(book of legal decisions)(1412) from Aden
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The Mulahhas al-Fitan wa-l-albab wa-misbah al-huda li-l-kuttab from al-Hasan ibn Ali al Sarif al-Husayni is found in the uncatalogued portion of the Biblioteca Ambrosiana of Milan. It has been completed according to the author in 1412. The manuscript is incomplete (f4r-f27v). but the missing part seems small. Its subjects are trade routes and toll systems for Yemen. From this work it emerges that the Aden port-duties in 1411-12 amounted to as much as 1.470.000 dinars, and that they were the major source of revenue for the Rasulid Sultans. In the text also products coming from East Africa and how much taxes were paid on them.
Medieval Administrative and Fiscal Treatise from the Yemen: G. Rex Smith
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Account of the agreed taxes of the felicitous Yemini ports, God perpetuate the rule of their ruler.
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Civet, on the ounce (1) 1/12+1/3
Slaves from Aden and its environs, per head two and a half dinars (2)
Merchant ships of Mogadishu-slaves per head 2 1/2
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The tax of the blessed tithes at the customs house of the place of entry, Aden the protected-God prolong the rule of her ruler.
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Ambergris: every eight mithqal (3) 1/4, 1/6, 1/8, 1/96; bahar (300 mithqal) 20 1/6, 1/4, 1/8; it does not change, but on each mithqal 1/24, 3/96.
Leopard skin: ten 4 1/2, 3/96
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Rice weighted in stones was tithed in the year 727 in the vessel of Amir Sharaf al-Din Qasim al-Daybuli in full and completely. (6)
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Khuri sandalwood, Zanji and Khuri: 1/3, 1/4, 1/48 (9)
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Zanjibari sandarac: bahar 5 2/3 (4)(10)
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Ebony: bahar 1/3, 1/4, 1/8, 3/96
Malindi sandalwood: bahar 1 1/8, 1/48
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Dragon's blood: bahar 22 2/3, 1/48 (11)
Myrrh and (?) olibanum: bahar 1 3/4, 1/48 (4)
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Ivory: bahar 6 1/6, 1/8, 1/48
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Commodities in bahar from Egypt
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Ivory: bahar 5 3/4, 1/48
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Court taxes from the whole of northern Tihamah (12), Zabid (13), Taizz (14), al-Samkar (15), Jiblah (16), al-Mafalis (17), Lahej (18), Abyan (19), Ahwar (20), Hawrah (21), al-Shihr (22),
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Ivory: bahar 5 3/96, 1/48
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Dragon's blood: bahar 20 (11)
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(The taxes places upon) commodities arriving from eastern ports, from Qays (26), Hurmuz (27), Qalhat (28), Zafar (23), al-Shihr (22), Kharj (29), Mogadishu, Zayla (24),
Aloes: ten mann 1 1/4, 1/8 (35)
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Waistwrappers of mixed material and with a selvage (36) and linen with a selvage from Mogadishu and elsewhere (linen with a selvage is
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Cotton nut-coloured garments with selvage (36) from al-Shihr (22), Mogadishu, Zafar (23) and Syria: one 1/4, 1/8, ten 3 3/4.
Cotton towels and those with a selvage (36) from the areas mentioned above the same, (and those from) Zabid (13) and Northern Tihamah (12):
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(?) veil, aloes, ivory, wax and calomel (37); there is less (tax to be paid) for (each) according to the amount of time (spent) in examining it.
Cinnabar (38), a tenth; galingale (39), a tenth; local aloes, a fifth; ivory, (amount calculated) according to (the time spent) examining (it), whatever
Concerning each peace: 800 700 600 500 400 300, 15 10; 295, 5; 90 150, 3; 95 55, 2 ratl; 50, 1 ratl (5)
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When commodities come from Zayla (24), East Africa, Aydhab (40) etc... when there is something made of leather there can be no payment on
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Shaykh Kamal al-Din al-Maqdashi arrived from Mogadishu in 751 (begins 11 March 1350) b.trar y. his ship a chest made of leather (and)
Exports
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Ivory by the piece: 800 700 600 500 400, 15; 300 295 250,10; 250 230 200, 5; 195 150 100,3 (between) 95 (and) 50,2 ratl; 5, 1 ratl (5)
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When Somali sheep arrive from east and west, they are put in a pen, just below the customs house. The deputy of the government
Guy Ducatez et Éric Vallet have mentioned on a website, (based on the Mulakhkhas): Jurisconsults (Qadis) from Mogadishu were
Taken from: The miniature painting and painters of Persia, India, Turkey (p105)
Ali Efendi; the author of Manaqib-i-Hunarvaran who wrote at the end of the 16th century:
The Habashi and Dimashqi (Damascus) papers are worthless; no paper should be employed that is inferior in quality to that of
(As the Arabs were fighting the holy war to the Ethiopians at the time this got written Habashi can not have meant Christian Ethiopia but
(1) Ounce: Civet ounce: 27.4 gram
(2) dinars: gold coin of one mithqal (4-5 gr of gold)
(3) mithqal: 4-5 gr of gold
(4) Bahar: maybe Bahar of Oman: 808gr.
(5) ratl: standard ratl of 440 grams in Umayyad Egypt.
(6) Amir Sharaf al-Din Qasim al-Daybuli: for the importance of Daybul in East Africa see my webpage Note on Daibal or Debal or Daibul or Daybul.
(7) Nasir al-Din Sharif Musa b. Husayn: Sharifs: meaning "noble", "highborn", or "honourable", traditionally used as a title for the descendants of the family of the prophet Muhammad. Ibn Battuta (1331) also mentions meeting Sharifs in Kilwa.
(8) Qadi: A Qadi is a judge.
(9) Khuri sandalwood: red sandalwood.
(10) Sandarac: a resin obtained from the small cypress-like tree Tetraclinis articulata.
(11) Dragon's blood: is a bright red resin which is obtained from different species of a number of distinct plant genera: Croton, Dracaena, Daemonorops, Calamus rotang and Pterocarpus. The red resin has been in continuous use since ancient times as varnish, medicine, incense, and dye.
(12) Tihamah: refers to the Red Sea coastal plain of the Arabian Peninsula from the Gulf of Aqaba to the Bab el Mandeb.
(13) Zabid: town on Yemen's western coastal plain. It is one of the oldest towns in Yemen.
(14) Taizz: is a city in southwestern Yemen. It is located in the Yemeni Highlands, near the port city of Mocha on the Red Sea.
(15) al-Samkar: Wadi al Samkar is halfway between Taizz and al-Janad.
(16) Jiblah: Jiblah is a town in south-western Yemen, c. eight kilometres south, south-west of Ibb.
(17) al-Mafalis: a region in Hayfan district, Taiz province Yemen.
(18) Lahej: is a city and an area located between Ta'izz and Aden in Yemen.
(19) Abyan: province of Yemen just east of Aden.
(20) Ahwar: a town in south-central Yemen.
(21) Hawrah: is a district of the Hadhramaut Governorate, Yemen.
(22) al-Shihr: coastal town in Hadhramaut in eastern Yemen.
(23) Zafar: or Dhafar is an ancient Himyarite site situated in Yemen, some 130 km south-south-east of today's capital, Sana'a.
(24) Zayla: Zeila in N Somalia close to Djibouti.
(25) Mazunah: is located in the Western South of the Sultanate of Oman, 4 Km away from the Yemeni border.
(26) Qays: Qeys Island, also spelled Qais, Kish, Persian Jazireh-ye Qeys, island in the Persian Gulf, lying about 10 miles (16 km) off mainland Iran.
(27) Hurmuz: Hormuz is a city on the island of Hormuz off the coast of Iran; important in former times as trade center.
(28) Qalhat: The ancient port-city of Qalhat in northeastern Oman.
(29) Kharj: is a governorate in central Saudi Arabia.
(30) Tajrah: the sea Gulf in Djibouti.
(31) al-Sharjah: is the third-most populous city in the United Arab Emirates.
(32) al-Hirdah: port north of Aden
(33) al-Ahwab: close to Zabid
(34) Haly Ibn Yaqub: port on the Red sea coast of Arabia sometimes under control of Mecca sometimes Yemen.
(35) Mann: varied, from as low as 25 pounds (11 kg) to as high as 160 pounds (72½ kg); now 37.3 kg.
(36) Selvage: an edge produced on woven fabric during manufacture that prevents it from unravelling.
(37) calomel: is a mercury chloride mineral with formula Hg₂Cl₂.
(38) Cinnabar: is the bright scarlet to brick-red form of mercury(II) sulfide.
(39) Galingale: a Eurasian sedge with an aromatic rhizome, formerly used in perfumes.
(40) Aydhab: medieval port of the Red Sea controlled by Egypt.
A table out of the Mulakhkhas al-Fitan