Letter: T-S Ar.40.126

Description

Business letter from ʿUmar b. ʿIwaḍ, in Qalyūb, to the notary and qāḍī Ṣadr al-Dīn, at the Dār al-Wakāla in Fustat. Discussing a shipment of palm branches from Qalyūb and their transport on the Nile. Dating: ca. 1150–1250 CE. English translation in Goitein, LMJT, 270–71. Goitein's introduction: "The Islamic dar wakala, or warehouse, like the Roman basilica, was a hall where goods were traded and stored and where judges and notaries had their seats for the settlement of disputes and arrangement of formalities connected with business transactions (see Med. Soc., i, 187-189, and here, introduction, sec. 3, above). Even a small town like Qalyub (northwest of Cairo) possessed such a semipublic building. Palm branches are frequently mentioned in building operations, and in our letter this type rather than the one used for religious purposes is intended. It is interesting that the permission of the chief of the police was required, probably because payment of a tax was involved. The letter is written in beautiful, clear Arabic characters, in many cases even equipped with diacritical marks. ... The verso contains also the beginning of the draft of a petition in Arabic language and Hebrew characters of the dyers in Qalyub. The words are crossed out, probably because the clerk realized that the sheet would not be sufficient for the text dictated to him. On the same page there is also a calligraphic trial of the pen: "Said the Khazari." "Said the scholar." This shows that in this little town there was a scribe who tried to copy the theological magnum opus of the Spanish Hebrew poet Judah ha-Levi. Learned scribes were often found in small towns, where life was less expensive than in the big cities. See Med. Soc., 11, 239.)