Documents

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

Letter from ʿIwāḍ b. Ḥananel, in Alexanria, to Nahray b. Nissim, in Fustat. In Judaeo-Arabic. […] The writer reports on a terrible Nile journey "as if it were the sea of Sfax"; the water entered the boat because of the many "ניו"; this may be a plural form of نَوء, which means storm or gale. ʿIwāḍ stayed up all night, sitting in the water and guarding the merchandise, crying out for help and receiving none. […] ʿIwād ultimately reached Alexandria safe and sound. He reports on the state of the merchandise and how he is faring trying to sell it.

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1 Transcription

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

Letter of business in which the writer requests the recipient purchase for him a measure of oil, two ‘futa’ (sari-like cloth), and two dinars of dried fruit (‘zabib’). Abu Imran, Abu al-Rida, and the town of Qus are mentioned, and the writer sends greeting to Abu al-Faraj and Yishaq. EMS (Information from Goitein's index cards) The sender has spoken to Ibn al-ʿIrāqī, who reports that he sent all the letters to their addressees "after the conquest of the land" (futūḥ al-balad); he asks the addressee to try to sell the indigo and buying with its price khazāsh (low-quality silk) or fūṭas (wraps); he asks the addressee to speak to Khallūf to

Related Places

2

Tags

• oil
• trade

1 Transcription 1 Discussion

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

Fragment of a letter sent from Alexandria to the Head of the Congregations, perhaps R. […] Shemuel, the Dayyan and Ras al-Jaliya (the Nasi). Regret is expressed about a letter sent by the Nagid Avraham, and about letters by the addressee (Information from Goitein's index cards) Letter to someone addressed as ‘Adon ha-Tora Sar he-Te'uda Rosh ha-Qahal Yehid ha-Dor', concerned with community matters, sent to the perfumer's market to Abu l-Faraj (?). Mentions people and titles including the Nagid Abraham, Sulayman, Shemuʾel and ‘al-Nasi Shams al-Din Rosh ha-Galut'. (information from CUDL)

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Tags

• alexandria
• exilarch
• nagid

1 Transcription 1 Discussion

Inferred date

1168–1204 CE

Primary languages

Arabic, Judaeo-Arabic

Letter from Moses Maimonides (in his own hand with his own signature), in Fustat, to al-Shaykh al-Thiqa, in Minyat Zifta. Dating: ca. 1168–1204 CE, based on the years when Maimonides was active in Egypt. This is a letter of recommendation for Yiṣḥaq al-Darʿī. The community in Minyat Zifta is asked to pay the capitation tax for Yiṣḥaq and his son, who are new arrivals to Egypt and on their way to Damietta. […] Perhaps Ibrāhīm is the son of Yiṣḥaq, and this is a note summarizing the content of the letter ('re: Ibrāhīm al-Darʿī'). Or—much less likely—perhaps it is delivery details (‘By means of Ibrāhīm al-Darʿī’).

Related People

4

Related Places

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Tags

• arabic script
• maimonides autograph
• recommendation

1 Translation 1 Discussion

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

In this poignant letter Yosef complains of being neglected by the authorities, and feels that he has limited knowledge and is not competent to deal with any but the most basic and routine cases that come before him. He also has no books. He gives an example of a case involving a male and female proselyte as one too difficult for him to tackle. He has tried to implement excommunications but the community has little respect for his pronouncements. The letter also mentions Abū Saʿd Ibn al-Malījī. Address in Arabic script on verso.

Tags

• to edit

1 Discussion

Document date

538 Hijrī (16 July 1143–3 July 1144 CE)

Primary language

Arabic

Mentions the bearer of the letter, Karīm b. Zak[kūr? b.] Sayyid al-Ahl. Evidently asking the addressee to do a favor involving the children of Sayyid al-Ahl and their neighbor, and something which is good and cheap. […] The sender reports that he is still suffering the remnants of an illness (baqāyā al-maraḍ). Mentions "moving to Cairo (al-Qāhira al-maḥrūsa)" and "addressing the excellence" about something "at the time of his departure."

No Scholarship Records

Document date

7 Ṣafar 404 Hijrī (18 August 1013 CE)

Primary language

Arabic

Wahb written by Mīkhāʾīl b. ʿAbd al-Masīḥ, the cashier, and registered by the Office of Accounts on behalf of the Office of Supervision: Abū l-Ḥasan b. Wahb has paid the sum of a third dīnār and a dāniq for his ḍamān on dyeing in Al-Fayyūm, under the supervision of the judge Ṯiqat al-Mulk Makīn al-Dawla wa-Amīnuhā, of the protégé of the commander of the faithful Abū l-Ḥasan ʿAlī b.

Related People

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Tags

• abu l-hasan b. wahb
• daman
• damin
• tax receipt

3 Transcriptions 2 Translations 1 Discussion

Primary languages

Hebrew, Judaeo-Arabic

Part of the Judaeo-Arabic body of the letter is preserved in the margin, including closing greetings and a reminder to send the response quickly with "the response to the (legal?) query" (jawāb al-masʾala). There is also a phrase in Judaeo-Arabic on verso: "the bearer of the response." (ḥāmil al-jawāb). (Information in part from CUDL.) Join: Alan Elbaum

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No Scholarship Records

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

Letter from Yūsuf b. [...] b. Yūsuf to Abū l-ʿAlāʾ Ṣāʿid b. al-Munajjā al-Firnās al-Dimashqī (a.k.a. the parnas ʿUlla b. […] Yosef is probably known). The letter consists almost entirely of respectful blessings and greetings; the purpose of the letter seems to be a request that the addressee bring other, enclosed letters to the attention of "ḥaḍrat sayyidnā" (=the Nagid Mevorakh?)

No Scholarship Records

Document date

1535 Seleucid (28 August 1223–15 September 1224 CE)

Primary language

Aramaic

Meyuppe on verso, who also signs T-S 12.697 (PGPID 20057) in the early 13th century. Husband: Shabbetay b. ממל (Muʾammal?) al-ʿAsqalānī. Wife: Sitt [...] bt. Yefet of Alexandria.

Related Places

2

Tags

• divorce
• get
• interesting shape

1 Transcription 1 Discussion

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

Distinctive handwriting, especially the alefs. Mentions the well known trader Abū Zikrī Yehuda b. […] פאדא מן אללה בסלאמ[תהא). Also mentions [...] b. Nisim al-Iskandarānī. (Information in part from CUDL.)

Related Places

1

No Scholarship Records

Primary language

Arabic

The petitioner talks about an iqṭāʿ assigned to him in a ḍayaʿa (the place name is difficult to decipher but reads as اعمال التعظيمية) and some issue related to an army regiment called "al-Rayḥāniyya". He explains that something did not fall through, or rather, the peasants fled not out of fearing him but rather because of the threat posed by the al-Rayḥāniyya regiment. […] The Rayḥāniyya was an army regiment under the Fatimids and probably attributed to ʿAziz al-Dawla Rayḥān, while the Juyūshiyya were attributed to Amīr al-Juyūsh Badr al-Jamālī.

Tags

• army
• iqta'
• peasants

1 Transcription

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

Asking about the meter (min ayy al-aʿārīḍ/al-buḥūr) and any metrical deviations (ziḥāf) of a Hebrew poem by a deceased poet which begins מי זאת... […] Probably מִי זֹאת כְּמוֹ שַׁחַר עוֹלָה וְנִשְׁקָפָה by Ibn Gabirol; identification kindly provided by Fred MacDowell. The querier also asks if there is anything on the pattern of "meshuhemet" (משוהמת), a category of words criticized by Moshe Ibn ʿEzra in Kitāb al-Muḥāḍara (see Aurora Ossorio, "Shem Tov Ibn Falaquera: From Logic to Ethics," Comparative Literature Studies 45 no. 2 (2008), 165–81).

1 Transcription 1 Discussion

Document date

5 Kislev 1458 Seleucid (11 November 1146 CE)

The engagement contract of Abu Mansur, Semah b. Yefet, to Sitt al-Khassa in Fustat, 1146. Sitt al-Khassa was the daughter of Abu Barakat, son of Yosef Lebdi, the India trader. […] Moreover, 'the rent from her real estate will be in her hands, not in his hands, and she may deal with it as she sees fit.' She also is promised the right to choose the domicile. […] Previous description: Engagement of Sitt al-Khāṣa bt. Abū l-Barakāt al-Lebdī and Ṣemaḥ al-ʿAṭṭār.

Related People

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Related Places

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Tags

• engagement
• ib1
• india book

1 Transcription 2 Translations 1 Discussion

Document date

27 Tammuz 1472 Seleucid (23 July 1161 CE)

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

The contributions: 2 dinars from the Nagid Netanel ha-Levi; 2 dinars from Abū l-Maʿālī of al-Maḥalla; 1 dinar from Abū Naṣr; 1 dinar from Bū l-Faraj al-Ṣūrī; 2 dinars from Sālim al-Parnas Ibn al-Jubaylī; and 2 dinars from Ṣāf(ī) the ghulām/slave/business agent of the tājir on the very day on which the document was written. […] In any case, such a collection also represents some form of mutual help" (Information from Goitein, Med Soc I, 204 and 451 n. 65, where he erroneously cites the document as MS heb. d.66/76). Although the scribe is different, this shelfmark may belong together with the preceding 2 shelfmarks.

Related People

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Tags

• ghulam
• slaves
• testimony
• widows

2 Transcriptions 1 Discussion

Primary language

Hebrew

Describes the events of summer and fall 921, when Se’adya was in Aleppo and heard about Aaron b. Meir’s intention to change the calendar. Also describes the Iraqi scholars’ opposition to his plans. […] The letters are addressed to Saadya’s disciples Shelomo, ʿEzra and ʿEli in Fustat, in care of the shop of ʿAlī b. Sulaymān—incidentally, according to Moshe Yagur, the earliest reference we have to the presence of Jews in the Roman Fortress in Fustat, although it is unknown whether this was the home or only the shop of ʿAlī b.

Related People

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Tags

• calendar controversy

2 Transcriptions 1 Translation 1 Discussion

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

The sender's name may be legible: [...] al-[Iskan?]darānī b. Ibrāhīm. The sender asks the addressee "to help him get rid of his wife to whom he has already sent the bill of divorce but needs an official confirmation of its being received before being allowed to marry another woman (on this see Friedman, Polygyny, 241). […] Do not neglect the small one (i.e., the writer's child) and do not allow him to travel down to Alexandria. May God deal with her as she has acted. […] do not listen to her, for [or: claiming that] she will come to Syria (Bilād al-Shām). For she has broken me and exhausted me, behaving like an idiot (taballadat) in the land (fī l-balad).

Related Places

4

Tags

• damascus

No Scholarship Records

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

The currencies are not named, and the financial accounting is not entirely clear. (1) Buyer: al-Ḥajj Yāqūt. Seller: Shāma bt. Aṣīl al-Dimyāṭī the agent of [...] […] Slave: A black woman named Ḥasbī Allāh. Apparently the purchase was completed without cash. (5) Buyer: Ḥusayn al-Rūmī. Seller: al-Ḥājj Abū Naṣr b. Muḥammad. Slave: A black woman named ʿAdīla or ʿUdayla.

Related Documents

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Tags

• slavery

No Scholarship Records

Primary language

Arabic

Dhī Yaqdhān, probably adapted from al-Ṭabarī's "Tārīkh al-Rusul wa al-Mulūk". Needs examination.

No Scholarship Records

Primary language

Garshuni (Serto)

A few words in Garshuni (Arabic language in Syriac script): al-r[abb?] (=God) and jamīʿ al-bilād ("all the lands").

No Scholarship Records

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

Judaeo-Arabic poetry in the hand of Nāṣir al-Adīb al-ʿIbrī. Mainly love poetry. One of them has a blazon of the beloved along with references to a garden, musical instruments, and a virgin female slave.

Tags

• judaeo-arabic poetry
• nasir

No Scholarship Records

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

In Judaeo-Arabic. Mentions Sālim al-Ḥaver, the female slave of R. Nissim, Sulaymān, the old woman, and Abū l-Faraj the ghulam of [...]. Also "a little bit of Cypriot wine." ASE.

Related People

2

Tags

• slaves

No Scholarship Records

Primary language

Arabic

Unidentified document in Arabic script, possibly a Fatimid or Ayyubid fiscal document (mentions words like "māl... al-dīwān... wa-kataba..."). On verso there's a curious drawing along with Hebrew alphabet practice.

No Scholarship Records

Primary language

Arabic

Two registration marks; 'al-ḥamdu lil-lāhi l-muwaffiq li-ḥamdihi' and 'al-ḥamdu lil-lāh ḥamd al-shākirīn'.

Tags

• dimme
• fiscal
• pinholes
• tax receipt

No Scholarship Records

Inferred date

1100–1138 CE

of Menaḥem or the son of Menaḥem. Also refers to someone known as al-ʿAkkāwī.

Related People

1

No Scholarship Records

Primary language

Arabic

Letter addressed to a Muslim dignitary with many lines of titles (al-malikī al-kāmilī... al-zāhid...). In Arabic script.

No Scholarship Records

Primary language

Arabic

At least in part concerning the revenue from the capitation tax. "Waṣala ilā bayt al-māl al-maʿmūr... min māl al-jawālī..."

No Scholarship Records

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

Recto (secondary use): Brief accounts in Judaeo-Arabic mentioning Bū l-Isḥāq b. al-Amshāṭī, Ibn al-Dihqān, Abū l-Ḥasan b. Rawwād, and Ibn al-Muṭrib.

Related Documents

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No Scholarship Records

Eliyyahu to give them bread for Sabbath. Also: List of contributors (in the judge's hand) and names of recipients of alms.

Related People

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Related Documents

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Tags

• avraham maimonides autograph
• capitation tax
• eliyyahu b. zekharia

1 Transcription

Primary language

Arabic

The addressee's titles include ʿAlamal-Dīn and he is described as a "cave/refuge for the poor" (kahf al-fuqarāʾ).

Related Documents

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1 Transcription

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

Letter in Judaeo-Arabic. Mentions Abū ʿAlī Ḥusayn, Abū l-ʿAlāʾ, conveying gratitude to various people, the ships of the westerners (? marākib al-gharbiyya), and 100 dinars. (Information in part from CUDL)

No Scholarship Records