Documents

Primary language

Arabic

It is a title and a name, perhaps Thiqat al-Dawla Ḥammād b. ʿAlī. Above it, at 90 degrees, there is another text block in Arabic script.

Related People

1

Tags

• arabic script
• decree

1 Transcription

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

This recently discovered document presents a detailed account of the calendar controversy from the perspective of a Qaraite. It is also the only source confirming that the controversy continued until the beginning of 924, when Palestinian and Babylonian calendars converged back to the same dates, without however either side emerging victorious over the other.

Tags

• calendar
• controversy

1 Transcription 1 Translation 1 Discussion

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

Mentions the brother of the Rayyis Abu l-Najm, Ibn Munajja, Zayn al-Din b. al-Sawwaf. In the margin, "abstain from soft bread and water."

1 Discussion

Primary languages

Hebrew, Judaeo-Arabic

There is a poem addressed to Abū l-Faraj Yehoshuaʿ Ibn al-Qamūdī; a poem addressed to Shemuel Ibn al-Lebdī (hence Goitein's inclusion of this fragment in the 'India Book'); a poem addressed to Abū Sulaymān, complaining about the delay of the response to his panegyric from Menashshe b. Ibrāhīm al-Qazzāz; a poem that he sent together with a Purim present; poems on generic themes (parting, elegy, praise); and a poem that he wrote to a friend who gave him some cheese instead of the wine that he had asked for.

Tags

• cheese
• ib-untranslated-eng
• ib1
• india book
• literary letters
• (+ 1 more)

1 Translation

Primary languages

Hebrew, Judaeo-Arabic

Both brothers were assassinated (Abū Saʿd in October 1047 on the orders of his rival, the vizier Yūsuf al-Fallāḥī, whom the caliph’s mother then had killed in June 1048; and Abū Naṣr in 1049 or 1050). (Information from Rustow, Heresy and the Politics of Community, 322.) See also Mann, Jews in Egypt and in Palestine, 1:82 and Gil, In the Kingdom of Ishmael, sec. 371.

Tags

• al-tustari
• elegy
• fire
• liver

No Scholarship Records

Document date

First decade of Ḥeshvan 1493 Seleucid (12 October 1181–21 October 1181 CE)

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

Avraham, appoints Maʿālī b. Khalaf al-Dajājī as her representative to sue her ex-husband for the 12 dinars owed to her under the terms of her ketubba. […] Seʿadya ha-Levi (active ca. 1181–1209). Also signed by Levi b. Avraham ha-Levi (likely identical with the cantor Abū Sahl Levi, the father of Yedutun and Moshe).

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1

Tags

• abu sahl levi

1 Discussion

Primary languages

Hebrew, Judaeo-Arabic

In which the correspondents state they are well, “though troubles passed over us during the years of famine, from all of them our God rescued us.” The correspondents also assure Daniel of their loyalty to him, “rejoicing in thy kingdom (a reference to his descent from King David) and taking pride in they epistle.”

Related Documents

1

Tags

• famine
• jewish community

2 Transcriptions 1 Discussion

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

In the present letter, among other matters, he asks the addressee to purchase for him a good copy of Hilkhot ha-Rif (al-Fāsī). The handwriting switches halfway through this letter. […] Avraham (see DK 230.2), but rigorous identification will require further examination. Abū Saʿd may also be identical with Saʿadya and he could have relied on another scribe.

Tags

• sedaqa b. semah

1 Discussion

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

May mention madder (fuwwa); two bales; and a bribe (barṭīl). Mentions ʿAbd al-Raḥmān. In the bottom section, calculates the remaining credit of Abū l-Surur Ibn Yijū in murābiṭī dinars (beginning with 19 1/2). […] In the section at 90 degrees mentions his credits with Wāfī and Hilāl and Ibn Umm al-Futūḥ. On verso mentions Ibn al-Ṣābūnī

Related People

2

Tags

• account
• ib-addenda
• ib3
• yiju

No Scholarship Records

Inferred date

1150–1181 CE

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

Ḥananya) gives 3 dirhems, the physician Abū l-Najm contributes 2 for his father and himself, which he pays by transfer, ḥawāla; three other persons also pay by transfer. In the hand of Mevorakh b. […] The persons to be solicited are mostly grouped according to their professions, al-Ṭibb, the members of the medical profession, forming the largest single group of tardy contributors.

Related People

1

Tags

• pesiqa

1 Discussion

Primary language

Arabic

Letter from (Abū Saʿd) Ibrāhīm b. Sahl al-Tustarī (d. 1048) to [...] b. ʿAzarya. In Arabic script. […] ʿAzarya, but there are also attestations of Yosef b. ʿAzarya, Efrayim b.

Tags

• al-tustari
• unedited 11th c

No Scholarship Records

Primary languages

Arabic, Hebrew, Judaeo-Arabic

The letter is to be delivered to Fusṭāṭ, al-Murabbaʿa, the shop of Abū ʿAlī b. Abū l-Ḥasan. […] Opens with blessings for the addressee's sons Abū ʿAlī Yefet and Abū l-Makārim Nadiv. Conveys congratulations for the holiday.

Tags

• recommendation

No Scholarship Records

Document date

Thursday, 17 Sivan 1386 Seleucid (4 June 1075 CE)

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

ʿEli ha-Parnas ha-Neʾeman produces before the court a letter from Nahray in which he announces that he wants to pay a debt of 36 dinars owed to the wife fo Abū Yūsuf Yaʿqūb (brother of R. Moshe al-Andalusī), the daughter of the daughter of Abū Durra, out of a debt owed to him by Abū Isḥāq b. […] Likewise a silver box with pearls (obviously belonging to that young woman / ṣabiyya) should be deposited in court. She had also part in consignments of flax and other goods, which he would send.

Related People

1

Related Documents

2

1 Discussion

Document date

Monday, 25 Jumādā I 423 Hijrī (9 May 1032 CE)

Primary language

Arabic

Mentions Aḥmad b. Hibatallāh al-Wakīl. The last sentence states that ʿAlī b. […] Two names visible are ʿAbd al-Raḥmān and Yaḥyā.

Related Documents

1

Tags

• dimme
• inheritance

1 Discussion

Document date

first decade of Av 1456 Seleucid (1145 CE)

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

Yefet; Yeshuʿa b. ʿAmram. The qiyyum also lists Yosef b. Yaʿaqov ha-Mumḥe as one of the witnesses and is signed by Menashshe b. […] On verso there is a receipt for all but one installment—115.5 dinars—dated 1457 Seleucid and signed by Shelomo b.

Related People

3

Related Places

1

Tags

• debt

No Scholarship Records

Primary languages

Arabic, Judaeo-Arabic

Underneath mentions Abū l-Faraj b. al-Sadīd b. al-Faqīh Ibn Mukārī(?). On verso one of the Arabic jottings refers to a medical epistle by ʿĪsā b. ʿAlī.

No Scholarship Records

Document date

16 Dhū l-Ḥijja 1245 Hijrī (8 June 1830 CE)

Primary language

Arabic

Letter in Arabic, from a state official within Meḥmed ʿAlī Pasha's administration detailing a variety of transactions involving individuals with the title Effendi. Dated 16 Dhū l-Ḥijja 1245 AH (1830 CE). Meḥmed ʿAlī Pasha is referenced indirectly at least once in the letter (l. 8: efendīna wālī al-niʿam) where his title appears in connection with a kethüda who was in the Pasha's service.

Tags

• 19th c
• state

No Scholarship Records

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

The document concerns Yaḥyā b. Yehuda al-Ẓefira, his brother Saʿīd b. Yehuda, and Saʿīd b. Dā'ūd al-Abhar, who all jointly own and live together in one house.

Tags

• yemen

No Scholarship Records

Primary language

Hebrew

Daniel is not named in the letter or address, but can be identified by his ʿalāma, ישועה, which occurs at the end of the letter and next to the direction of the letter on verso. […] In a different hand, there is also a long text consisting of a collection of passages from the Babylonian Talmud, Ḥagiga 12; Moʿed Qaṭan 5, 9, 16, for liturgical-homiletic purposes.

Related Places

1

Tags

• daniel b. azarya

1 Transcription 1 Discussion

Inferred date

1100–1138 CE

Primary languages

Arabic, Judaeo-Arabic

Involving a bridegroom and his fiancee, Sitt al-Ahl. After a temporary dissolution of the engagement, the prospective groom agrees that all future income from his fiancee, Sitt al-Ahl, would be considered her property.

Related People

1

Tags

• engagement
• halfon b. menashshe

2 Transcriptions 1 Discussion

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

Letter previously thought to be from Abū Yaʿqūb Ibn al-Najera, somewhere in Spain, to Ḥalfon b. Netanel, likely in Lucena. […] [However, T-S AS 149.119 is a letter from Ibn al-Najera and does not resemble this one.] This letter recounts the writer's visit to a woman who owed him 10 mithqāls, but he found her sick. He now asks Ḥalfon to advance him a certain sum, probably the same 10 mithqāls, for the purpose of his travel to Almeria. Information from Goitein and Friedman, India Book 4, pp: 182-183.

Tags

• ib-untranslated-eng
• ib4
• illness
• illness letter 969-1517
• illness: marad
• (+ 2 more)

2 Transcriptions 1 Translation

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

Letter from Yaʿqūb b. Salmān al-Ḥarīrī, in Ramla, to Nahray b. Nissim, in Fusṭāṭ. […] In some respects it is a standard mercantile letter, mentioning various commodities and prices. The sender also mentions being caught in a storm while sailing from Jaffa, the port of Ramla.

Related People

2

Related Places

5

Tags

• famine
• sea travel
• shidda

2 Transcriptions 3 Translations 1 Discussion

Inferred date

1161–1172 CE

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

Fragment of a letter from Peraḥyā Yijū to Abu ʾl-Fakhr Ibn al-Amshāṭī. Written in al-Maḥalla, ca. 1161-72. […] Presumably, Abu ʾl-Fakhr's other children, whom Peraḥyā had blessed with life in [PGPID 4741], line 3 and margin top, did not survive. Alternatively, III, 53, was written before the birth of the other children

Related People

2

Related Places

2

Tags

• ib-untranslated-eng
• ib3
• india book

2 Transcriptions 1 Translation

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

She asks the addressee to speak to her brother (probably Sālim al-Naqqād al-Ṣayrafī) and rebuke him for not helping her in this foreign land. […] Later she specifies that she only left to reach al-Shām (Damascus?) but never made it. If they want her to come to Fustat, they must send her the costs of the journey.

Related Places

2

1 Transcription 1 Discussion

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

Outsiders: seven from Cairo (in a separate appendix superscribed 'The Cairenes and including the beadle of that city'); three each from Alexandria and al-Mahalla; one from Qus; one Maghribi; one from Damascus.

Related Documents

1

Tags

• capitation tax
• census
• tax

1 Transcription 1 Discussion

Primary language

Hebrew

The author calls his addressee, somewhat unusually, ‘my sage’ and ‘my scholar’. It also goes through and refutes a list of numbered Palestinian arguments. All three texts share in common the tendency of attributing absurd calendrical opinions to their opponent in order to refute them easily.

Tags

• calendar controversy

1 Transcription 1 Translation 1 Discussion

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

His brother Mevorakh b. Seʿadya is also mentioned (l8). The sender asks for employment in copying books. "This country on account of our sins now has few scholars, and nobody seeks any of the works/knowledge (? maʿnā min kathīr al-maʿānī) which these lands are famous for...."

Related Places

2

Tags

• 11th c

1 Transcription 1 Discussion

Document date

22 Shevaṭ 1576 Seleucid (9 February 1265 CE)

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

Written and signed by ʿImmanuel b. Yeḥiel, also signed by Efrayim b. Shemuel ha-melammed. In which the creditor, Abū l-Majd b. Abū l-Maḥāsin, transfers to his wife Saʿdiyya bt. Abū l-Fakhr al-Ṣayrafī David b. Yefet's remaining debt of 327 dirhams of the original 377 dirhams owed.

Related People

4

Related Places

1

Related Documents

1

Tags

• immanuel b. yehiel

1 Transcription 1 Discussion

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

The letter is mainly about arrangements for the long-deferred pilgrimage of Mūsā b. Barhūn al-Tāhartī to Jerusalem. On verso, amidst family greetings and business matters, Moshe conveys his wife's urgent request for myrobalan for her to drink. […] At least four letters from Moshe to Nahray survive: see also T-S 13J13.5 (from March), T-S 13J17.18 (from July), and Halper 411 (May 1054 CE).

Related People

3

Related Places

3

Tags

• illness
• illness letter 969-1517
• illness: treatment
• illness: women's
• jerusalem
• (+ 4 more)

2 Transcriptions 1 Discussion

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

The sender's father sends his regards as does "the little one" (al-ṣaghīra) Zayn al-Dār (it seems that Goitein deduced from this that the sender is married to Zayn al-Dār and that he is writing to his father-in-law).

Tags

• christian
• personal

1 Transcription 1 Discussion

Document date

Tammuz 1530 Seleucid (16 June 1219–14 July 1219 CE)

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

Eliyyahu to his paternal aunt Umm Daʾūd, asking for her daughter Sitt al-Yumn in marriage and enquiring about the dowry. […] Eliyyahu, concerning the claims between two sisters and Thanāʾ, the mother the late Manṣūr concerning the inheritance of the late Ibn Abū l-Majd the dyer Ibn al-Nāʾila. Abū l-Maḥāsin guarantees his mother ʿIbād’s release for her sister Ḥasab and Thanāʾ bt. Sayyid al-Ahl. (Information from CUDL.) See CUL Or.1080 J116 (PGPID 8889) for a list of related documents.

Tags

• 13th c
• inheritance
• marriage
• shelomo b. eliyyahu

2 Transcriptions 1 Translation 1 Discussion

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

Seʿadya, the agent of Yaḥyā b. Maʿ[ālī?], and Maḥāsin b. Shemuel and his divorcee (Qiwāma bt. […] Yosef ha-Levi is quoted, who sold half of his house in New Cairo in the Zuwayla quarter. Also mentions Yosef b. מרא. (Information from Goitein's index card and CUDL.)

Related Places

2

1 Discussion

Document date

439–40 Hijrī (28 June 1047–4 June 1049 CE)

Primary language

Arabic

May involve a tax farm (ḍamān) and includes the dates Ṣafar 439 AH and Rabīʿ I 440 AH. Mentions "al-miʿdiyya": a raft or a pontoon bridge (Agius, Classic Ships of Islam pp. 376–77 citing Ibn Baṭṭūṭa), and also mentions a "jisr", a dyke or a bridge.

Tags

• dimme

1 Transcription 1 Discussion

Document date

Monday, 8th of Adar II Seleucid

Primary language

Hebrew

Dating: Not before 1019 CE when Shemuel wrote his will, but not after late 1026 when his son Avraham was already mature, and sued his guardians in court. The eighth day of Adar II occured on a Monday on 1020 and 1023. […] For the guardians' actions see also PGPID 3478 and PGPID 3013.

Tags

• register

2 Transcriptions 1 Discussion

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

Mentions people such as 'the woman' (al-sitt); Abū Isḥāq Ibrāhīm Ibn Siqbāl al-Andalusī; Barakāt Ibn Shūʿa; "my cousin (ibn ʿammī) Yiṣḥaq; and 'the woman the daughter of al-Kharazī.'

Related People

1

Tags

• gems
• gold
• materia medica
• women traders

No Scholarship Records

Primary language

Arabic

Reports on the delivery of produce (al-ghalla), most likely state produce. Recto: Scribal practice. […] and the Muslims have great benefit" (ولنا وللمسلمين به نفع كبير). Also mentions "ḍamin maks bi-miṣr" (overseer of the customs in Fusṭāṭ).

1 Transcription

Primary language

Arabic

He asks the addressee to meet with somebody (al-amīr?) about the matter of the sender's brother. […] Closes with a raʾy clause, an afterthought ("please meet with him in the alley of Wikālat al-Qand"), then another raʾy clause.

Tags

• dimme
• petition

1 Transcription