al-Kharaj wa Sinaat al-Kitaba

Kitab al-Kharaj wa-Sina'at al-Kitaba (The Book of Land Tax and the Art of Administration) is an administrative, geographical, and fiscal manual composed by the Abbasid official and scholar Qudama ibn Ja'far (d. 337 AH / 948 CE; another report gives 328 AH) al-Kharaj wa Sinaat al-Ki…+1. It serves as a comprehensive handbook detailing the functions of central government bureaux, taxation laws, geography, postal itineraries, and administrative ethics Mujaz Dairat al-Maarif al…+1.

Composition and Date

The book was written during the late 3rd and early 4th centuries AH. Evidence indicates it was completed shortly after 316 AH (928 CE), as the author refers to contemporary events such as the raid of Asfar al-Daylami on Qazwin in 316 AH and deeds associated with Mardawij Majallat al-Risala. According to Abu Hayyan al-Tawhidi, Qudama presented his book in 320 AH (932 CE) to the vizier Ali ibn Isa, who examined it and praised its treatment of rhetoric and prose composition Majallat al-Risala.

Structure and Scope

Classical bibliographers differ on the original division of the work into manazil (stations or sections):

• Ibn al-Nadim and Yaqut al-Hamawi report that it originally comprised eight manazil, to which the author added a ninth al-Kharaj wa Sinaat al-Ki…+1.
• Al-Mutarrizi describes it as containing seven manazil al-Kharaj wa Sinaat al-Ki…+1.

Only the second half of the work (from the fifth manzil onwards) has survived; the first four manazil are lost al-Kharaj wa Sinaat al-Ki…+1. Internal cross-references in the surviving text indicate that the third manzil dealt with rhetoric and the art of eloquent writing, while the fourth discussed the chancery (diwan al-insha') and official epistolography regarding fiscal affairs al-Kharaj wa Sinaat al-Ki….

The surviving sections encompass:

• Fifth Station (al-Manzila al-Khamisa): Details the central government departments, including the military bureau (diwan al-jaysh), expenditures (al-nafaqat), the treasury (bayt al-mal), official correspondence (al-rasa'il), royal signatures (al-tawqi'), the state seal (al-khatam), the unsealing bureau (al-fadd), coinage and mint standards (dar al-darb), the court of grievances (al-mazalim), the police (al-shurta), and the postal network and communication routes (diwan al-barid wa-l-sikak) across the empire al-Kharaj wa Sinaat al-Ki…+1.
• Sixth Station (al-Manzila al-Sadisa): Covers mathematical and descriptive geography, beginning with astronomical and celestial principles of the earth, the division of the inhabited world, seas, islands, mountains, rivers, springs, and marshes, followed by a detailed administrative survey of Islamic provinces, their land revenues (irtifa'), and frontier marchlands (thughur) al-Kharaj wa Sinaat al-Ki…+1.
• Seventh Station (al-Manzila al-Sabi'a): Focuses on legal and fiscal classifications of revenues, including spoils of war (fay'), conquered territories (ard al-'anwa and ard al-sulh), tithe lands (al-'ushr), land reclamation (ihya' al-ard), land grants (qata'i'), produce-sharing systems (muqasama), poll tax on non-Muslim subjects (jizya), livestock charity (sadaqat), one-fifth levies (khums), mined resources and treasure trove (rikaz), marine products, customs dues on merchants ('ashir), lost property, unclaimed estates, water rights (shurb), and historical accounts of territorial conquests (futuhat) al-Kharaj wa Sinaat al-Ki…+1.
• Eighth Station (al-Manzila al-Thamina): Examines political administration, social organization, causes for the rise and decline of states, and the duties and ethics required of rulers and administrators al-Kharaj wa Sinaat al-Ki….

Reception and Significance

Classical authors praised the work for its comprehensiveness in administrative knowledge. Ibn al-Jawzi and Badr al-Din al-Ayni described it as a fine work followed by scholars in the field, noting that whoever peruses it recognizes the breadth of the author's learning and administrative expertise al-Kharaj wa Sinaat al-Ki…+1.

Manuscripts and Editions

The surviving text is preserved in a principal manuscript in the Köprülü Library in Istanbul (MS 1076), with a handwritten transcript by Charles Schefer held at the Bibliothèque nationale de France in Paris (MS 5907), alongside a single supplementary leaf preserved at the Bodleian Library in Oxford Majallat Lughat al-Arab a…+1.

Excerpts from the postal and geographical chapters were edited by the Dutch orientalist Michael Jan de Goeje in 1889 as part of the Bibliotheca Geographorum Arabicorum (vol. 6) in Leiden Majallat Lughat al-Arab a…+1. The surviving text was subsequently edited and annotated in full by Muhammad Husayn al-Zubaydi and published in Baghdad al-Kharaj wa Sinaat al-Ki….