Letter: CUL Or.1080 J39 + BL OR 5566B.5

Description

Letter in Judaeo-Arabic from Ṣedaqa b. Khalaf b. Fuhayd, in Tyre, to al-Shaykh al-jalīl Abū Isḥaq Ibrāhīm Ibn al-Sheviʿi. In Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: Late 11th century or early 12th century, based on Goitein's assessment. The letter relates that after the death of the writer's father, his brother Fahd, who worked in the local mint, had been deceived by a newcomer Abū Manṣūr Baghdādī. It further discusses large sums of money (hundreds of dinars) owed or handled by a man who was found dead on the seashore. Some say he committed suicide, some say he was murdered. The writer requests a decree (tawqīʿ karīm) of al-Afḍal: ... tawqīʿ karīm min al-ḥaḍra al-mājida (al-Malik al-Afḍal) khallad allāh ayyāmahu ilā al-qāḍī al-ajall thiqat al-dawla ṣāḥīb al-tartīb from al-Mālik (al-Afḍal?) to the Qāḍī Thiqat al-Dawla. Information partly from Goitein's note card for this shelfmark and for BL OR 5566B.5. ASE, YU.