The Role of Administrative and Political Factors in the Rise of Arabic Grammer and Linguistic Sciences: A Study on Writing and al-kuttab (Scribes)

Abstract

This research elucidates the historical conditions under which writing and Al-Dwaween (administrative registers) emerged in Arab civilization. It then discusses the decision to Arabize Al-Dwaween during the Umayyad era, the purposes behind this decision, and its impact on the enthusiasm for learning Arabic. The research examines reports indicating that caliphs and princes exercised linguistic oversight over al-kuttab (scribes), promoting or dismissing them based on their proficiency in Arabic. It highlights an ideological aspect within Arab culture that believed the speech of the elite should be free from the linguistic corruption common among the general populace. The research explores the interaction of Arabic scholars with the domain of writing and al-kuttab, detailing the works scholars directed towards this field and their complaints about al-kuttab's shortcomings in Arabic sciences. It explicates the linguistic topics that emerged in these works, which are sixfold: general linguistic knowledge, issues of orthography, matters of linguistic correction, linguistic knowledge related to writing, linguistic traditions connected to writing, and the introduction to rhetorical issues and their opposites. The study further demonstrates the al-kuttab's attention to rhetoric, which was considered one of the "tools of writing," and their role in developing rhetoric and their influence on literary prose. A dual-natured language emerged in the writing domain, fulfilling administrative requirements with a literary character.