A lost work or a lost title? Iqāma al-ʿIbbur: T-S 10G5.7’

Cambridge University Library's Fragment of the Month: A short piece on an elusive calendar treatise by Saadya Gaon, known in research literature as Iqāma al-ʿIbbur.

high quality image of antique text The fihrist of Saadya's works, T-S 10G5.7

17 August 2023

A lost work or a lost title? Iqāma al-ʿIbbur: T-S 10G5.7

Author

Dr Nadia Vidro

Summary

T-S 10G5.7 is a Fihrist of Saadya Gaon’s works compiled by his sons Sheʾerit and Dosa about a decade after the Gaon’s death (the fragment itself is a later copy). This unique document, sent upon request from Babylonia to Fusṭāṭ, is important not only because it preserves a list of Saadya’s books but also for its biographical information. It explains that Saadya “lived for just under sixty years [...] of them fourteen years less four days in the academy of Sura” and “died at the end of the middle watch in the night of Monday, 26th Iyyar, year 1253 [of the Seleucid Era]” (16 May 942 CE). These data allowed for the correction of the year of Saadya’s birth and the dating of some of his works about which it had been known only that Saadya composed them at a certain age, e.g. the Refutation of Anan composed at the age of 23 years.

Reference

Vidro, Nadia. 2023. "A Lost Work or a Lost Title? Iqāma Al-ʿIbbur: T-S 10G5.7." Taylor-Schechter Genizah Research Unit. doi:10.17863/CAM.107299.