A Fatimid Chancellery Manual: Mawād al- Bayān

Abstract

Mawād al-Bayān has been published several times, based on manuscript n°4128 of Al-Fātiḥ library in Istanbul. Almost nothing is known about the author ʽAli ibn Ḫalaf al-Kātib except that he was alive in 437 A.H /1045 - 1046 A.D, when part of this manual was written. But while the author is ignored by biographers of all stripes, he is acknowledged by al-Qalqašandī, who refers to him at least 180 times under various appellations, of which we may cite by way of example: ʽAli ibn Ḫalaf (Ṣubḥ,I,81,82...), Ibn Ḫalaf (Ṣubḥ,I,83-84...), qāla fi Maouād al-bayān ( Ṣubḥ, II,313,314,317,326...). This presence in Ṣubḥ al ʾaʽšā, did not prevent al-Qalqašandī from not mentioning him among the kuttāb of the Fatimid chancellery (Ṣubḥ, I, 96). Was this because he considered him a second-rate secretary? Or because our author had not lived in Egypt? Or because of his obvious Alide obedience?

    A meticulous study of this manual, a comparison with earlier (Ṣūlī) and later (Ibn al- Ṣayrafī) works in the same genre, as well as the collection of the annals and chronicles of the period, seem to be indispensable to a better understanding of our author.

    In this paper, we attempt to answer the questions posed above about the author and to shed light on this little-known or little-used work: what does it add to older manuals? How has it been reused? How can we assess the imprint of ismāʽilīsm on the material it contains.

   Finally, by presenting the contents of the book's ten chapters, we attempt to restore the last two lost chapters, and then try to find an explanation for a possible deliberate deletion especially of chapter 10:  « آداب السياسThe rules of politics”