State document: T-S 28.8

State document T-S 28.8

Input date

In PGP since 2017

Description

Two petitions to a Fatimid judge. The first concerns the incarceration of the family breadwinner, a certain Ḥabīb. An endorsement fixed to the end of the petition orders his release. The second petition is incomplete (c. 12th century). These seem to be unrelated documents glued together to create a large enough piece of paper for verso (for which see separate record). (Information from Khan and CUDL.)

T-S 28.8 1v

1v

Transcription

Geoffrey Khan, Arabic Legal and Administrative Documents in the Cambridge Genizah Collections (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1993).

Verso

  1.        العبيد المماليك 

  2.        عاىلة حبيب الجارى 

  3. بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم 

  4. مماليك الحضرة السامية الاجلية الشيخية اطال الله بقاها وادام تاييدها وعلاها ورفعتها و سناها وقدرتها وارتقاها وتمهيد(ها)

  5. وتمكينها وكبت اعداها يقبلون الارض امام مجلسها الكريم وينهون الى مراحمها وفضلها العميم اعتقال مملوكها ولدهم المعروف

  6. بحبيب الجارى بديوان المجلس وانه بسبب استنار نادر الغلام والمماليك يقسموا بالله تعالى ان ولدهم المذكور لا يعرف لنادر الغلام

  7. مستقر وان لم يكن بينهم معاملة وان معرفته به كمعرفة غيره والمماليك حرم منقطعين واطفال له وايتام فى رقبته 

  8. مع ابيه شيخ كبير السن وعجوز مسنة قد ذهب بصرهم وطفل اعماء وقد ارتكبتهم العلة والداء والفقر والانقطاع والوحدة 

  9. و ليس لهم من يستر وجوههم من ذل السوال والبركة بين الناس غير ولدهم حبيب المذكور وقد والله العظيم انقطعوا وضر بحالهم 

  10. طول اعتقاله منذ تسعة شهور وبيعوا فى هذه المدة سترتهم وان فى البيت بنات عواتق ما لهم الا ما عليهم ليلا 

  11. ونهارا وجماعة المماليك الكبير منهم والصغير قد تطارحوا على الله سبحانه وعلى الحضرة الاجلية السامية الشيخية 

  12. حرس الله من الغير عزها وخلد السعادات بساحتها وثبت النعم عليها وغيرها و على ديانتها فى اجازة تلهفه(م) 

  13. وسد فقرهم بخلاص ولدهم حبيب المقدم ذكره لما جعله الله تعالى لها من فعل الخير مع الملى والذمى وحببه اليها وجملها 

  14. عليه وبذلها الجهد فيما يرضى الله سبحانه مع كل احد امعناء لوجه الله تعالى وقد مهد الله تعالى ذكره لها عند الحضرة العالية 

  15. المالكية الاجلية السيدية الافضلية ثذت الله ملكها وادام ايامها وجعل اعداها مقطعا بيديها وانفذ فى البسيطة اوامرها واحكا(مها)

  16. من كلامها المسموع والقول المقبول ادام الله تجميع مماليكها ووالله العظيم وحق الانعام الشمال ان كان للمملوك المعتقل شى 

  17. يقتات به هو والمماليك يقت كان فى حال الصحة غير الصدقات المنع بها على المملوك وقد انهتكوا وتحيروا وما بقى لهم 

  18. غير الله تعالى ومراحم من يطرح الله فى قلبه الرحمة لهم قبل الحضرة الاجلية زاد الله فى عمرها وحيلها وشد بها ما ضعف 

  19. برحمته امين ورب (؟) العالمين والممال(ي)ك قد قصدوا الله تعالى ومراحم الحضرة الاجلية السامية واستشعروا خلاص مملوكها

  20. ولدهم على يديها وببركاتها وسعاداتها وما يبقى به من السوال فى الافراج عن المملوك انعاما على المماليك ورحمة 

  21. ورافة بهم استجاب الله تعالى من جميعهم صالح ما يدعوه لها برحمته امين امين امين والمماليك يقسمون عليها….. الله من قلبها 

  22. اما حققت فيها ظنهم وشملتهم الرحمة والرافة ولها ثبت الله مجدها واهلك حسدتها الراى السعيد الموفق الرشيد فى ذلك ان شا الله

 

Verso, margin

  1. وكان قد لزم على المملـ[ـو]ك بكتب ..

  2. عليه بالانعا[م]....[ ]

  3. وغير سوال للحضرة العالية المالكية بذلك و ..[ ] 

  4. بالافراج عن المملوك اثبت الله تعالى ذلك لها بغليه علـ[ـی]

  5. واستجا<ب> من جميعهم فيها صالح الادعية برحمته امین امین امین

Bottom

  1.             ثبت

  2. [         ] الأمر العالي زاده الله نفاذا باطلاق المذكور

  3. ……..

Top, upside-down

  1. عبدها

  2. عمر بن ابرهيم السمسار

  3. بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

  4. مملوك حضرة سيدنا القاضي الأجل مكين الدولة ونجيبها أطال الله بقا[ها]

  5. وادام سموها وعلاها وتمكينها وارتقاها وكبت حسدتها واعداها يقبل

  6. الارض بين يديها وينهى اليها ثبت الله ايامها ان له على رجل يعرف

  7. بعبد الله بن أبي الربع الترسيم من قبل مجلس الحكم ما مقداره سنتين

  8. في دين لى عليه ومبلغه سبعة دنانير ونصف دينار وعبدها مطلوب

  9. برحل الناس وعدلها يمنع من ذلك وعبدها يسل يتضرع في الانعام عليه

  10. [والاحسان اليه بخروج الأمر ] المطاع {الـ}ـزاده الله نفاذا للخصم المذكور

  11.  أعبدها مطل خصمه المذكور

Translation

Geoffrey Khan, Arabic Legal and Administrative Documents in the Cambridge Genizah Collections (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1993).

Verso

  1. The servants and slaves,

  2. the family of Ḥabīb, the servant

  3. In the name of God, the merciful and compassionate.

  4. The slaves of the lofty and glorious presence of the elder, may God make his life long, and cause to endure his support, his loftiness, his eminence, his sublimity, his power, his superiority, his influence

  5. and his strength and crush his enemies, kiss the ground before his gracious seat and report to his all-embracing mercy and benevolence the detention of his slave, their son, known

  6. as Ḥabīb, who is a servant in the office of the chamber, this being on account of the disappearance of the servant Nādir. The slaves swear by God, the exalted, that their aforementioned son does not know the whereabouts of the servant Nādir.

  7. They had no dealings with one another. He did not have any special acquaintance with him. The slaves are the female members of the family and are cut off (from the outside world). He has children, who would become orphans were he to die,

  8. together with his elderly father and old mother, the sight of both of whom has gone, and a blind child. They have been afflicted with disease, illness, poverty, isolation and seclusion.

  9. There is no one to protect their faces from the humility of begging for foodamong the people except their son, the aforementioned Ḥabīb. By mighty God, they have become isolated and suffered

  10. throughout his detention for nine months. They have recently sold their garments. In the house there are young girls' who possess no more than the clothes that they have on them day and night.

  11. The group of slaves, the old among them and the young, have appealed to God, praise be to him, and to the glorious and lofty presence of the elder,

  12. may God protect his power from others, make happiness eternal in his courtyard and establish the bounties that are bestowed upon him and upon others, and (have appealed) to his religiosity to grant what they yearn for

  13. and put an end to their poverty by releasing their aforementioned son, Ḥabīb, taking into consideration the good deeds to 'the members of minority communities and the ḍimmīs that God has caused him to perform, he (God) having endeared them to him and caused him to act kindly

  14. to them, and also his efforts to treat everyone in a way that pleases God, praise be to him, for the sake of God, the exalted. God, of exalted name, has facilitated the favourable reception of his words

  15. in the exalted, kingly and glorious presence of the lord al-’Afḍal, may God establish his rule, make his days endure, cause his enemies to be cut off by his hands and transmit his commands and judgments throughout the world,

  16. may God cause to endure the unity of his slaves. By mighty God and the truth of the all-embracing bounties, the detained slave and also

  17. the slaves (his family) do not have any health-giving sustenance except (what they receive through) alms, but these are forbidden to the slave. They are disgraced and confounded. All they have left

  18. is God and the mercy of someone in whose heart God may place mercy for them before the glorious presence, may God increase his life-span and his strength and through him strengthen what is weak, in his mercy, amen, by the lord of the universe. The slaves have sought God, the exalted, and the mercy of the glorious, lofty presence with the purpose of obtaining the vindication of his slave,

  19. their son, through his agency, and by his blessings and privileges, and, further, of (obtaining) the release of the slave, as a benevolent deed for the slaves and as an act of mercy

  20. and compassion for them. May God, the exalted, answer all their pious prayers for him in his mercy, amen, amen, amen. The slaves swear to him ...... God in his heart,

  21. if he realizes the presuppositions that they have concerning him and grants them all-embracing mercy and compassion. To him, may God establish his splendour and destroy his haters, belongs the auspicious, propitious and rightly-guided resolution regarding this, if God wills.

  22. [Praise be to God alone and his benedictions be upon] Muḥammad, his prophet, and his pure family and save him.

Margin

  1. The slave was obliged to write (?) ...

  2. upon him, through benevolence [ ]

  3. and another request to the exalted and kingly presence regarding that and ... [ ]

  4. and may he answer all their pious prayers for him in his mercy, amen, amen, amen.

 

Bottom

  1. It has been registered. 

  2. [ ] the exalted command, may God increase its efficacy, for the release of the said person.

  3. …………….

 

Top, upside down

  1. His slave

  2. 'Umar ibn 'Ibrahim, the broker.

  3. In the name of God, the merciful and compassionate.

  4. The slave of the presence of our lord the glorious qāḍī, the strong and well-born of the dynasty, may God prolong his life

  5. and cause to endure his eminence, his exaltation, his power and his sublimity and crush his haters and enemies, kisses

  6. the ground before him and reports to him, may God establish his days, that he has a tarsīm against a man known as

  7. Abdallāh ibn ’Abī al-Rab‘, issued by the court for a period of two years,

  8. in connection with a debt that he owes me, the amount of which is seven and a half dīnārs. His slave has been summoned

  9. due to the departure of the people. His justice will prevent that. His slave humbly requests him to be benevolent

  10. [and kind to him by issuing the injunction] that must be obeyed, may Godincrease its efficacy, to the aforementioned defendant

  11. [ ] his slave the delay in payment by his aforementioned opponent.

 

T-S 28.8 1r

1r
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