Letter to Her Sister

This Judeo-Arabic document, preserved in the Cairo Geniza, records the requests that a dying woman made to her sister concerning the guardianship and education of her young daughter. The behavior of the letter writer and her own mother were marked by their piety, and the writer hoped that these traits would be imparted to her daughter. The other woman set to receive an inheritance in this text, Sitt al-Sirr, appears to be an older child who had some unspecified falling out with her mother. This text is also significant because it appears to be written in the hand of its female author rather than dictated to a male scribe, a rarity for Geniza texts. Abū ’l-Barakāt was, apparently, a physician. It is possible that this letter was never sent, as it lacks a closing formula.