English Translation of Seminal Islamic Texts

  During the Reign of ʿ Abd al-Malik b. Marwān Qabīṣah b. Dhuᵓayb b. Ḥalḥalah [b. ʿAmr] al-Khuzaʿī, known by the kunya of Abū Isḥāq, used to work as a scribe of ʿAbd al-Malik. He was particularly close to him, and his position with ʿAbd al-Malik was such that he would read the letters that came to ʿAbd al-Malik before ʿAbd al-Malik himself read them. Marwān b. al-Ḥakam had designated his other son, ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz, to succeed to the caliphate after ʿAbd al-Malik’s death. Once ʿAbd al-Malik had consolidated his authority, however, he considered setting aside his father’s arrangement and appointing his own sons, al-Walīd and Sulaymān, as his successors. Qubayṣah b. Dhūʾayb advised him against doing so, saying that death might overtake ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz and spare the caliph the need to act. ʿAbd al-Malik had appointed his brother ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz as governor of Egypt. In Jumādā al-Awwal of the year 85 AH, the letter announcing ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz’s death arrived, and Qubayṣah read it befor...

  During the time of Mu ʿ ā wiyah b. Ab ī Sufy ā n 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 ).  Mu ʿ ā wiyah also had a scribe named ʿ Abd al-Ra ḥ mān b. Darrāj, whose brother was ʿ Ubayd All ā h b. Darr ā j — both were his freedmen ( mawālī ). He appointed [ ʿ Ubayd All ā h] over the tax administration   ( kharāj ) of Iraq, taking the responsibility from al-Mughīrah, who had been in charge of military affairs there. ʿ Ubayd All ā h asked the villagers to offer gifts during Nawr ū z and Mihrj ā n, 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 o...