The Secretariat and its Branches, during the time of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم

By filtering the scribes through the prism of what they usually wrote, we find that a particular group specialised in recording the Qur’an while another noted sundry matters of concern to the state. Among this latter some wrote to kings, such as Zayd ibn Thabit; others penned treaties, such as ‘Ali ibn Abi Talib, or recorded the Prophet’s personal necessities, such as al-Mughirah ibn Shu’bah, or wrote contracts, such as ‘Abdullah ibn al'-Arqam, or catalogued the booty, such as Mu’ayqib ibn Abi Fatimah ad-Dawsi, or documented the estimated date production of the state, such as Hudhayfah ibn al-Yaman. There was additionally a scribe named Hanzalah al-Katib (Hanzalah the Writer) whose task, to fill in for any scribe absent from his post, earned him his nickname.

I. Translations

Zayd ibn Thabit recalls the the Prophet told him he wanted to set up a correspondence with the Jews. “I will be corresponding with a people who I fear my add or delete [portions of my letters],” he said, “so learn Hebrew”. Zayd learned it in a mere 17 days, after which he would communicate with them and translate their letters if they wrote back to him.

II. Responding in a Timely Manner

Al-Jahshiyari mentions that the Prophet told Hanzalah al-Katib to stay with him and remind him of any task that was three days overdue. Could this mean that the Prophet ordered his scribes to respond to letters (either independently or via his dictation) within three days? This is quite possible. In any case, it indicates how much work the Prophet had to attend to, and his desire to give all matters the amount of time and attention they deserved without forgetting his other responsibilities.

III. The Designated Workplace for Scribes

Was there a special area designed for scribes to work in? Answering this with a definite yes or no is difficult, but evidence does suggest that there was a spot allocated for recording the Qur’an, so perhaps the same applied to other scribal duties as well.

Ibn Abbas says, “Copies of the Qur’an were not sold rather a person would approach the Prophet with some parchment and a scribe would begin transcribing the Qur’anic verses onto this, seeking nothing but Allah’s reward [i.e. not charging money']. This first scribe then taking a break, a second would take over the task, and so on until the Quran had been copied”. This does imply a special area for this sort of work, close to where the Prophet sat.¹

IV. Making Drafts

Malik relates that the Prophet, discovering that a latter had arrived for him, enquired who would respond on his behalf. ‘Abdullah ibn al-Arqam volunteered and, writing a response, he presented it to the Prophet for his approval, who was impressed by it and ordered that it be dispatched. In light of this we can say that drafts were composed first, unless the Prophet himself was dictating the message of course, and that naturally he had the right to amend these drafts as necessary until they met with his approval.