The Qurra Papyrus - Concerning The Fining Of Some Villages - Egyptian National Library Inv. No. 328, 91 AH / 710 CE

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First Composed: 10th December 2005

Last Modified: 12th December 2005

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Assalamu ʿalaykum wa rahamatullahi wa barakatuhu:

(a)

(b)

Figure: (a) Picture of the papyrus and (b) the content of the papyrus.

[] encloses letters supplied to fill a lacuna.

Date

Rabīʿ I, 91 AH / January, 710 CE.

Size

48.2 cm x 20.3 cm. Light brown, fine papyrus. Diacritical marks are but sparsely added, words are freely divided at the end of the line. Verso is blank. The papyrus is, owing to the folding, brittle and perforated. The heading is lost. There is a small margin upon the left side and a broader upon the right side. There is a blank space, 4 cm high, below the last line.

Accession No.

Inv. No. 328.

Contents

The translation of text is:

  1. [In the name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful.]
  2. [From Qurra b. Sharīk to Basil]
  3. [administrator of Ishqauh. I praise]
  4. God, besides whom there is no
  5. God. As to the matter in hand. A-
  6. l-Qasim b. Sayyar, the post-
  7. master, has mentioned to me
  8. that thou hast fined some villages
  9. in they country on account of what is
  10. due from them of the gold-tax. Now when
  11. this my letter comes into thee,
  12. do not bother any
  13. of them on any account until I have talked
  14. to thee about them, if God
  15. wills. And peace be
  16. with him who follows
  17. the guidance. And Muslim has written (it)
  18. in the month of Rabīʿ I
  19. of the year ninety-one.

Location

Egyptian National Library, Cairo.

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References

[1] B. Moritz (Ed.), Arabic Palaeography: A Collection Of Arabic Texts From The First Century Of The Hidjra Till The Year 1000, 1905, Publications of the Khedivial Library, No. 16, Cairo, Plate 104.

[2] A. Grohmann, Arabic Papyri In The Egyptian Library, Volume III (Administrative Texts), 1938, Egyptian Library Press: Cairo, No. 153, pp. 27-29.

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