Letter to Hillel ibn Naḥman

The Yemenite Jew Sa‘īd ibn Marḥab wrote this Judeo-Arabic letter from Aden, Yemen, to Hillel ibn Naḥman (nicknamed “the Perfumer”) to tell him about the tragic drowning of Hillel’s son-in-law, Hiba ibn Abū Sa‘d. The ultimate purpose of the letter was to have it serve as proof that the two Jews had died, so that their widows, including Hillel’s daughter, would be approved to remarry and to collect whatever was owed to them from their late husbands’ estates. Sa‘īd refers to Hiba as “sheikh,” an honorific for any high-standing member of the Jewish community. Since ships were named for their destination, the two here were heading to the Indian ports of Kūlam and Barībatan. The letter includes common epistolary features, including a rhymed prose panegyric to Hillel at its outset (not included here) and customary positive greetings. Double slashes indicate words written above the line.