Letter: T-S 13J25.18

Recto

1. In the name of God, the merciful, the compassionate.
2. May God prolong the life of my lords, the noble elders, and always help and support them and make their prominent position permanent. I am writing to you
3. from al-Ahwaz on Friday the 12th of Muharram of the year 417. I am well,
4. praise and thanks to God. God knows the strength of my longing for you—may he always support you—and I ask him to ordain our coming together
5. when his sanctuary will be built. Your letter has arrived—may God always support you. I took notice of its content and was happy to learn that you are well. I praised God,
6. the exalted, for this. I understand that you have most kindly dispatched that consignment and hope it will arrive with God's support and gracious help.
7. May he reward you well. My impositions on you are manifold, but I am no stranger
8. to you. I have sent you through my lords the elders, the sons of Zakariyya—may God make their honored position permanent—four chests,
9. two of them sewed up, each containing ten robes, a third chest with a complete set of . . . ,
10. a fourth one with four gilded mantles of first quality. My lords know better than I how to handle this.
11. I also sent with them, I mean, the sons of Zakariyya, may God keep them, a box covered with leather containing a ṣāḥibī robe of khazz silk and a gilded
12. ṣāḥibi garment of khazz, first class, with ibrisim silk. I hope that,
13. with God's support and gracious help, everything will reach you in good condition and that after arrival you will handle its sale at your discretion and then purchase with its proceeds
14. whatever you deem fit. I am upset about the sinking of the consignment. Please handle this matter as you deem fit, for
15. your money and mine are one and all profit I make comes from your pocket. You wrote me [about] the two stores. I have nothing
16. further to add in this matter. I know well that this and other property are exclusively yours, while the elder Abū Ṭayyib
17. has no share in this or other possessions. I noticed that the price offered for the property was insufficient, but people
18. were eager to get it for that value. For this reason I told the messenger that it belonged to Abu Tayyib, may God keep him.
19. Had I known that you did not like this, I would not have said so. I did it out of compassion for him so that
20. it should not slip out of his hand. But I hope that God will grant the return of the messenger; then I shall personally assist him in the sale so that
21. it will bring whatever God will grant. In a previous letter I had asked you, may God always be your support,
22. to kindly buy certain textiles for me, namely:
23. a Dabīqī robe with a border, first class; a Dabīqī turban, forty cubits long with sparkling
24. fine ... and beautiful... and a Dabīqī cloak (tzar), first class, . . . (7-8 words) eleven
25. by eleven. It was sent to me by you and in its basket there was a robe.

Verso

1. Also, three sets of qasab, one pistachio-colored, one "ample," and one khalūqī. The veils should be large.
2. Also a sumac-red veil, a lilac turban, a Dabīqī kerchief, and a towel. Please do not
3. stop writing me about your welfare and your concerns so that I may, God willing, deal with them as is incumbent on me.

Verso, address

1. (To) my lords, the noble elders, Abu Ί-Fadl, Abu Ya'qub, and Abu Sahl, (that is,) Sahl, Joseph,

2. and Abu Sahl, the sons of Israel b. Hdr.

3. (From) their servants Ephraim b. Saʿīd and Ṣāliḥ b. Ephraim.