Jamharat Rasail al-Arab fi Usur al-Arabiyya
- Author died
- 1395 AH
- Editions
- Al-Maktabah Al-Ilmiyyah
Jamharat Rasail al-Arab fi Usur al-Arabiyya (The Collection of Arab Epistles in the Flourishing Eras of Arabic) is a comprehensive anthology of classical Arabic correspondence compiled and edited by the scholar Ahmad Zaki Safwat (d. 1395 AH / 1975 CE).
Background and Purpose
Safwat undertook the compilation of the anthology as a direct companion to his previous multi-volume collection of classical Arabic oratory, Jamharat Khutab al-Arab. Upon completing that project, he committed to assembling an equivalent compendium dedicated to literary, official, and personal letters (rasāʾil) across the major eras of Arabic eloquence.
Structure and Content
The work was structured chronologically across four volumes:
- Volume 1: Pre-Islamic (Jahiliyya) correspondence and letters from the Early Islamic period, encompassing official and personal communications of the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ, the early caliphs, and leading companions. Safwat deliberately excluded the letters that had already been compiled by al-Sharif al-Radi in Nahj al-Balagha.
- Volume 2: Correspondence from the Umayyad era, including key political exchanges between figures such as al-Hasan ibn Ali, Mu'awiya ibn Abi Sufyan, and Abdullah ibn al-Abbas.
- Volume 3: The first section of letters from the Early Abbasid era, extending through the early caliphs and commanders of the dynasty.
- Volume 4: The second section of Early Abbasid correspondence, spanning from the accession of al-Mu'tasim up to the Buyid entry into Baghdad in 334 AH.
Safwat originally planned to cover the entire Early Abbasid period in the third volume and reserve the fourth volume for Andalusian correspondence. However, due to the volume of Abbasid material, he divided it between Volumes 3 and 4. To manage the size of the work, he excluded four specific categories of texts from the Abbasid section: Ibn al-Muqaffa's al-Adab al-Kabir and al-Adab al-Saghir, selected epistles of al-Jahiz, versified poetic epistles, and several anonymous letters drawn from Ibn Tayfur's Ikhtiyar al-Manzum wa-al-Manthur. The projected Andalusian section was deferred as an intended fifth installment.
Sources and Publication
Safwat compiled the texts and their contextual historical backgrounds from classical Arabic literature, history, and hadith sources. Among the principal works he drew upon were al-Isbahani's Kitab al-Aghani, al-Tabari's Tarikh al-Umam wa-al-Muluk, Ibn al-Athir's al-Kamil fi al-Tarikh, al-Qalqashandi's Subh al-A'sha, Ibn Abd Rabbih's al-Iqd al-Farid, Ibn Qutayba's Uyun al-Akhbar, and Yaqut al-Hamawi's Mu'jam al-Udaba.
The four-volume edition was published in Cairo by Matba'at Mustafa al-Babi al-Halabi in 1356 AH (1937 CE), followed by a second edition in 1391 AH (1971 CE), and has subsequently been reprinted by several Arab publishing houses.
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