English Translation of al-Jahshiyari’s Kitab al-Wuzaraʾ wa al-Kuttab: 5: Scribes During the time of Muʿawiyah b. Abu Sufyan

 

During the time of Muʿāwiyah b. Abī Sufyān

ʿUbayd Allāh b. Aws al-Ghassānī used to write Muʿāwiyah’s correspondence, and Sarjūn b. Manṣūr al-Rūmī handled the tax bureau (dīwān al-kharāj) for him.

ʿAmr b. Saʿīd b. al-ʿĀṣ wrote on behalf of the military register (dīwān al-jund). 

Muʿāwiyah also had a scribe named ʿAbd al-Raḥmān b. Darrāj, whose brother was ʿUbayd Allāh b. Darrāj—both were his freedmen (mawālī). He appointed [ʿUbayd Allāh] over the tax administration  (kharāj) of Iraq, taking the responsibility from al-Mughīrah, who had been in charge of military affairs there. ʿUbayd Allāh asked the villagers to offer gifts during Nawrūz and Mihrjān, and they did so. The total of these offerings reached ten million dirhams in a single year.

Muʿāwiyah was the first to establish the seal register (dīwān al-khātam). The reason for this was that he once wrote a letter to ʿAmr b. al-Zubayr authorizing a payment of one hundred thousand dirhams to Ziyād, his governor in Iraq. ʿAmr unsealed the letter and altered the amount to two hundred thousand. When Ziyād submitted his accounts, Muʿāwiyah said: “I only wrote him for one hundred thousand.” He then wrote to Ziyād instructing him to reclaim the extra hundred thousand, which he did. As a result of this incident, Muʿāwiyah instituted the dīwān al-khātam, assigning ʿAbd Allāh b. Muḥammad al-Ḥimyarī—who had previously served as a judge—to oversee it.

The Arab custom, when writing a letter—whether to someone noble or humble—was for the scribe to begin with his own name before the recipient’s. He would write: “From so-and-so to so-and-so.”

It is reported that al-ʿAlāʾ b. al-Ḥaḍramī once wrote to the Messenger of God [sws]:

“From al-ʿAlāʾ b. al-Ḥaḍramī to Muḥammad, the Messenger of God [sws].”

Al-ʿAlāʾ was his governor over Baḥrayn. This practice continued until the time of Muʿāwiyah . At one point, ʿAbd Allāh b. ʿUmar wanted to write to Muʿāwiyah about a personal matter after the people agreed upon Muᶜwāwiyah’s leadership. His son suggested that he begin the letter with Muʿāwiyah’s name, so he wrote: “To Muʿāwiyah b. Abī Sufyān, from ʿAbd Allāh b. ʿUmar.”

Ziyād used to sit daily to oversee and review matters related to his administrative duties—except on Fridays. One day, he set aside time to dictate personal matters to his scribe, with his son ʿUbayd Allāh present. While dictating, Ziyād became drowsy and went to rest. Before doing so, he said to ʿUbayd Allāh: "See to this, and do not alter anything I have instructed him."  But ʿUbayd Allāh was suddenly overcome with the need to relieve himself and was torn between two choices: he did not want to wake his father, nor did he want to leave the scribe unattended. So he tied both of his thumbs with a string and sealed the [writing], then stepped away to relieve himself. Ziyād woke up before his son returned. Upon seeing the scribe still sitting there, he asked what had happened. The scribe informed him, and Ziyād praised ʿUbayd Allāh’s action.

It is has also been mentioned that Ziyād once entered the dīwān and found a document containing the phrase “three dinān.” Ziyād asked: “Who wrote this?” It was said: “This young man.” He commanded: “Remove him from our register so that he does not ruin it. Erase this and write instead: [three] ādun.”

Zādhā Nafarrūkh wrote for him regarding tax affairs (kharāj). ʿAbd Allāh b. Abī Bakrah and Jubayr b. Ḥayyah wrote letters for him. His mawlā Mirdās also served him as a scribe.

Ziyād died on a Tuesday, the fourth night of the month of Ramaḍān, in the year 53 AH.

It has been narrated that Sulaymān b. Saʿīd, mawlā of al-Ḥusayn , served as a scribe for Muʿāwiyah, and that Sulaymān al-Mishjaʿī from the tribe of Quḍāʿah wrote on his behalf regarding affairs in Palestine. [Muʿāwiyah] once wrote to this Sulaymān, instructing:

Establish for me estates—but not in al-Dārūm, which is parched, nor in Qaysāriyyah, which is submerged. Choose lands where the rain clouds pass.

So Sulaymān  established for him al-Buṭnān, a fertile area in the district (kūrah) of ʿAsqalān.

ʿUbayd Allāh b. Naṣr b. al-Ḥajjāj b. ʿAlāʾ al-Sulamī also served as a scribe for Muʿāwiyah on one of his state registers.

It has also been narrated that Ḥabīb b. ʿAbd al-Malik b. Marwān wrote for him on the dīwān of Madīnah.

As for the dīwān of the tax register (kharāj) of Ḥimṣ, it was handled by Ibn Awthāl al-Naṣrānī (the Christian), who had a palace in Ḥimṣ that remained known by his name.

ʿAbd al-Raḥmān b. al-Walīd was governor over Ḥimṣ, and his rule lasted a long time. Muʿāwiyah began to fear that the people of al-Shām might pledge allegiance to him as caliph, due to the legacy of his father, Khālid b. al-Walīd, and his military achievements on behalf of the Muslims in the lands of the Byzantines. Ibn Awthāl covertly tasked someone who served him a poisoned drink, and ʿAbd al-Raḥmān died. Later, al-Muhājir b. Khālid b. al-Walīd sat with ʿUrwah b. al-Zubayr in Madīnah, and ʿUrwah said to him: “This is Ibn Awthāl—he boasts about killing ʿAbd al-Raḥmān.” Al-Muhājir immediately left for Damascus and inquired about Ibn Awthāl. He was told that the man was among the scribes of Muʿāwiyah. He waited nearby until Ibn Awthāl emerged from the dīwān. When al-Muhājir saw him, he said: “I need something from you—come aside with me.”  So he turned along with him into a small alley in Damascus known as Zuqāq ʿAṭṭāf. Al-Muhājir was carrying a sword, and he struck Ibn Awthāl and killed him. Muʿāwiyah had al-Muhājir arrested and imprisoned for a year, then released him.

Ziyād sent Muʿāwiyah many gifts, among which was a luxurious and precious pearl necklace. Muʿāwiyah was greatly impressed by it. When Ziyād saw that, he said: “O Commander of the Faithful, I have subdued Iraq for you. I have gathered its land and sea, its rough and refined, and brought you both its essence and its chaff (qushūrahā).” At this, Yazīd said: “If you have done that, we too have raised you from being a mawlā of Thaqīf to the honor of Quraysh, from ᶜUbayd to [the house of] Abū Sufyān, and from the pen to the pulpits! What you boast of (iᶜtadadta) could only have been accomplished through us.” Muʿāwiyah said to him: “Enough! You have sparked the embers in me (zinādī)!”

The Arabs long held the sword in higher esteem than the pen. On this theme, Saliṭ b. Jarīr b. Labīd b. ʿUtbah b. Khālid b. ʿAbd ʿAmr al-Namarī said:

 Do you belittle me, though I do not deserve that, 

you bring close to your feast-table the lowly [people] 

The scrutineers and scribes, who are not 

Knights of war or men of the spear?

You shall come to know me, and remember me, when 

The two iron rings of saddles clash in battle (biṭān).

This very theme has been plagiarized by Abū ʿUbādah al-Walīd b. ʿUbayd b. Yaḥyā b. ʿUbayd b. Shimlāl b. Jābir b. Salamah b. Mus-hir b. al-Ḥārith b. Jusham b. Abī Ḥārithah b. Juddī b. Tadūl b. Buḥtar b. ʿAtūd b. ʿUnayz b. Salāmān b. Thuʿal b. ʿAmr b. al-Ghawth b. Ṭayy, al-Buḥtarī:

Ministers of kings bow before (taᶜnū) it humbly, 

Yet the sword’s nature is to enslave the pen.

The word taʿnū means: to bow in submission. The verb has been used in the following Qur’anic verse in the same sense: 

“And [all] faces will be humbled (ᶜanat) before the Ever-Living, the Self-Subsisting” [Qurʾān, 20:111].

ʿUmar b. Shabbah said: Muʿāfā b. Nuʿaym  said:

I was with Maʿbad b. Ṭawq as we came upon a gathering of Banū al-ʿAnbar. I was riding a camel, and he was on a donkey. When the people stood to greet us, they began by greeting me and then turned to Maʿbad. Maʿbad withdrew his hand from them and said: “No! And no honor for you! You began with the younger before the elder, and with the mawlā before an Arab!” The group fell silent. Then a man (hanun) from them stood up and said in reply: “We began with the scribe before the illiterate, the Emigrant before the Bedouin, and the rider of the camel before the rider of the donkey.”

Muʿāwiyah appointed ʿAbd al-Raḥmān b. Ziyād as governor over Khurāsān in the year 58 AH. He was known to be a man of limited strength but abundant generosity. Ziyād b. ʿAmr al-ʿAtakī praised him in verse:

We asked him for a great gift, and he did not hesitate, 

He gave more than we hoped, and then increased it. 

He was gracious—and gracious again—and when we returned, 

He showed grace once more, and I returned—and so did he. 

Repeatedly—I would go to him again and again, 

And always, he would greet me with a smile and doubled the cushion.

He remained in office until the reign of Yazīd and when al-Ḥusayn was killed. After that, Qays b. al-Haytham was appointed in his place, while ʿAbd al-Raḥmān returned to Yazīd. Yazīd initially disapproved of his return, but later was pleased with him and inquired about what he had gained. ʿAbd al-Raḥmān confessed to acquiring twenty million dirhams, and Yazīd permitted him to keep it.

In fact, he possessed in goods and property (ʿurūḍ) even more than that. One day, he said to his scribe, Asṭifānūs: “Woe to you, Asṭifānūs! I am amazed that I can even sleep with all this wealth in my possession.” Asṭifānūs asked: “And how much is it?” He replied: “I have estimated that what I have would last for a hundred years, spending a thousand dirhams each day—without the need to sell any slave, horses (kurāᶜ), or any material possession.” Asṭifānūs replied: “May God let you sleep soundly, O Prince. Do not be amazed that you can sleep while having this wealth—be amazed if you are able to sleep after it’s gone!”

All that wealth eventually vanished: some of it was entrusted to others and never returned; some was denied by those who held it; some was stolen by his managers (asbābu hū).Things deteriorated to the point that he had to sell the silver from his own copy of the Qurʾān.

He was eventually seen riding a small donkey, his feet touching the ground. Mālik b. Dīnār encountered him and said: “What happened to all that wealth about which you once spoke so proudly?” He replied: “Everything perishes except His Face, O Abū Yaḥyā.”