Analysis Of Abd Al-Hamid Letter To The Secretaries

HIS 235

Melody Wang

108521269

Primary Source Analysis: Abd al-Hamid, Letter to the Secretaries (before 750)

Abd al-Hamid is often considered as the foremost writer of the Umayyad period. He produced numerous letters on topics ranging from advice to rulers and kings, codes of conduct, treatment of non-Arab subjects, to friendship. Although much of his work has been lost, a number of them were later incorporated into the works of later writers. His Letter to the Secretaries is a classic example, having been quoted and preserved by Ibn Khaldun, an Islamic scholar and political thinker.

Al-Hamid Letter to the Secretaries was written during the Umayyad Caliphate (in the form of an epistle of course). The Umayyad caliphate was the first true Islamic empire; its border stretching from Spain to the borders of modern day India. The period from 661 A.D. to 750 A.D. saw marked by territorial expansion and by the bureaucratic problems that such an expansion created. The problems created by territorial expansion were so many that succeeding Umayyad caliphs were forced to enlarge both its territorial armies and the bureaucracy. The main problem was ‘how to create a stable and reliable’ system of administration for the empire. The number of qualified Arab bureaucrats was too small to keep up with the accelerating number of administrative work at hand. Skilled technocrats, diplomats, and even royal scribes were in short supply, apparently because overexpansion had stifled administrative services throughout the empire. There were initial attempts to educate and train members of the ‘old royal house’ for administrative work but to no avail. Many of them were illiterate and thus could not be trusted in carrying out the basic functions of governme...

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...here were so many administrative problems that the caliphate was facing since its foundation. Secondly, the letter provides one with a glimpse about the ineptness and growing corruption of royal bureaucrats of that time. Finally, the letter is an attempt to ease the ‘administrative concerns’ of an over-expanding empire. Evidently, al-Hamid’s letter was taken seriously and was incorporated in later writings for review. The letter though still raises a number of questions. The first one is about “how stable the administrative system of the Umayyad Caliphate.” The second one is about the “manner by which bureaucrats carried out the basic functions of government” during that time. These questions can be addressed by examining other historical sources of the same era.

Work Cited

Abd al-Hamid. “Letter to the Secretaries.” Chapter Two: The Emergence of Sibling Cultures.