State document: ENA 3287.5

Description

Petition from Naṣir b. Bū l-Faraj, who converted to Islam (ihtadā) under (ʿalā yad) Ṣalāḥ al-Dīn(?) (but perhaps different from the actual Saladin?) in the district of al-Gharbiyya. The addressee is probably Saladin himself (al-maqām al-ʿālī al-malikī al-nāṣirī al-ṣalāḥī, [may God extend] his reign). The other known petitions to Saladin in the Geniza are T-S K2.96 and BL OR 5566B.12. This one has many fewer titles than the others and refers to him only as 'malik' and not 'sulṭān,' so it may date to his period as Fatimid vizier (1169–74). The petitioner introduces himself as having converted, apparently on 19 Ramaḍān 55[.] AH (corresponding to the range 1155–64 CE). The remainder of the petition is lost. Maybe he is seeking to register his exemption from the capitation tax. ASE