Adab al-Kuttab lil-Suli
- Author died
- 335 AH
- Editions
- المطبعة السلفية
Adab al-Kuttab (The Etiquette of Scribes) is a manual on the secretarial craft, scribal lore, and orthography by the Abbasid scholar, court companion, and historian Abu Bakr al-Suli (d. 335 AH / 946 CE) . It is also recorded under the variant title Adab al-Katib 'ala al-Haqiqa (The True Etiquette of the Scribe) or Adab al-Katib .
Scope and Contents
The book is devoted to the technical and literary prerequisites of secretarial writing (kitaba). Al-Suli codifies the rules of orthography and spelling (qawa'id al-imla'), alongside the practical tools and conventions of the scribal profession .
Among the primary subjects treated in the text are:
- Scribal Instruments and Materials: The descriptions, maintenance, and poetic encomiums of inkwells (dawat), pens (aqlam), ink (midad and naqs), and the inkwell wad (liqa and kursuf) .
- Calligraphy and Diacritics: The use and avoidance of vocalization and diacritical dots (al-nuqat wa-al-shakl), detailing the scribe's conventions when addressing superiors versus subordinates, as well as errors in scribal transcription (tashif) at royal courts .
- Proofreading and Review: The necessity of reviewing and auditing drafts after writing (qira'at al-kitab ba'd katbihi) to guard against omissions and slips, substantiated by historical reports and isnads .
- Scribal Poetry and Lore: Anecdotes and verses composed by and about prominent secretaries and literary figures, including Ibrahim ibn al-Abbas al-Suli, Sulayman ibn Wahb, and Abu Tammam .
The work also serves as an important historical witness for earlier epistolary treatises; a reference within it identifies Ibrahim ibn al-Mudabbir as the author of al-Risala al-Adhra' .
Scholarly Character and Contrast with Ibn Qutayba
Al-Suli conceived the work to reflect the broad practical culture and adab required of a practicing scribe, in contrast to Ibn Qutayba's earlier Adab al-Katib, which focused primarily on linguistic lexicography and grammatical lists . Al-Suli openly criticized Ibn Qutayba's approach in his discussions .
Editions
- Edited by Muhammad Bahjat al-Athari, published by al-Maktaba al-Arabiyya in Baghdad and al-Matba'a al-Salafiyya in Egypt (1341 AH) .
- Edited with commentary by Ahmad Hasan Basaj, published by Dar al-Kutub al-Ilmiyya in Beirut (1415 AH / 1994 CE) .
- Edited by Samih Ibrahim Salih, published in Damascus (1426 AH / 2005 CE) .
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