓahīr (?) (named in lines r5, r10, and rm1). When the judge arrived, it seems that he started hearing the suits (? jihāt) of the locals. As the local tax assayer (mushārif) was new, he knew nothing of these (wa-dhālika anna l-mushārif jadīd lā yaʿrif jihat aḥad). The writer therefore prepared a register that the judge approved of (ʿamiltu lahum jarīda istaḥsanahā l-Qāḍī al-Ẓahīr). In the margin he is pleased to report that the Qāḍī plans to continue employing him and to promote his interests and to speak well of him to the governor (. . . yaqṣad an yastakhdimanī ʿindahu . . . wa-l-ẓāhir annahu yastakhdimunī fīhā wa-yaqṣad fī ḥaqqī wa-yashkurunī ʿind al-wālī). On verso he seems to describe a waterwheel on the Nile, for some reason of interest to his brother, that he found broken (. . . sāqīya ʿalā -baḥr fa-innī wajadtuhu kharāb bi-bāb. . .). He asks his brother to keep him informed about "the story of the Ra'īs." He sends regards to ʿAlā al-Dīn b. [...] and to their mother, among others. ASE.