Letter: Bodl. MS heb. f 56/130

that is the year when they dispossessed people he found it proper, 

most probably after having consulted our Master ha-Me‘ullē, 

of blessed memory, that this half (of Dār Nāqa) should be acquired for al-ʿAniyīm for this 

sum. So he went to the scribe and insisted 

that he should write in the declaration 

that this money had been received by him 

from b....., and that he ordered him to use it for the poor of the 

Jews. So the scribe wrote as he asked, but did not 

apply his mind to the words he wrote, since he understood 

that the aim desired by him, namely to acquire it for al-ʿAniyīm 

had already been attained. This was an excellent idea 

since this way he was sure that al-Kōmer would not discover 

that there was money deposited with him for the poor of the Jews 

with which to purchase a property, so as to send somebody and seize it 

from him, just as he seized the 300 dinars that 

were deposited with al-Me‘ullē, of blessed memory, for b. Shuwayʿ.

(They were) known as people who fear God, may He be exalted. So after having 

read this will as granted by the owner 

of the property himself, according to the Jewish laws, we relied 

(4-5) upon it and made it an ordinary waqf for the poor, as our Sages, of blessed memory, said: There is a commandment 

(6-7) to fulfill the words of the deceased. So it was not an arbitrary act of al-Shaykh Abūʾl-Faraj b. Qusāsā to 

write as he did in the declaration, since he was, 

may he be of blessed memory, a God-fearing person, a righteous man, 

a man of charity for the poor and the students of 

the Torah. It only appears from the case 

that this money was deposited with him 

by our Master ha-Meʿullē, of blessed memory, until some property would become available, 

to be purchased with (this money). But as there occurred the accession of al- Kōmer, 

(15-16) may his bones be pulverized! - since the date of the declaration is the year 521