A widespread Islamic unit of mass. Almost always, 100 raṭl = 1 quintar.
In Aden, 20ᵗʰ century, a unit of mass, = 1 pound.
In Libya, 20ᵗʰ century, a unit of mass used in trade in ostrich feathers and wool for spinning, approximately 512.8 grams.
In India, ? – 19ᵗʰ century,
Ratl, H[indi]. (A[rabic]. ), Ratal, Mar. () A weight, variously rated at 12 to 16 ounces, a pound : at Bombay the Ratal is said to be equal to thirty-six Surat rupees : in the Red Sea the Rottolo, as it is corruptly called, varies from 10 to 24 ounces avoirdupois.
H. H. Wilson, 1855, page 441.
In Alexandria, Egypt, 13ᵗʰ – 16ᵗʰ centuries, various units of mass.
Name of raṭl | Commodity | Value in dirhems | Value in grams | |
Arabs called it the raṭl fulfulī and Europeans the
raṭl forfori. raṭl miṣrī |
spices | Perhaps the most common equivalence in the sources is 1 quinṭār forfori (a hundred raṭl fulfulī ) = 144 libbre sottile of Venice, which, taking the libbra sottile as 301.23 grams, makes the raṭl fulfulī 421.72 grams. | 144 | 420 - 440 |
raṭl lathī | flax | named for a governor of Egypt who held office from 799 to 802 | 600 | |
jarwī raṭl | olive oil | 900-960 | ||
raṭl sufari | quicksilver | 735 |
E. Ashtor.
Levantine Weights and Standard Parcels: A Contribution to the Metrology of the
Later Middle Ages.
Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, U. of London,
vol. 45, no. 3, pages 471-488 (1982).
Detailed discussion of the variations in the sources.
Federigo Melis.
Documenti per la storia economica dei secoli XIII-XVI. Con una nota di paleografia commerciale a cura di Elena Cecchi.
Florence: L. S. Olschki, 1972.
Muḥammed ibn Muḥammed, called Ibn al-Ukhuwah (died 1329).
Reuben Levy, editor.
The Maʻālim al-qurba fī aḥkam al-ḥisba of Ḍiya’ al-Dīn Muḥammad ibn Muḥammad al-Qurashī al-Shāfiī̇, known as Ibn al-Ukhuwwa.
London: Luzac, 1938.
Chapter 9, according to Ashtor, describes the ratls of Upper Egypt.
In Damascus, a unit of mass used to weigh olive oil,
Ibn Mammati has a town by town list of various ratls of Syria-Palestine.
As'ad ibn al-Muhadhdab ibn Mammātī; Aziz Suryal Atiya.
Kitāb qawānīn al-dawāwīn.
al-Qāhirāh: Maktabat Madbūlī, 1991.
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Last revised: 10 May 2012.