Letter to His Family

In this Arabic letter, written in Arabic characters, Abū ‘Alī ibn Bū ‘Umar writes to his wife and his son, Abū ’l-Maḥāsin, praising the generosity of Ḥalfon (Arabic: Khalaf) ibn Maḍmūn. Abū ‘Alī had been rendered destitute by the Ghuzz, a Seljuk tribe who plundered the city of Minya, Egypt, where he had business holdings. He also mentions the dramatic circumstances of a woman, probably his daughter, and her husband, who converted to Islam and subsequently divorced her. Surprisingly, Abū ‘Alī does not describe the proselyte in negative terms. In addition, the letter is particularly formal, written in the language of a petitioner, not that of a father writing to his son or wife. It is quite possible that a Muslim scribe wrote this letter.