Umdat al-Kitab li Abi Jafar al-Nahhas
- Author died
- 338 AH
- Editions
- دار ابن حزم
‘Umdat al-Kuttab (The Pillar of Scribes) is a manual on secretarial art and administrative craft written by the Egyptian grammarian and philologist Abu Ja‘far al-Nahhas (d. 338 AH / 950 CE; another report gives 337 AH) . Also identified in bibliographical records under related titles such as Sina‘at al-Kuttab and Adab al-Kuttab, the work addresses the essential qualifications, legal knowledge, and linguistic proficiencies required of chancery scribes and state administrators .
Purpose and Themes
In the treatise, al-Nahhas counters the premise that administrative scribal practice (ahkam al-kitaba) is separate from Islamic jurisprudence (ahkam al-shari‘a) . He argues that state administration (siyasat al-mulk) relies on religion, positioning secretarial practice as a practical branch of legal principles rather than an autonomous discipline detached from sacred law . To illustrate this convergence, he demonstrates how the jurist and the scribe must apply identical legal rulings to topics such as:
- The revival of barren land (ihya' al-mawat) .
- Land taxes and zakat assessments, including the tithe (‘ushr) and half-tithe .
- Charity dues on livestock, including camels, cattle, and sheep .
- Buried treasure (rikaz), state booty (fay'), and spoils of war (ghanayim) .
Al-Nahhas defines the essential instruments of the secretarial trade as handwriting (al-khatt), rhetoric and eloquence (al-balagha), administrative proficiency in organizing chancery departments (tartib a‘mal al-dawawin), practical operational experience, and skill in lawful revenue extraction . He also highlights the scribe’s selective need for Arabic grammar and orthography—such as mastering shortened and lengthened nouns (al-maqsur wa-l-mamdud) and spelling distinctions between the alif and ya'—while refuting contemporary criticisms aimed against the study of grammar and Arabic poetry .
The work also records administrative and political maxims transmitted from early figures, including a tradition cited from ‘Umar ibn al-Khattab on state enforcement: لما يزع السلطان أكثر مما يزع القرآن ("What the ruler restrains is greater than what the Quran restrains") .
Editions
The text was edited by Bassam ‘Abd al-Wahhab al-Jabi and published in one volume by Dar Ibn Hazm and Dar al-Jaffan wa-al-Jabi in Beirut (1st edition, 1425 AH / 2004 CE) .
Answer updated