Legal document: NLI Ms. Ar. 276.15

Description

Legal document from the neighborhood court of Bāb al-Kharq wa-l-Saʿāda in Cairo. In Arabic script. The scribe had a pronounced tremor, which makes the document difficult to read. Dated: 17 Jumādā II 1104 AH = 23 February 1693 CE. Judge: Muḥammad al-Amīn al-Ḥanafī. The parties (some of them identified as agents of others) include a certain Aḥmad Effendi (his titles include the intriguing "dhukhr aṣḥāb al-raqm"), the administrator (nāẓir) of the waqf of the late qāḍī Aḥmad Effendi b. Shaʿbān; the Amīr Muṣṭafā of the janissaries (ṭāʾifat al-mustaḥfiẓān); a certain Badr al-Dīn; a certain Shihāb al-Dīn Aḥmad; and a Rabbanite Jewish man Salmūn b. Mūsā al-Iskandarī (the same as in NLI Ms. Ar. 276.5 (PGPID 40141)). The case involves two shops (ḥānutayn) located in Cairo, in ḥārat al-yahūd. The remainder will require much more study. Ephraim Wust described this document as an "acknowledgment of lack of ownership" (اقرار بعدم ملكية). There are six witness signatures at the bottom, and the judge's tawqīʿ and a seal at the top. There is a more elaborate witness statement in the right margin. There are filing notes in Judaeo-Arabic and Arabic script on verso, which specify that the shops are located in the neighborhood of the Qaraite Jews: - חגת אסקאט דכאנין חארת אלקראין . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . - حجة [[. . .]] بحانوتين بحارة اليهود القرايية باسم [. . .] وقف احمد افندي ابن شعبان For document images and information on provenance, see the 2009 NLI catalogue entry by Ephraim Wust: https://www.nli.org.il/ar/manuscripts/NNL_ALEPH990029250640205171/NLI#$FL188116337 NLI Ms. Ar. 276.15 corresponds to images 7–8 at the link above.