Name of Object:

Inheritance document

Location:

Jerusalem

Holding Museum:

Islamic Museum, al-Aqsa Mosque / al-Haram al-Sharif

 About Islamic Museum, al-Aqsa Mosque / al-Haram al-Sharif, Jerusalem

Date of Object:

Hegira 793 Dhu al-Qaeda (AD October 1st 1391)

Artist(s) / Craftsperson(s):

The scribe is the Honourable Judge (Qadi), al-Ansari al-Shafi’i.

Museum Inventory Number:

161 وثائق

Material(s) / Technique(s):

Ink on paper.

Dimensions:

Length 27 cm, width 17.5 cm

Period / Dynasty:

Mamluk

Provenance:

Jerusalem

Description:

An inheritance document written on paper in a script that is difficult to read. It consists of 15 lines, some parts of which are worn away in the middle of the first and second lines, resulting in the loss of the first name of the owner. The subject of the document is an inventory of inheritance (property) belonging to an invalid on his death-bed. The document details the possessions of the owner whose name is “[…] bin Husayn al-Mas'udi”, it includes a description of his possessions: a shirt, an old mattress, old outer garments (open in front) and a woollen head covering. The owner of the document worked as an attendant at the Madrasa Tankaziyya in Jerusalem. He also worked as a glazier, cutting glass and fitting it in houses. There are also details of a shop he was leasing out. The name of his wife was Zaynab, daughter of Muhammad bin Abd Allah Al-Iskankari, and he had three daughters: Fatima, Khatun and Rahma and one son, Muhammad. The document enumerates what is due to his wife with regard to the balance of the bridal dowry and what is due in terms of the shop lease. The owner of the document had relinquished his position in the Madrasa Tankaziyya to his son, Muhammad, on the basis of an agreement that the madrasa would oversee.
The owner of the document was probably conveying his instructions to Ahmad bin ‘Uthman bin Sayf al-'Attal and al-Hajj Ali bin Musa bin Ali al-Nahhas. The document was registered by the Right Honourable Judge (Qadi), al-Ansari al-Shafi'i, who practiced Islamic law in Jerusalem. It was signed by four witnesses; the names of each are recorded at the end of the document after the text of the statement which reads: “The aforementioned has been comprehended and witnessed accordingly”.
The document offers an important insight into the social and economic life in the city of Jerusalem during the Mamluk period. It illustrates the ways in which positions were exchanged and transferred from one person to the next; it details names and types of garments that were widespread among different social classes, as well as informing us about people's professions; it gives some indication of the costs of rents, and the general cost of living in Jerusalem at the time. Such documents reveal the workings of the court as an institution with a basic role in every aspect of life, and allow exploration of the administrative system of the city at that time.

View Short Description

Usually the will is enumerated after death; this one, however, was written in the presence of the owner on his death bed. He was a custodian at the Madrasa Tankiziyya and a glazier. It lists what the man will leave and to whom. It also includes instructions. The document bears a great deal of social and economic information about Mamluk Jerusalem.

Original Owner:

The Islamic Religious Court (al-Mahkama al-Shar’iyya), Jerusalem

How date and origin were established:

The document is dated.

How Object was obtained:

This document was found among a collection of Mamluk documents stored in a box at the Islamic Museum in the mid-1970s. The documents are likely to have been in the archive of one of the Shari'a judges practicing in Jerusalem.

How provenance was established:

The document's place of issue is narrowed down to Jerusalem, suggested by the text.

Selected bibliography:

Little, D. P., A Catalogue of the Islamic Documents from al-Haram al-Sharif in Jerusalem. Beirut, 1984.
Lutfi, H., Al-Quds al-Mamlukiyya: A History of Mamluk Jerusalem Based on Al-Haram Documents, Berlin, 1985.

Citation of this web page:

Khader Salameh "Inheritance document" in Discover Islamic Art, Museum With No Frontiers, 2024. https://islamicart.museumwnf.org/database_item.php?id=object;ISL;pa;Mus01;30;en

Prepared by: Khader Salameh
Copyedited by: Majd Musa
Translation by: Amal Sachedina (from the Arabic).
Translation copyedited by: Mandi Gomez


MWNF Working Number: PA 30