Scholarship on Letter: Moss. IV,7

Recto

1. [...to] Aden. Immediately after his arrival [he was brought before the caliph?],

2. who said to him: “Become a Muslim, or you will cause the death of [your] brethren [. . .] {read: the death of most of the [ Jews]}.”

3. He cried bitterly, but there was no other way for him [...] {read: to e[scape]}

4. except to embrace Islam. Before his arrival in Aden,

5. all those who were with him on the mountains had apostatized,

6. the physician (known as) the Efficient, and everyone on the mountains; only the

7. Jews of Aden remained. But Sheikh Maḍmūn accepted Islam

8. on Wednesday, the first of Dhu ʾl-Qaʿda.

9. On Friday, the third, the bell (of the market-crier) was rung: “Community of Jews,

10. all of you, anyone who will be late in {alt. tr.: will refrain from} appearing in the audience hall after {add: tomorrow}

11. noon, will be killed.” None of the Jews remained; all went up

12. to the audience hall. Moreover, he (the caliph) ordered that anyone returning to the Jewish faith {alt. tr.: refusing to accept Islam}

13. would be killed. Thus all apostatized. Some of the very religious, who defected from {alt. tr.: refused to accept}

14. Islam, were beheaded. As to us, do not

15. ask me what we felt,

16. witnessing that day horrors the like of which we had never seen. {alt tr.: . . . how much our hearts were pained. We have never seen a worse day.} But God, the Exalted, wrought

17. with us a miracle and saved us, not through our might and power {alt. tr.: not through our might and by the strength of [our] me[rit]},

18. but through His grace and favor. For when we went up

19. with them to the audience hall, the foreigners assembled separately,

20. and the caliph was consulted about them. God put these words into his mouth:

21. “No foreigner should be molested.” He ordered that everyone should

22. pay a third of {alt. tr.: triple} the poll tax. We disbursed this, and he dismissed us {alt. tr.: and we were delivered}

23. graciously {alt. tr.: in the best possible situation}, thank God. This

24. is the upshot {add: of all} that happened. But, by the great God, I am really not able to convey to you

25. even part of what happened, for witnessing an event is one thing and hearing about it—quite another.

26. The merchants were outraged by {lit., ‘suffered from the indignation of’} the new

27. impositions promulgated. Finally, however, God, the Exalted, helped. He (the caliph) had ordered

28. that 15 out

29. of 100 dinars should be taken from everyone both at arrival and departure, but God helped,

30. and he {add: retracted this and} ordered that this Kārim should remain

Verso, main text

1. {add: Continuation} unchanged with no rise in tariff. But everyone coming

2. later would have to pay 15

3. out of 100 dinars from all goods, and also from gold and silver, from wheat and

4. flour, in short, from everything. Such will be the earnings of anyone coming here next year.

5. {Add: Prices:} Pepper, a sack—sold

6. for 52, later went down to {alt. tr.: for 42, then it went back up to} 45 Cinnamon, a sack—45

7. Brazilwood obtained different prices: Good Āmiri, a sack—18

8. Middle quality—16 End pieces (ṭʾrf), a sack—16 The long variety,

9. a sack—18 Indian Indigo, a piece—70 din.

10. Clove—not to be had; the mediocre—45 {read: 65} the [. . .] {add: g[ood]}—

11. 44 {read: 65}, 10 (manns) Celandine—not to be had

12. New camphor—8½ a mann The aromatic woods are of middle quality

13. and expensive. The price of the copper was— Copper in fragments, First—

14. 72, later it reached—85; in bars—70; later it reached 90

15. Tin—70 Corals—11 {read: corals sell (well)}

16. Antimony (kohl) of Shalwadh, a sack—17 of Madrid {read: Maghrebi}, a sack—25

17. The ‘gray’ perfume, a sack—. . .

18. Cinnabar—10 (manns) 18 Mercury—10 (manns) 17

19. Please take notice of this, my lord. I asked God for guidance

20. and am traveling home in the boat of Ibn Salmūn, the same

21. in which I made the passage out. May God bestow safety upon it {add: in His mercy}!

22. My brother Abū Naṣr will be traveling with me.

23. I am {add: informing you of this after} kissing your hands

24. and feet.

(A P.S. of four lines, referring to several of the goods mentioned before, is too much effaced to attempt translation.)