Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Acknowledgements
- Prologue
- Dedication
- 1 The Foundations of Letter-Writing in Pre-Modern Islamic Society
- 2 Epistolary Prose, Poetry and Oratory: Essentials of the Debate
- 3 The Power of the Pen and the Primacy of Script
- 4 The Composition Secretary (i): Background and Status
- 5 The Composition Secretary (ii): Moral and Inner Qualities
- 6 Balāġa, Epistolary Structure and Style
- 7 Epistolary Protocol
- Epilogue
- Bibliography
- Index
Prologue
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 12 September 2012
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Acknowledgements
- Prologue
- Dedication
- 1 The Foundations of Letter-Writing in Pre-Modern Islamic Society
- 2 Epistolary Prose, Poetry and Oratory: Essentials of the Debate
- 3 The Power of the Pen and the Primacy of Script
- 4 The Composition Secretary (i): Background and Status
- 5 The Composition Secretary (ii): Moral and Inner Qualities
- 6 Balāġa, Epistolary Structure and Style
- 7 Epistolary Protocol
- Epilogue
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
When Maaike van Berkel published her short article on the historical position of the secretary (Ar. kātib) she raised some issues that have been fundamental to the writing of this book. That is not to say that much of what follows in this volume had not been conceived of in some shape or form prior to my reading that article. However, through van Berkel's doubting of the value of the administrative texts as an accurate historical source on the position of the secretary she inadvertently presented me with additional justification for the formulation of this work.
Van Berkel claims that ‘many present-day studies on the kātib have been lacking in a critical approach towards administrative literature’, and that the question of whether the secretary fulfilled the criteria of his position laid down by the secretaries themselves has never been adequately assessed. Her claims are certainly very plausible, especially as much remains unknown about the extent of nepotism, for instance, among the secretarial class. Thus the extent to which the secretaries as a group were less concerned with promoting the image of their profession than their own individual causes remains unclear. Yet although the real historical picture of the secretary's position does need to be established, the importance of the text as written record in Islamic society automatically ensured for the secretary a unique position within the administrative hierarchy of that society.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Publisher: Edinburgh University PressPrint publication year: 2008