Legal document: Unknown (excavation images 1978_A102_17–17A and 1978_A102_18–18A)

recto

1. The two spouses and the guardian of the bride recognised all that is in this document.
2. It was written by Hibat Allāh ibn Makīn on its date. Valid.
3. In the name of God, the Merciful and Compassionate.
4. This is what Mariane ibn Īsū the Nubian granted to Maryam ibnat Yuḥannis the Nubian, by which he married her. He granted it to her according to the Book
5. of God, the Mighty and Glorious, and the tradition of His prophet, may God bless him and save him. He gave to her a bride price, including the amount immediately payable and the amount whose payment is postponed, of four
6. dīnārs, gold, of minted coin, of al-Mustanṣir, of good alloy. He paid to her of that, before his having sexual intercourse with her and his deflowering of her,
7. three dīnārs, gold, of minted coin, and the remainder of the bride price was postponed as a debt owed by him, this being one dīnār, until the passage of one year,
8. beginning in Ṣafar of the year four-hundred and thirty-two (October 1040 AD). He is obliged to fear God, the Mighty and Glorious,
9. with regard to her, and to act as a good companion and partner for her in kindness, as God, the Mighty and Glorious, has commanded in His Book,
10. and the tradition of His prophet, Muḥammad, may God bless him and save his pure family. Her duty to him is like
11. his duty to her in this matter and one degree more, of thebest degrees, in complete chastity
12. and modesty, obedience, contentment, and lack of contention, God being knowledgeable of her, and
13. in God there is sufficiency as a protector. Kayl ibn Mariane carried out her nuptial to him and undertook the contract of her marriage to him, by her command
14. and agreement, and by her calling two free witnesses to testify for him, after she asked him that, she being this day a virgin woman of (marriageable) age,
15. sound of mind and body, legally capable of conducting her affairs with regard to his obligation to her. He married her to Mariane ibn Īsū the Nubian, the one who represented her being Kayl ibn Mariane,
16. through what is named and described in this document of ours, the sum that is payable immediately and the sum that is postponed, by his negotiation with her concerning this. Witnesses witnessed the acknowledgement by the two spouses and the bride’s guardian
17. of all that is in this document from its beginning until its end, in sound mind and body, legally capable of conducting their affairs, willingly, not forced
18. and not coerced. That was in Ṣafar of the year four-hundred and thirty-two (October 1040 AD).

recto, witness clauses

1. Ḥaydara ibn Muḥammad ibn Jamāʿa witnessed with regard to all that is in this document and he wrote with his own hand.
2. Muslim ibn Jamāʿa witnessed the acknowledgement by the two spouses and the representative of the bride of all that is in this document;
3. and it was written on his behalf by his command and in his presence.
4. Ḥasan ibn Hibat Allāh ibn Ṭalāq
5. ibn Fāris witnessed that with regard to all that is in it and he wrote on its date.
6. Yūsuf ibn Jamāʿa al-Qulzumī witnessed the acknowledgement by the two spouses
7. of all that is in this document; it was written on his behalf by his command and in his presence.

verso

1. In the name of God, the Merciful and Compassionate.
2. This is what Mariane ibn Īsū the Nubian called me to witness for his wife Maryam ibnat Yuḥannis.
3. (He undertakes to give her) four measures of walnut oil, vinegar, salt, a straw mat, raw silk,
4. firewood, combs, two sleeves, a head-cloth, an allowance of two waybas of wheat
5. each month in the future. (This testimony was) in Ḏū al-Ḥijja of the year four hundred and thirty-two.
6. It was written by Hibat Allāh ibn Makīn on its date.