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Abstract
Letter-writing represents one of the most important modes of communication in Islamic and Western societies. Arabic manuals on epistolography and collections of model letters abound throughout the medieval period and continued to be written right up to modern times. The research to date, however, has tended to focus on works of the pre-modern periods which rooted in the Islamic tradition cater primarily for a Muslim audience. Little is known about manuals produced in the Arab nahḍa and it is not clear what factors might have influenced them. Moving into the largely uncharted territory of nahḍa letter-writing manuals, this article takes a detailed look at al-Shartūnī’s manual on epistolary theory and model letters, al-Shihāb al-thāqib. An analysis of this work reveals it as a significant attempt by al-Shartūnī to appropriate elements of the Western ars dictaminis (the art of letter-writing) into his manual for the benefit of an Arab-Christian audience in the nahḍa.
Highlights
PRE-PAPER rooted in the Islamic tradition cater primarily for a Muslim audience
Arabic manuals on epistolography and collections of model letters abound throughout the medieval period and continued to be written right up to modern times
Did nahḍa intellectuals make considerable efforts to preserve the Arabic language and revive classical Arab culture, but they sought to assimilate Western learning and achievements through translation and adaptation in order to achieve the desired reform of their societies. Leading nahḍa reformers such as Buṭrus al-Bustānī and MuḥammadAbduh were convinced that humanistic education and learning was of the utmost importance for the progress of their societies and encouraged their close associates to pursue a number of disciplines including grammar, lexicography, poetry and rhetoric
Summary
PRE-PAPER rooted in the Islamic tradition cater primarily for a Muslim audience. Little is known about manuals produced in the Arab nahḍa and it is not clear what factors might have influenced them. The organization of al-Shihāb is no different from earlier Arab and Western dictaminal treatises, especially from the twelfth century onwards, that combined theoretical discussions with model letters.[52] In its pedagogical aims, al-Shartūnī’s work is closer to nahḍa works like his brother Rashīd’s Nahj, al-Hāshimī’s Jawāhir, and Western manuals that were intended for the benefit of students rather than earlier Arab ones designed for use by professional secretaries and bureaucrats.
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