In the year 854 AH / 1450 AD;

The German scientist Johann Gutenberg brought to the people his invention of the "printing press".

To the extent that this achievement was a technical breakthrough that changed the face of the cultural history of the world;

It also recorded the beginning of the end for the system that created the greatest cultural phenomenon that the Islamic civilization had gifted to humanity, and produced the richest scientific heritage known to mankind until the modern era.

It is a phenomenon: "Al-Warraqah and Al-Warraqin".

In this article;

We will enter a world that has been - for more than 12 centuries - vibrant and creative, full of controversy and cultural clamor, and not without surprising and funny facts;

Let us observe how the book production machine ran in the Islamic world, how great scholars, famous princes and housewives professionalized the profession of copying books in pursuit of an income that would provide a living, and how copyists from other religions participated in this industry and contributed to the dissemination of Islamic works.

Read nation


Islam came and the Arabs knew reading and writing on a small scale, and translation from other languages ​​within narrower limits;

But the new religion - with what the Qur’an and Sunnah included in the praise of science and scholars - was from the first moment marking the birth of the “Iqra Nation”, which will fill the earth with knowledge and knowledge and occupy people with culture and literature.

The collection and codification of the Qur’an was completed during the caliphate of Abu Bakr al-Siddiq (d. 13 AH / 635 AD), and this was an indication of the importance of scientific codification in the life of the nation.

But the first century as a whole remained a century for the oral narration of the texts of Islam (Qur’an and Sunnah) and its Arabic language, and it did not witness a movement of codification of the knowledge emanating from them except in limited cases.

With the emergence of the sun of the second century AH / eighth century AD, which is known as the "Age of Recording";

The springs of science erupted and their oral production cycle was completed. It was necessary to assimilate them into solid frameworks that transferred them from the breasts to the lines, preserving them from loss and making them negotiable among people and inheritance between generations.

The conquests of Islam led to the mixing of different civilizations and different cultural systems in the mullahs and the bees in Iraq, Persia, the Levant and Egypt;

It blew up with its owners polemic debates and scientific cultures, and it was necessary to translate from their languages ​​and to quote from their curricula in pilgrims, which helps in the cultural predominance, so the translation market flourished and expanded until it included at that time more than ten languages, thus the activity of blogging and publishing increased in breadth.

The flourishing of writing and blogging was reinforced by two important factors: the first of which was the high prestige that the “Kitab al-Dawain” (state ministries and departments) had since the Umayyad era, and its importance increased during the days of their Abbasid heirs;

The second is the use of paper in writing at the beginning of the Abbasid era, a use that was consolidated by building the first paper factory in Baghdad during the days of Harun al-Rashid in the seventies of the second century.

Thus, people knew “the book industry” with its two parts: “the original” written and the “the intruder” translated. Then, “the book industry” soon became a craft of civilization in Islamic civilization called “al-Waraqa”;

A large sect called "Al-Warakin" specialized in it, which included in its membership all the intellectual and literary spectrums of society, and its religious and sectarian sects;

Controls and customs were established for it, places and markets were allocated to it, branches and specializations were established in its space, and money and wealth were obtained from its owners.

Dean


of the Warrakin historically;

Al-Warraqah - at its inception as a profession - was associated with the professionalization of copying the Noble Qur’an for profit. Abu al-Faraj Muhammad bin Ishaq al-Baghdadi, known as al-Nadim


(d. 384 AH / 995 AD) mentioned - in his book 'The Index' - that people "written the Qur'an for a fee", and he documented We have the names of a number of those who were counted among the "writers of the Qur'an".

The first to be known for his specialization in the Qur’an paper was Amr bin Nafeh (d. after 60 AH / 681 AD) the mawla of Omar bin al-Khattab (d. 23 AH / 645 AD), but Al-Nadim attributed to the historian Muhammad bin Ishaq (d. 151 AH / 769 AD) that “the first to write The Qur'an in the first chest - and it is described with good handwriting - Khalid bin Abi Al-Hayyaj (died after 99 AH / 719 AD)", for his work as a "paper" for the Caliph Al-Waleed bin Abdul Malik (d. 96 AH / 716 AD).

However, the first person to be called “Al-Warraq” - so he deserves to be called “The Dean of Al-Warraqin” - is Abu Raja’ Matar bin Tahman Al-Khorasani Al-Basri (d. 129 AH / 748 AD), who was known as “Matar Al-Warraq”, mentioned by Jamal Al-Din Al-Mizzi (d. 742 AH). /1341AD) - in 'Tahdheeb al-Kamal' - that he "dwelled in Basra and used to write the Qur'an", and therefore he was nicknamed "The Qur'an", as we find at Al-Hafiz Ibn Hajar Al-Asqalani (d. 852/1449AD) in 'Lisan Al-Mizan'.

Also, his contemporary, Musawir ibn Suwar ibn Abd al-Hamid al-Kufi (d. about 150 AH/768 AD) was known as “Masawir al-Warraq,” according to his translation by Imam Ala’ al-Din Muglatay ibn Qilij (d. 762 AH/1361 AD) in ‘Completion of Refinement of Perfection’, and he described it He is one of the companions of hadith, he narrated on the authority of the followers, and the faces of the people of hadith narrated from him. _

By the middle of the second century AH / eighth century AD; He joined the copies of the Qur’an, collecting the Prophet’s hadith, documenting the fatwas of the Companions and followers, and transcribing the language and poetry of the Arabs; So “compilations” appeared in various sciences, and among the first of those books - from which the text of which is documented attribution reached us - “Al-Muwatta” by Imam Malik bin Anas (d. 179 AH / 795 AD), “The Message” by Imam Shafi’i (d. 204 AH / 819 AD), and “Al-Mabsut” Al-Imam Muhammad bin Al-Hassan Al-Shaibani (d. 189 AH/805AD), “Al-Kitab” in grammar by Sibawayh Al-Farsi (d. 179 AH/795AD), “Al-Ain” dictionary by Khalil bin Ahmed Al-Farahidi Al-Azdi (d. 175 AH/791AD), and “selections” from poems Arabs are like "favorites" and "asma'at".

The large number of students of knowledge and the increasing preoccupation of scholars with their interest in authoring led some imams to take their own “paper” or “writers,” as each poet took a “narrator” for his collection; For example, Habib bin Abi Habib al-Madani (d. 218 AH / 833 AD) was a narrator of Imam Malik, so he was famous as the "Kitab Malik" and that he "recited al-Muwatta for people on Malik at times"; According to Ibn Ibak al-Safadi (d. 764 AH / 1362 AD) in 'Al-Wafi Bal al-Wafayat'. Muhammad bin Saad (d. 230 AH / 845 AD) was known as the "writer of Al-Waqidi", dated (d. 207 AH / 822 AD).

Later on, this custom spread to the extent that it pervaded all classes of scholars, writers, and even caliphs and princes. It became common for one of them to adopt specific refiners, just as the great authors of our time depend on a specific publisher to print their books.

Muhammad ibn Abi Hatim al-Razi (d. after 256 AH/870 AD) was a narrator of Imam al-Bukhari (d. 256 AH/870 AD), so he “was his companion on travel and in attendance, so he wrote his books”;

According to Al-Hafiz Ibn Hajar in his book 'Taghleeq Al-Ta'leeq'.

Ahmed bin Muhammad Al-Nabaji (d. after 333 AH / 945 AD) was a narrator of the hadith Imam Yahya bin Ma’in (d. 233 AH / 848 AD), and on his authority he narrates, for example, the judge Abu Bakr Ahmed bin Marwan Al-Dinwari Al-Maliki (d. 333 AH / 945 AD), he says: “Ahmed bin Muhammad Al-Nabaji told us Yahya bin Mu'in slept."

Jalal al-Din al-Suyuti (d. 911 AH / 1505 AD) - in the 'History of the Caliphs' - stated that the Abbasid Caliph al-Mu'tamid (d. 284 AH / 900 AD) "had a paper that wrote his poetry with gold water!" 

And some of them may have two papers, as was the case for the historian Al-Waqidi and for Abu Obaid Al-Qasim bin Salam (d. 224 AH / 839 AD), the author of the book “Al-Amwal,” and for Abu Dawood (d. 275 AH/891 AD), the author of “Al-Sunan” and Raqan, one of whom was residing in Baghdad and the other in Basra.

It was also for Al-Jahiz (d. 255 AH / 869 AD) and Raqan, one of whom appears to have been in Baghdad, which is: Abu al-Qasim Abd al-Wahhab Ibn Issa Ibn Abi Hayya al-Baghdadi (d. 319 AH / 931 AD), who said Imam Al-Samani (d. 562 AH / 1167 AD) - in his book 'Ansab' - He was "Wareq Al-Jahiz, from the people of Baghdad";

The second: Abu Yahya Zakaria bin Yahya, and Abu Ali Al-Qali (d. 356 AH / 967 AD) mentioned it - in 'Al-Amali' - saying about a poetry he cited in it: "So I found it in the handwriting of Ibn Zakaria and Warraq Al-Jahiz."

brilliance and prosperity


by the end of the second century AH;

The "paper industry" - in Ibn Khaldun's expression (d. 808 AH / 1406 AD) in the 'Introduction' - had reached a far point in its spread and took its way to prosperity in the third / ninth century AD, so that its branches - according to Ibn Khaldun - were identified as comprehensive "of reproduction and correction Binding and other matters of books and records, such as selling paper and stationery.

Soon, the paper industry became “shops” or “shops” included in “Al Warraqin Markets,” which “specialized [them] for the great urban cities.” Baghdad, the House of Science in Cairo during the Fatimid days, and the Treasury of Science in Cordoba in the Umayyad state in Andalusia.

And before Ibn Khaldun four centuries;

Abu Hayyan al-Tawhidi (d. after 400 AH/1010 AD) - in a letter to one of his friends that appeared in his book 'Enjoyment and sociability' - identified some of the tools of the craftsmanship of the paper and their contents included in the work of the transcribers.

He mentioned among them “ink, paper, leather, reading, contrast and correction.” However, in the eras of declining quality in the paper industry, it became known that “most of those whose handwriting is good is not free from ignorance”;

According to Imam Badr al-Din al-Ayni (d. 855 AH / 1451 AD) in 'Umdat al-Qari Sharh Sahih al-Bukhari'.

It suffices to remember that Al-Jahiz - as narrated by his friend, the poet Abu Hafan Al-Abdi (d. 257 AH/871 AD) and Al-Nadim transmitted it in 'Al-Fihrist' - was "he used to buy the shops of paperwork and stay in them to look"!!

The traveler al-Maqdisi al-Bashari (d. 380 AH / 991 AD) - in 'The Best Partitions' - described the people of Andalusia as "the most clever people in Al-Waraqa"!

That is why its industry flourished in Andalusia in a very strange way, so that the judge and then the minister Aba Al-Mutarrif Abdul Rahman bin Muhammad Ibn Futais Al-Qurtubi (d. 402 AH / 1012 AD) “had six masters who always copied for him, and he had arranged for them a known salary”;

According to Imam Ibn Bashkwal (d. 578 AH / 1182 AD) in 'The Connection in the History of the Imams of Andalusia'.

Thousands of men and women worked in this profession, from all strata of society, from senior scholars, writers, sons of former kings - and even princes - to loyalists and slaves.

Among the famous scholars who worked and solicited gain: Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal (d. 241 AH/855 AD), who may have copied books for a fee to meet his poverty during his days of seeking knowledge.

In that, Imam Abu Naim Al-Asbahani (d. 430 AH/1040 AD) - in “Hilyat Al-Awliya’” - details a nice story, the summary of which is that one of Imam Ahmed’s companions wanted to help him with money when he saw his urgent need for it, but Ahmed refused to take the money as a donation or loan So what was his owner saying to him: “Will you write me [a book] for a fee? He said: Yes, (…) So I brought out [him] a dinar (= today approximately 200 US dollars).. I brought a note of paper and he wrote it to me, so this is his handwriting!”

Among the famous scholars who were well-versed in gaining knowledge, the grammarian imam al-Mu'tazili judge Abu Saeed al-Sirafi (d. 368 AH / 977 AD), who al-Samani tells us - in 'Ansab' - that "he was an ascetic who ate only from what earned his hand, and he did not go out to the judgment council (= judiciary) nor to The teaching council every day, except after it copies ten papers, takes ten dirhams (= today approximately 12 US dollars), which is the amount of its supplies, and then goes out to its council.

And the imam of the Hanbalis in his time, Ibn Marwan al-Baghdadi (d. 403 AH/1013 AD) was known for his professionalism of al-Warraqah until it became a nickname for him. He was the teacher of Ahmad’s companions and their jurist in his time..and he had great works.” Imam al-Dhahabi (d. 748 AH/1347 CE) tells us “in the biography of the nobles” that he “was nourished by copying and frequented the pilgrimage.”

It was also reported that Imam Abu Hamid al-Ghazali (d. 505 AH / 1111 AD) "was copying books and the Qur'an... and selling them."

Among the princes who “professional” Al-Warraqah - while they were in power - the martyred Sultan Nur al-Din Zangi (d. 569 AH / 1173 AD), who mentioned al-Dhahabi - in 'History of Islam' - that he "eat from the work of his hand: he copies sometimes, and makes covers (= covers) sometimes!"

Among the sons of the Andalusian kings, the honor of the state is Yahya bin Al-Mu’tamid bin Abbad Al-Lakhmi (d. after 500 AH / 1106 AD), who practiced copying books after the demise of the sultan of his family in Seville. Shihab al-Din al-Muqari (d. 1041 AH / 1631 AD) - in “Nafh al-Tayyib” - described him as “perseverant” On the copies of the diwans of Muftah, which was written by Zahr al-Rayhain.

We have received parts of the copy of "Al-Muwatta" that he wrote to Sultan Al-Murabitin Ali bin Yusuf bin Tashfin (d. 537 AH / 1142 AD), we present here a picture of its cover:

Paper mothers


and the woman worked alongside the man in the profession of paperwork as a copyist or assistant;

In Andalusia, the historian Abd al-Wahed al-Marrakchi (d. 647 AH / 1249 AD) - in 'The admirer in summarizing the news of the Maghreb' - narrates from the Andalusian historian Ahmed bin Said Ibn Abi Al-Fayyad (d. 459 AH / 1068 AD) that "there were in the rabid (= side) east of Cordoba a hundred Seventy women all write the Qur'an in Kufic script.

Warqa bint Yantan (d. after 540 AH / 1145 AD) - a woman of Fassi and Andalusian origin - was described as one of the glorious transcribers. The scholar Ahmed bin Al-Qadi Al-Maknasi (d. 1025 AH / 1616 AD) translated for her in 'The Emblem of Quotation in the Remembrance of 'Face' And he said that "she was a good writer, poet, memorizer of the Qur'an, skilled in calligraphy."

and in Iraq to the east;

Abu Al-Ala Al-Ma’arri (d. 449 AH/1058 AD) mentioned - in the “Resala of Forgiveness” - the current “Tawfiq al-Sawda” who used to serve in the House of Knowledge in Baghdad during the days of the Buyids, and her mission was to help the copyists by bringing out “books for scribes”, and perhaps she was also securitizing.

In the year 1347 AH / 1928 AD;

The Iraqi writer and author Abd al-Latif Chalabi (d. 1365 AH / 1945 AD) reported that he saw in the Haider Khana Mosque in Baghdad a copy of the “Al-Sahah” dictionary by Abu Nasr Al-Jawhari (d. 393 AH / 1004 AD) copied by a woman named Maryam bint Abdul Qadir (who lived in the 6th AH / 11th century AD), and she wrote At the end of it there is a touching phrase that reads: “I beg the one who was found in it by mistake to forgive me my mistake, because while I was stepping with my right I was shaking my son’s cradle in my left”!!

And the historian Al-Safadi narrated - in 'Al-Wafi Bal al-Wafiat' - that Abu al-Abbas ibn al-Hutay'a al-Fassi (d. 560 AH / 1165 AD) "copied a lot for a fee [in Egypt]... and taught his wife and daughter to write, and they wrote like his own handwriting, so if they proceeded to copy a book, he took Each one wrote a part and wrote it, so no one can differentiate between their handwriting, except for the clever one.”

The large cities of Islam included the types of markets distributed according to the goods they offer or the crafts they offer;

Among those markets were the "Souk Al-Warraqin" or "the owners of the paper" or "the owners of the paper";

According to each region and named for the paper.

The geographer and historian Al-Yaqubi (d. 284 AH/897 AD) mentioned - in his book 'Countries' - a suburb of Baghdad called "Rabad Waddah", then said that there are markets "and more than [them] at this time (= the third century AH / ninth century AD) Al-Warraqin are the owners of books, for there are more than a hundred shops for the Al-Warriaq.


Al-Dhahabi tells us in 'The Lessons in the News of the Absent' - that on the 26th of Shawwal in the year 740 AH / 1339 AD, "a great fire occurred in Damascus... [it spread] to the book market and the Warraqin market burned down."

The reference was already made to the eastern side of Cordoba, with dozens of Al-Warraqah women, who probably worked in shops prepared for Al-Warraqah.

Jews and Christians


, and the shops of Warraqa were not limited to copying books of Islamic culture, but also translated books;

The sect of Al-Warraqin has expanded to include Al-Raqi’in of all sects and bees, not to specialize in copying and publishing the books of their beliefs and religions, but also to copy with their own hands the books of Islam and sell them!

Among that is the story narrated by Imam al-Bayhaqi (d. 458 AH / 1067 AD) - in 'Dalaa' al-Nubuwwah' - and its summary is that one of the Jewish intellectuals was "good handwriting" and he embraced Islam and narrated the story of his conversion to the Abbasid Caliph al-Ma'mun (d. 218 AH / 833 AD);

He said: "I went to the Qur'an and made three copies, adding and subtracting from it, and entered it into the paperwork, so they reviewed it, and when they found the addition and the decrease, they threw it away and did not buy it, so I knew that this is a preserved book, so this was an Islamic reason."

We did not come to know that this Jew’s writing of the Qur’an elicited a denial from the Caliph or from the Muslim scribes, despite the famous story he told in the court of the Islamic Caliphate at the height of its power. Even if the writer was a non-Muslim.

Al-Nadim quoted - in 'Al-Fihrist' - on the authority of the Christian philosopher Yahya bin Adi al-Manqi (d. 364 AH / 975 AD) as saying to him, "I made two copies of al-Tabari's interpretation of al-Tabari and carried them to the kings of the parties. I wrote countless books of theologians."

Among the writers were those who specialized in copying small books intended for transportation and travel - which are called “pocket books” today - which they called “the gentle books” or “the travel copy”;

Like al-Warraq Abi al-Fadl Abd al-Karim Ibn Ahmad Ibn Jaliq al-Ghulabi al-Jashmi (d. 640 AH / 1242 AD), who said the historian Kamal al-Din Ibn al-Shaar al-Mawsili (d. 654 AH / 1256 AD) - in 'Qila'at al-Juman' - that he saw him in Aleppo "copying the kind and medium books wages.. and that includes his livelihood and his livelihood.”

It was also common to write “The Al-Lateef Qur’an” and he was one of the specialists in it Abu Hurri Al-Kufi (d. after 227 AH / 842 AD), who Al-Nadim informs us - in “Al-Fihrist” - that “he used to write the kind Qur’an in the days of Al-Mu’tasim”, and Ibn Hajar (d. 852 AH / 1448 AD) said ) - In 'Al-Durar Al-Katina'- that Ismael Al-Zamukhal (d. 788 AH / 1386 AD) "wrote from the Qur'an a lot of kindness, and his handwriting was very good and desirable"!

With the obstacles imposed by the slowness and stumbling of manual labor, the paperers were distinguished by the abundance of production and the multiplicity of “reprints” of publication, to the extent that one book was circulating hundreds of copies at the same time. It suffices as an example of this that despite the scarcity of the book 'The Difference between the Prophet and the Prophet' by Al-Jahiz - so that he was called to search for it during the Hajj season - Yaqut Al-Hamawi (d. one or more copies! And there are scholars who “had in his closet a thousand copies of Sahih al-Bukhari” alone!!

Commercial competition


The writers have gone beyond the scope of realistic scientific and literary production to the manufacture of fictional literary books, whether it was for an educational purpose aimed at children, or those that sought to provide a light material that looked at its disintegration to fill leisure time.

Therefore, stories and novels had their own writers who specialized in their creativity, in addition to the well-known collections of poetry and all the “required books of literature”;

According to the expression of one of the most prominent writers quoted by Al-Khatib Al-Baghdadi in 'The History of Baghdad'.

Here is Al-Nadim telling us - in 'The Index' - that "browns and superstitions were desirable and desirable in the days of the caliphs of Bani al-Abbas, especially in the days of al-Muqtadir (d. 320 AH / 922 AD). He is known as Ibn al-Attar and a group, and we have mentioned...who used to make superstitions and names on the tongues of animals and others.

And in this comprehensive and enormous work;

Transcribers competed in speed of line and ability to transcribe large compositions;

Ibn Abd al-Malik al-Marrakshi (d. 703 AH / 1303 AD) - in 'The Tail and the Complementation' - gave us estimates of the volumes of books, and he said that the "Latif volume" (= small) is the size of 'Diwan al-Mutanabi' (approximately 5350 beta), and " The medium volume” would be as much as “Abu Tammam’s Divan” (about 7300 verses), and the “large volume” includes 15,000 or more verses, and perhaps there is a “large volume” that will be a middle ground between “the medium” and “the huge.”

Among the images of the competition between the paperers;

Abu al-Fadl Muhammad ibn Taher al-Maqdisi al-Zahiri (d. 507 AH / 1113 AD) used to say: “I wrote Sahih al-Bukhari, Muslim and Ibn Dawood seven times in al-Warqa, and Sunan Ibn Majah in al-Warraqah ten times.”

Al-Nadim mentioned that the previously mentioned Christian philosopher, Abu Zakaria Yahya bin Adi, "written a hundred pages a day and night."

Abu Ali Ibn Shihab al-Akbari (d. 428 AH/1038 AD) boasted of his companions and rivals among the paperworkers that he copied “The Diwan of Al-Mutanabbi in Three Nights,” referring to the abundant income he receives from this by saying: “I earned twenty-five thousand dirhams in the paper (= today 30 thousand dollars). almost American)";

As in 'The History of Baghdad' by Al-Khatib Al-Baghdadi.

Al-Safadi transmits - in 'Al-Wafi with Deaths' - on the authority of Al-Hafiz Abu Bakr Muhammad bin Ahmad (d. 489 AH/1096AD) - known as Ibn Al-Khadaba Al-Warraq - as saying that he "wrote 'Sahih Muslim' in the year [466 AH/1074 AD alone] seven times!!"

And “The Jewel of Unity” by Al-Qani (d. 1041 AH / 1631 AD) “five hundred copies were written of it in one day.”

Ibn Abd al-Malik al-Marrakchi translated - in 'The Tail and the Completion' - to the Muhaddith and Judge Al-Warraq Ismail bin Muhammad bin Ismail bin Abi Al-Fawares Al-Qurtubi (d. 357 AH / 968 AD), and he stated that "he was a proficient copyist (= a calligrapher of the Qur'an) and it is mentioned that he used to write the Qur'an in Two Fridays (= two weeks) or so!!

Al-Marrakchi also tells us that Yusuf Ibn Al-Jinan Al-Salawi used to "copy twenty sheets of large paper - and the lines of each page (= page) of which twenty-seven lines - every day", and copied "more than a hundred volumes in a period that is not long".

The book may be differentiated - especially if it is huge - on several scribes in order to speed up the completion;

As it happened when Ibn Abi Shaybah (d. 235 AH / 849 AD) hired ten scribes to copy for him his great book "The Workbook".

The History of Damascus (and it was 80 volumes) by Al-Hafiz Ibn Asaker (d. 571 AH / 1175 AD) was distributed to ten copyists, and they completed its copy in two years, which is a “reasonable period according to the criteria of the writers”;

As the German orientalist Franz Rosenthal (d. 1424 AH / 2003 AD) says.

It was previously mentioned that Ibn al-Hutay'a al-Fassi shared copies of the same book with his wife and daughter.

Cultural forums The scribes


were known to vary in font quality and tuning;

Warraq has often been described as “good al-Waraqa” or “bad handwriting,” “noble calligraphy, a perfect officer,” or as writing “the attributed line,” i.e., the geometrically proportional line, the rules of which were laid down by the Sheikh of Calligraphers Ibn al-Bawab al-Baghdadi (d. 413 AH/1023 AD).

For example, Ibn Hajar said that Ismail al-Zamukhal, mentioned above, “his handwriting is very good and desirable.”

During their meticulous work;

Often the writers - especially the non-scholars among them - make obscene mistakes in copying by deleting, adding, distorting, correcting, or attributing the book to the unauthorized one, and other mistakes that copyists made and suffered from by the genius investigators of heritage books in our time.

That is why scholars in the past wrote books in “Akhbar al-Musahifeen” and “Explanation of the Misrepresentation and Correction of the Manuscripts” in transcribing manuscripts.

Al-Jahiz complained - in his book 'Al-Anwar' - that the book "becomes to what is exposed to the types of transcribers... Perhaps the author of the book wanted to fix a correction or a fallen word, so creating ten papers of free pronunciation and Sharif meanings would be easier for him to complete that deficiency."

The scholars spoke about the seriousness of this phenomenon and the distortions it leads to in the most important tools of knowledge and the breach of scientific integrity.

Taj al-Din al-Subki (d. 771 AH / 1369 AD) in his book 'The Returner of Blessings and Exterminator of Curses': "Among the scribes is he who does not fear God Almighty and writes about haste and omits something from the book, with the desire to accomplish it if he has been hired to copy it altogether. And this is a traitor to God. Glory be to God for wasting knowledge.”

Al-Warraqin’s shops and markets were not only an area for the manufacture and publication of books;

Rather, they quickly became forums in which men of science, culture and literature meet, so that the councils of benefit and iftadah are held, acting in ways of thought and wandering in the paths of knowledge, and engaging in the arts of knowledge, discussion, criticism, taking and replying.

Al-Jahiz noted - in “The Book of Mules” from his collection of letters - the popularity of what is thrown in the markets of Al-Warraqin of written production, whatever it is, to the extent that no one “was born recently… then he photographed it in a book and threw it in Al-Warraqin except it was narrated by one who does not acquire, does not prove or stop.” ".

Al-Tawhidi told us - in 'Enjoyment and Sociability' - that when the Brotherhood of Serenity wanted to broadcast the messages of their philosophy and present them to public opinion, they "broadcast them in the Warraqin". 

And Minister Jamal al-Din Ibn al-Jawzi, the son (killed by the Tatars 656 AH / 1258 AD) - in his book 'Manaqib Baghdad' - quotes the imam of the Hanbalis in his time, Abi al-Wafa Ibn Aqil (d. Alone, there was a large market for the paper-makers, which are the councils of scholars and poets.

And Yaqut al-Hamawi tells - in “The Dictionary of Writers” - on the authority of the famous poet Abu Bakr al-Sanobi (d. 334 AH / 945 AD) that “he was in Raha (= the city of Urfa, located today in southern Turkey) and he was called Saeed, and in his shop was the council of every writer…, and we were not We leave his shop... and other poets of the Levant and the land of Egypt." Al-Maqrizi (d. 845 AH / 1441 AD) - in 'Al-Ma'awa'at wa'l-I'tibar' - listed among the landmarks of Cairo a market for book-owners of the book, and then said about it: "This market has not been a gathering of scholars who frequent it!"

In these shops, great figures frequented - the history books recorded for us stories telling their visits to them - such as: Al-Asma’i (d. 216 AH / 831 AD), Abu Nawas (d. 198 AH / 814 AD), Abu Al-Aina (d. 283 AH / 896 AD), Abu Hafan and Al-Jahiz, and Abu Al-Tayyib Al-Mutanabbi (d. 354 AH / 965 AD), Abu al-Faraj al-Isfahani (d. 356 AH / 965 AD), Abu Saeed al-Sirafi and al-Nadim, the author of al-Fahrist, al-Tawhidi, Ibn Sina (died 428 AH/1037 CE), Abu Al-Ala al-Ma’arri, Yaqut al-Mawsili (d. 618 AH/1221 CE) and Yaqut al-Hamawi (d. 626 AH / 1229 AD) and Yaqoot al-Mustansiri (d. 698 AH / 1299 AD), and among the jurists and modernists, Al-Zarkashi (d. 794 AH / 1392 AD), Ibn Arafa al-Warghami al-Tunisi (d. 803 AH / 1400 AD), and Al-Hafiz Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani.

Undoubtedly, the list of notable scholars mentioned in history books and translations is difficult to enumerate, and what history neglects to mention is greater and more numerous.

Some of them were refined at some stage of their life, as we know them from the Seraphite, the Nadim, the Tawheed, the Hamwi and the Mosuli rubies, and their names Al-Mustansiri.

Al-Warraqah and the Law


The Al-Warraqun dealt with various types of books, bureaus and documents, and most of them did not care about the content of what they were going to copy or the person they were going to copy;

Here, Al-Nadim records for us the titles of about 110 books that were written or translated, including novels of the stars and stories of lovers and lovers of mankind and the jinn!!

Therefore, jurists often called on the authorities to prevent the paperers from circulating and publishing certain books among the people.

Al-Tabari (d. 310 AH / 922 AD) reported - in his history within the events of the year 279 AH / 892 AD during the days of the Abbasid Caliph al-Mu'tamid - that "it was the sultan's order... [that] the writers swore not to sell books of speech, debate and philosophy."

Al-Khatib Al-Baghdadi stated that when the judiciary sentenced the Sufi philosopher Abu Abdullah Al-Hallaj to death in the year 309 AH / 921 AD, “Bring a group of Al-Waraqeen and swear that they will not sell or buy any of Al-Hallaj’s books.”

Taj al-Din al-Subki - in Mufid al-Naam - summarized the legal duties of al-Warraq in his commitment to “not write any of the misleading books such as the books of the people of innovation and desires, as well as not writing books that do not benefit God Almighty, such as the story of Antar, and other various topics that are lost. Time has no need for religion, and so are the books of promiscuity... So the scribe should not sell his religion for his worldly value.”

The shops of Warraqa were not limited to copies of books and documents only;

Rather, its scope expanded to include all clerical services, including the paper industry, which numbered 104 factories in Fez alone during the Almoravid days, and exceeded four hundred factories during the reign of their Almohad caliphs.

As well as the art of calligraphy and the art of bookbinding (called “tasfer” in Andalusia and Morocco) and the art of its decoration (gilding or embellishment), which are arts that have reached a level of mastery that has become one of the finest fine human arts.

Al-Nadim kept for us the names of seven of the famous old “blinders”, one of the most prominent of them was the position of “Ibn Abi Al-Harish (d. after 218 AH / 833 AD) [who] was flogged in the treasury of wisdom for al-Ma’mun” Baghdad.

Among those who practiced copying, binding and decorating books was the Imam of the Malikis in his country, the judge of judges, Abu Bakr Ibn Asim Al-Gharnati (d. 829 AH / 1426 AD). He was known for his "skill of calligraphy, perfection of drawing, and mastery of practical crafts [in the paperwork] such as transference, gilding and others";

According to the scholar Ahmed Baba al-Tanbakti (d. 1036 AH / 1626 AD) in 'Neel al-Ibtihaj by embroidering brocades'.

And with the flowering of the leaf;

The manufacture of pens and ink and the chemistry of the composition of inks of various colors also developed, and they mastered this until they were able to manufacture ink that is read at night and not read during the day!

Indeed, Al-Safadi tells us that “some Moroccans wrote to Al-Malik Al-Kamil (Al-Ayyubid d. 635 AH / 1237 AD) a patch on a white paper, if it was read in the light of the lamp it was silver, and if it was read in the sun it was golden, and if it was read in the shade it was black ink!!”

the beginning of the end


and at the organizational level;

It was necessary for the Warraqa profession - like all crafts and industries - to document its regulating norms and write down its accumulated experiences, and for its manufacture it became a professional syndicate known as the “Sheikh of the Warraqin”, who was taken over by Abdul Rahman bin Ahmed Al-Hamidi, who was the “Sheikh of the Warraqin in Egypt” in the late period of the century Tenth Hijri / 16th AD.

وقد أمدتنا أقلام خبراء الوراقة الأقدمين بطائفة من الكتب المرشدة في تقاليد صناعتها تصحيحا بالمراجعة والمقابلة، وتحصينا بالتجليد والترميم، وتزيينا بالتذهيب والزخرفة. ولكن كثيرا منها لم يصلنا سوى عنوانه، ومنها: رسالتان في مدح الوراقين وذمهم للجاحظ، و"‎رسالة الوراقة" لأبي زيد البلخي (ت 322هـ/934م)،‎ وكتاب "تنويق النطاقة في علم الوراقة" لعبد الرحمن بن مسك السخاوي (ت 1025هـ/1616م).

وأما الكتب التي وصلتنا نصوصها فقليلة وأبرزها: "كتاب التيسير في صناعة التسفير" لأبي عمرو بكر بن إبراهيم الإشبيلي (ت 629هـ/1232م)، ومنظومة "تدبير السفير في صناعة التسفير" لابن أبي حميدة (ت بعد 737هـ/1336م).

And after this prosperous trip;

It was necessary for the caravan to put the joystick, and it was not for it to find a more appropriate time to start the countdown to its forced stop from the "Gutenberg moment", in preparation for the final interruption of its march after two and a half centuries have passed since that moment.

Seven decades after the invention of the "printing press";

Printing knocked on the door of the language of Al-Daad, and it entered its world with the Christian book “Salaat Al-Sawa’i”, which became the first book to be printed in Arabic in the year 919 AH / 1514 AD.

By the completion of the Hijri millennium in the year 1000 AH / 1592 AD;

The first books of the Islamic heritage printed in Europe appeared first in Europe: “Al-Kafia” by Ibn Al-Hajeb, “Al-Ajurumiya” and “Nuzha Al-Mushtaq” by Al-Idrisi. / 1729 AD in Istanbul with the first printing press to enter the country of Islam!