Scholarship on Letter: ENA NS 31.21

Oded Zinger, "Women, Gender and Law: Marital Disputes According to Documents of the Cairo Geniza" (PhD diss., n.p., 2014).

Recto

Our [lord], may God prolong your life and the life of your children. Your slave is
in great distress due to the false accusations about me and my father. Hitherto I have been
silent, but it has become necessary to justify myself and my trustee (i.e. her father). I do not want to
answer them. I have today. I have been arguing with them from the day I married into (their family)
until now so that they will not take anything from me. On Wednesday, he secretly took
he bench (martaba), the pillows and the supporting pillow. He was not content with them,
and no sooner did he sell them, than he came demanding from me something else. When I refused
to give, he beat me with something that should not be mentioned. Next day in the morning,
he told me: “Get up and leave to your father’s house. Because if I come back in the evening (and find you here),
I will kill you.” By the truth of the sharīʿa, it is he who told me “leave!” I sent (a letter)
telling my lord about my going out of the house. My lord prevented him from doing it. I obeyed
you and stayed (at my husbandʼs house). When they saw me staying, the quarrel between us intensified.
On Saturday, my mother came to ask about me. He and his father said, “If I satisfy (your wish),
you shall pay my poll tax every year, otherwise, save yourself (and go away) lest I kick you out (also possible: destroy you).
All your life you come up with justifications for yourself. He has no (financial) need of me.
He has four dinars worth of wine (nabīdh) at his possession and he has no need of me. His mother
and father tell him, “Beat her until she breaks.” Whenever
I mentioned to them the divine law (al-sharʿ), they cursed the divine law. When
I saw them the evil increased from them. They tell me: “Leave!”

ENA NS 31.21 1

Recto

ENA NS 31.21 2

Verso