Letter: T-S Ar.38.88

Description

Letter from Abū ʿAlī b. Abū ʿUmar, in Aden, addressed to Sitt Ghazāl and Umm Munajjā, in Fustat. In Arabic script. The identification of the sender is based on comparison to T-S Ar.40.56 (PGPID 5468) (India Book II, 64, ca. 1167 CE). This letter describes the same series of events from the same point of view, including being plundered by the Ghuzz ("we went out naked and hungry. . . and I had no resort. . . and I saw no alternative to traveling"), Khalaf b. Maḍmūn sending 30 dinars with Abū l-ʿAlāʾ and urging the sender to come to Yemen after hearing of his misfortune, and the matter of Abū ʿImrān converting to Islam and divorcing his wife ("al-ṣaghīra," "the little one"). Whereas T-S Ar.40.56 seems to have been written when the sender was in or near ʿAydhāb, this letter was written after his safe arrival in Aden. Near the end of this letter, the sender reports that “as for the news of Makārim your son, I heard that he entered al-Jāwa, may God reunite you...." It concludes with a ṣalwala — blessings upon the prophet Muḥammad — indicating that it was written by a Muslim scribe on behalf of the sender, whose family is known to be Jewish from other documents. (Information in part from Goitein's note card.) ASE