Scribes of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم: Importance of the Pen 🖊️ (continued)

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As a centre of trade and religious activity, Makkan society was always in flux and no single report can encompass within it the dynamic nature of a city at the crossroads of caravans, poets, and pilgrims. What is clear from these accounts, however, is that Arabia was gripped by widespread illiteracy - so much so that Allah describe the Arabs as being unlettered, and the man who was sent to guide them as being the unlettered Prophet.

Not a year had passed since the Prophet’s Hijrah¹ when he composed the ‘dustur’ or, as some scholars have named it, the earliest written constitution in the world. This was a document defining the relationship between the Muhajirun (Emigrants) and the Ansar on one side, and the Muslims and Jews on the other. From that point on, the new state possessed its own statues, and the machinery of government required the allotment of administrative tasks and the setting up of an efficient educational policy.

So fruitful did this policy prove to be that the ranks of the literate began to rise quickly within Madinah, and the Prophet himself enjoyed help of almost 60 scribes. By referring to our current references, we can draw some broad conclusions about the secretarial and administrative activity during the Prophet’s lifetime.

Thus, we look at the establishment of Diwan Archives: the secretariat during the time of the Prophet, in the next edition, ‘insha Allah.