Legal document: T-S NS 275.31b

Description

The upper part of recto is a Hebrew panegyric in praise of a scholar named Yiṣḥaq. The other text blocks are all drafts of a legal document or documents in Judaeo-Arabic. They are all quite vague and the text is damaged throughout. It seems that no names are preserved; the scribe uses "fulān" instead of names, but the other elements of the story are specific enough that these must be drafts of specific documents rather than generic formularies. The right side of recto mentions messengers including from the sultan; a group of "strangers" (ghurabāʾ); the synagogue; seeking permission from an "elder" regarding this matter but receiving no response (wa-anfadhū rasūl qāṣid min jihat rasūl al-sulṭān wa-min jihat al-ghurabāʾ yastaʾdhinū al-shaykh fī dhālika fa-lam yarudd lanā jawāb); and a speaker who requests to hear testimony from a group of other people. The left side of recto may be the response of those people ("when we were asked concerning this, we the undersigned. . ."). Verso begins a new legal document, probably related to the ones on recto. Refers to "the elder"; a dispute; possibly someone who apostasized (alladhī afshaʿa), and "the rayyis." Needs further examination.