Book and Letter Writing in the Early Hegira Centuries

With the advent of Islam, the Arabs of Arabia spread their influence in the civilized and rich countries and under their influence expanded the simple Islamic government into a great empire. The Sassanid state was a good model for the Islamic state so the early administrative system was established by the Iranians and then during the Abbasid era reached its apogee. In the light of the Prophet’s sayings and the Quran, writing became an important component of the Islamic state. With the translation of divans, the influence of the scribes and secretaries increased. In the early years of Islam, the caliphs used to appoint a person as a scribe or a secretary, who was well versed in literature and used to write his decrees and commands. The acquaintance of the Arabs with the Quran helped them acquire eloquence and fluency in composition and Arabic language. They invented the Kufi script with different fonts. They used to write on the skin and keep them in the form of rolls. The present paper was an attempt to explain book and letter writing in the early years of the advent of Islam. Attempts were made in this paper to explain book, letter writing, signs of authenticity of a letter and other features of writing during the time of Prophet of Islam.