State document: T-S 10J10.2

Description

State document, report, Fatimid. The report is written on the 3rd of Dhū l-Ḥijja, of an unspecified year, and mentions a previous report that arrived from the Dīwān al-Saʿīd. What is new after the previous report is that there is a food shortage in the metropolis and markets have run out of grains and bread. The writer prays for the fertility of the lands and for the unveiling of this crisis. He mentions that he went to the amir Munjid al-Dawla to draw his attention to the on-going crisis but couldn't get an audience with him because he was surrounded by Arab notables. It seems that there is an urban food shortage or a case of grain hoarding and the writer is asking for a state intervention. The amir Munjid al-Dawla, Abū l-Ḥasan Mukhtār al-Mustanṣirī comes from a family of government officials, his father Amīn al-Dawla was also an amir and his grandson Maʾmūn al-Baṭāʾiḥī was a very influential government official and wazir of the Caliph al-Āmir Billah. According to the time period al-Maqrīzī situates Munjid al-Dawla in, he was an amir during the time of al-Mustanṣir Billah and the food shortage he is referring to could be the Shidda ʿUzma or some other famine that occurred during his reign. (See al-Maqrīzī, al-Muqaffāʿ al-Kabīr: VI, 254). YU