A late African copy of the Dalāʼil al-khayrāt, a 'manual' composed of blessings and prayers for everyday life and in particular for the pilgramige to Mecca. Partly composed of selections from the Qur`an and sayings of the prophet, the original work is attributed to the Sufi Muḥammad ibn Sulaymān al-Jazūlī (d. 1465 CE), who lived in in Marrocco . This text has been copied by hand throughout the Islamic world from North West Africa to South East Asia until the last century, with many copies containing illuminations and illustrations. The present manuscript is an example of an originally unbound copy, held together by a string, which is attached to the cardboard cover, probably self made or comissioned by the last owner of the book. The text is clear and in the right order. Not containing illustration, it is an evidently used copy, bearing witness of a tradition of manuscript production common to its region of descent.Layout: 106 59Script: African script in brown ink; vocalization in red ink
List of names with Coptic numerals (perhaps contributors and their contributions).Condition: torn, holes, rubbed, faded, stainedLayout: 18 lines (recto); various lines (verso)
Recto: accounts in Arabic. Verso: few letters in Hebrew and Arabic.Condition: badly torn, rubbed, badly stainedLayout: 4 lines (recto); various lines (verso)
Accounts of expenditures and income, mentioning dancers, and names such as Abū l-Faḍl, Abū l-ʿAzz and Elijah, with Hebrew, Coptic (?) and Arabic numerals.Condition: torn, holes, slightly rubbedLayout: various lines
Accounts, mentioning names such as Abū l-Faraj Mardūk and Abū Isḥāq, and several sums of money.Condition: torn, holes, rubbed, faded, stainedLayout: 15 lines (recto); 14 lines (verso)
Accounts and lists, mentioning prices, weights, currency, place names such as Būṣīr and names such as Ṣalaḥ. Hebrew numerals. Arabic jottings on f. 1r.Condition: torn, rubbed, fadedLayout: 2-16 lines
Accounts and expenditures of the synagogue, including removal of rubbish, the collection of alms (jibāya) and the cantor.Condition: torn, holes, rubbed, fadedLayout: 15 lines (recto); 2 lines (verso)
Recto: accounts, obviously written on Arabic scrap paper. Verso: elaborate, fully vocalised Arabic, starting with the basmala, between the Arabic lines Judaeo-Arabic written transversely and upside down.Condition: torn, holes, rubbed, stainedLayout: numerous lines
Recto: accounts, obviously written on Arabic scrap paper. Verso: elaborate, fully vocalised Arabic, starting with the basmala, between the Arabic lines Judaeo-Arabic written transversely and upside down.Condition: torn, holes, rubbed, stainedLayout: 13 lines (recto); various lines (verso)
Recto: Judaeo-Arabic accounts, mentioning nuts. Verso: Arabic jottings or small fragment of a document.Condition: torn, holesLayout: 5 lines (recto); 2 lines (verso)
Recto: accounts, mentioning names such as Abū Naṣr. Verso: part of an Arabic petition, addressed to the Amir (?).Condition: torn, holes, rubbed, fadedLayout: 8 lines (recto); 2 lines (verso)
Accounts in Hebrew and Arabic script, mentioning names such as Abū l-Barakāt, Abū l-Makārim, Abū Saʿd, and quantities of currency. On verso jottings written across the Arabic accounts.Condition: torn, holes, rubbed, stainedLayout: 10 lines + marginalia (recto); various lines (verso)
Accounts of the owner of a shop, recording the prices of grocery items, such as rice, sugar, sumac, almonds, hazelnuts, pomegranate seeds, bread and cheese. The names of some customers are mentioned, including Ibn al-Ramlī, Abū l-Faḍl and Naṣir b. Ṯābit, and whether they owe money. Parts of the account, which is written in large, crude characters, are repeated in a smaller and better trained hand. In addition, individual words are repeated in Arabic script, probably as a writing exercise. On recto, there are some jottings.Condition: Holes, slightly stainedLayout: various lines
Fragment from a notebook with drafts (of a letter) and accounts. Mentions Ḥayyā [Yaḥyā] ha-Kohen ha-Melammed and Abū l-Ḥasan and measures such as qirrāṭ.Condition: torn, holes, rubbedLayout: 8 lines + marginalia (recto); 10 lines (verso)
Lists of names with Hebrew numerals, possibly wages. Mentions the different days of the week and repeats the same names such as Ibrahim, Ḥusayn, Joseph and al-Ḥallāl.Condition: torn, holes, rubbed, faded, stainedLayout: various lines
List of names of contributors and amounts of their contributions in figures, mentioning approximately 50 proper names.Condition: holes, slightly rubbed, slightly stainedLayout: 21 lines (recto); 16 lines + marginalia (verso)