Letter to Her Brother

In this Judeo-Arabic letter, preserved in the Cairo Geniza, an unnamed woman from al-Mahdiyya, Tunisia, writes to her brother, Ismā‘īl ibn Barhūn al-Tāhertī, in Fustāt (Old Cairo). He has been traveling abroad, and she expresses wishes for a reunion with him and gives him news about various family members, including his two daughters. She also mentions that she gave their other brother’s new daughter their mother’s name, an example of naming conventions of the time. It was common practice to ask the courier to read letters aloud.