From Bawit to Marw pdf

From Bawit to Marw : documents from the medieval Muslim world

FROM BAWIT TO MARW – Book Sample

Three Remarkable Arabic Documents from the Heidelberg Papyrus Collection (First-Third/Seventh-Ninth Centuries)

P.Heid.inv. Arab. a0518. Fragment of a fine papyrus. 32.5×18.5cm. The text on recto is written at right angles to the fibers. The beginning of the recto text as well as the right and the left margins are preserved, with only the lower part of recto missing. No folds are visible.

The recto contains a letter sent by a man called Kaʿb b. Munabbih to a man called Kaʿb b. Saʿd. The text of this letter, which lacks final greetings, is followed in line 2 of verso by the words “And to ʿAbd Allāh ibn [ʿAbd] Allāh: [Peace] and God’s mercy be upon you!,” which is the somewhat abbreviated beginning of the text of a second letter. After some formulae, the writer mentions in this second text an affair concerning ʿAbd Allāh b. ʿAbd Allāh and Kaʿb b. Saʿd. Since Kaʿb b. Saʿd is the addressee of the first letter, there are two possibilities: either the two texts are drafts, or the addressee on recto, Kaʿb b. Saʿd, is supposed to show the part of the letter concerning the two of them to ʿAbd Allāh b. ʿAbd Allāh. In view of the fact that the second text

has a beginning that is almost complete, with only the Basmalah and the min clause indicating the writer (ﻣﻦ ﻛﻌﺐ ﺑﻦ ﻣﻨﺒﻪ) missing, the first possibility is, in my opinion, more plausible than the second. Also, the two texts contain many scribal mistakes and additions typical of drafts.

Although the two letters are not complete, their contents can be recon-structed to some extent.

In the first letter, the writer, Kaʿb b. Munabbih, mentions debts of his and informs the addressee, Kaʿb b. Saʿd, that he will send him “only” 17 dinars. Then Kaʿb b. Munabbih gives detailed instructions of how the money should be distributed among certain persons whom he mentions by name, along with the amounts to be given to each of them. The total sum of the amounts mentioned is 11 1/2 dinars, but the end of the letter is not preserved, and in this lost part other amounts may have been mentioned. Also, the isolated  ﻧﺼﻒof the last line preserved may have been preceded by a number indicating full dinars.

The way the debtors and the payments are indicated varies in the document. Three different constructions can be distinguished:

a)            “May Ibn Rabīʿah receive three dinars and two thirds of a dinar” (line 4);

b)            Indication of the amount and the recipient and/or purpose (lines 5–8);

c)            Indication of the recipient (and possibly the purpose) and the amount (lines 8–9).

The debtors are introduced by li-, the purpose by fī or li-.

At the end of this letter on verso, Kaʿb b. Munabbih mentions nine dinars in letters of credit in the possession of Kaʿb b. Saʿd—an amount that Kaʿb b. Saʿd seems to owe him. It is perhaps because of these letters of credit that Kaʿb b. Munabbih began this letter, as mentioned above, with the statement that he will send Kaʿb b. Saʿd “only” 17 dinars in cash. The amount required for paying his debts was perhaps higher than 17 dinars, but there were an additional nine dinars to his credit in the form of letters of credit he had sent Kaʿb b. Saʿd.

In the second letter, which begins in line 2 of verso and is written by the same hand, Kaʿb b. Munabbih first expresses his hope that the addressee, ʿAbd Allāh b. ʿAbd Allāh, will never contradict him, that is, will always act according to his wishes, which foreshadows the contents of the letter. Kaʿb b. Munabbih then mentions a dispute between ʿAbd Allāh b. ʿAbd Allāh and Kaʿb b. Saʿd, the addressee of the first letter, of which Kaʿb b. Saʿd has informed him. This dispute consists in the fact that ʿAbd Allāh b. ʿAbd Allāh obviously wants to retain a certain amount of the dinars he owes Kaʿb b. Saʿd, whereas Kaʿb b. Saʿd prefers to “hoard” them. Accordingly, Kaʿb b. Munabbih urges ʿAbd Allāh b. ʿAbd Allāh to send the “dinar” (the dinars mentioned first have become one dinar by….

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