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Primary language
- Judaeo-Arabic
Large, calligraphic alms list. Dating: first half of the twelfth century. According to Goitein, written for the purpose of allocating communal assistance. Cohen: "What kind of assistance was meant cannot be determined (cash?)[…]
Later in the list we come upon an unusual entry, the "concealed" glassmaker, zajjaj mastur, nestled among a (poorly paid) parchment maker, a mason (another low-paid wage-eamer), and an immigrant woman (a widow, apparently) from Acre who was living in the home of one of the prominent merchants of Fustat, al-Lebdī. This glassmaker, a representative of the "working poor" and ashamed to appear on an alms list, had himself listed (or was listed by the charity overseers) both anonymously and as mastur, indicating that he normally did not seek charity.
recto, right [Col. 1]
- In (your) n(ame) O Me(rciful)
- man from a good family someone’s acquaintance 3 Umm Salāma 3 4 5
- the father-in-law of “the hea…
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