The Arabic Language

rāšidūn
) 
or the arbitration pact of Ṣiffīn (37/657) between ʿAlī and Muʿāwiya.
Since most of the scribes (
kuttāb
) in the early period were Syrians or Persians, 
or perhaps even Christian Arabs from the tribes outside the peninsula, some 
foreign examples and conventions may have found their way into Arabic literary 
products at this period. The reform of Caliph ʿAbd al-Malik (r. 65/685–86/705), who 
as we have seen was responsible for the shift of language in the 
dīwān
, must have 
been the starting point for a new fashion in writing Arabic for official purposes. 
Since the secretaries were responsible for the composition of official documents 
and letters, their role in the development of a chancellery style was essential. 
Under ʿAbd al-Malik’s successor Hišām (r. 105/724–125/743), the foundation was 
laid for the administrative system that was later taken over and perfected by the 
ʿAbbāsid caliphs.
From the beginning of the ʾUmayyad dynasty, the sponsorship of the caliphs 
was an important factor in the production of texts, both literary and administra
-
tive. According to some sources as early as Muʿāwiya’s (r. 41/661–60/680) reign, 
the caliph had some kind of library in which he deposited written versions of 
ḥadīṯ
s, some of which had been collected at his request. His grandson Ḫālid ibn 
Yazīd ibn Muʿāwiya had a keen interest in alchemy and may have commissioned 
the first translations from Greek into Arabic. Certainly, there are enough reports 
about the later ʾUmayyads requesting translations of Greek or Syriac books, 
mostly on medicine, to warrant the conclusion that a depository (
ḫizāna
) of 
books belonged to the normal appurtenances of the caliphal court. Although the 
ʿAbbāsids did their best to suppress any favourable report about the ʾUmayyads, 
it is fairly certain that the ʾUmayyad caliphs actively supported the activities of 
scholars such as az-Zuhrī (d. 124/742) in the field of 
ḥadīṯ
-collecting (Schoeler 
1996: 46–8).

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76
The Arabic Language
The development of a written Arabic style went hand in hand with the collec
-
tion of a corpus of literary prose consisting of translations from Persian, including 
the 
Kitāb fī s-siyāsa al-ʿāmmiyya mufaṣṣalan
(
Treatise on General Administration, with 
Full Particulars
) that is sometimes attributed to Hišām’s secretary ʾAbū l-ʿAlāʾ Sālim. 
The epistolary style was perfected by his successor ʿAbd al-Ḥamīd ibn Yaḥyā (d. 
after 132/750), secretary of Marwān II (r. 127/744–132/750), who used this style in 
treatises, some of which have been preserved, such as his 
Risāla ʾilā l-kuttāb
(
Letter 
to the Scribes
). He used an ornate style, with an extensive eulogy at the beginning 
of the treatise, ample use of parallelism, in a quantitative rhythm, sometimes in 
rhymed prose (
sajʿ
), sometimes in a loose parallel structure of patterns. On the 
other hand, his style does not include the use of intricate rhetorical figures or 
rare vocabulary.
The first sermons and epistles, such as those by al-Ḥasan al-Baṣrī (d. 110/728), 
adopted the form of the epistolary genre by addressing them to the caliph, 
but adapted the epistolary style to the topic at hand. Because of their religious 
content, these texts borrow much more from the 
Qurʾān
than ʿAbd al-Ḥamīd did.
For the Book of God Almighty is life amid all death and light amid all darkness and 
knowledge amid all ignorance. God has left for his servants after the Book and the 
Messenger no other proof and He has said ‘so that those who perished, perished 
after a clear sign, and so that those who lived, lived after a clear sign, for God is 
all-hearing and all-knowing’ [
Q
8/42]. Reflect, Commander of the Believers on the 
word of God Almighty ‘for each of you who wishes to go forward or go backwards; 
his soul is a pawn for what it has earned’ [