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5 - The Composition Secretary (ii): Moral and Inner Qualities

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 September 2012

Adrian Gully
Adrian Gully
Affiliation:
The Asia Institute, University of Melbourne
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Summary

Before moving into a description of what I broadly term the moral characteristics and inner qualities of the secretary I would like to review briefly the context from which they derive. It has already been demonstrated that the first chapter of the Mawādd al-Bayān was devoted to a large degree to Ibn Ḫalaf's attempts to settle the argument about the supremacy of writing and epistolography over all other crafts, and the secretary over all other administrative professions. His descriptions of the responsibilities of the secretary are statesmanlike, as he portrays the relationship between him and the Ruler and the positive effect good writing has on society. The following description illustrates this:

He [the Composition/epistolary secretary] is the adornment and ornamentation of sovereignty because of the clarity of expression that emanates from him. This clarity of expression raises the status of sovereignty and elevates its reputation. It glorifies its business, and signifies the virtue of its Ruler. [The secretary] is the one who deals on behalf of the Ruler in matters of promise and admonishment, and drawing people to him, and in praise and blame, and in the instinctive interpretation of ideas which ensure that the follower follows him and obeys him, and which soften the rebellious enemy from his enmity and rebellion. Nonetheless, one of the radicals promoted financial secretaryship over the secretaryship of correspondence by citing erroneous facts and falsehoods which he adorned and embellished. But this would not fool the discerning person, nor be concealed from one with a sound mind.

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The Culture of Letter-Writing in Pre-Modern Islamic Society , pp. 102 - 130
Publisher: Edinburgh University Press
Print publication year: 2008

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