Scholarship on Letter: T-S 10J12.18

Translated by Renée Levine Melammed

In Your name, O Merciful One.

That which I wish to inform you, mother of mine, is that I arrived in al-Maḥalla, but my heart was still with you, may God [the exalted] grant you resilient good health. As for me, my yearning and loneliness from our separation is something I cannot describe well. Praise to God whose judgment is accepted. What I am informing you, mother of mine, is that from the time of my leaving you, my life has not been serene or untroubled from what saddens me and he [i.e., my husband] is demanding that I return to Aleppo. My spirit has become weary, and by God, [will you] make an effort to rescue me from that [this situation] in which I am [stuck]!

[Either] by your going forth to me [you come] or appoint a proxy or send him . . . that is with you. I am in hell with him, and soon he/it will be . . . that you redeem me from the people from hell and let this be without [delay] . . . matter, and I cannot dry my tears . . . . I am informing you . . . before something [awful] will happen. Without help the size of a grain . . .

verso, address

To Fustāt, to ‘Azza l-‘Iblāniyya

From her daughter, may she not be bereft of her.