Since ancient times, the historical and cultural processes in Central Asia, in general, in the East have had their significant influence. A comprehensive study of the history of states, which is an integral part of Islamic civilization, the first forms of statehood, the development and improvement of the management system in different periods, their relations with neighboring states, the types of mutual symbiosis of cultures, cannot be said to have been fully resolved. The presented article aims to study the history of the origin of written monuments that serve to clarify these cases.
Keywords: diplomacy, Muslim diplomacy, letter, secretaries, legal documents.
С давних времен историко-культурные процессы в Средней Азии, в целом на Востоке имели свое значительное влияние. Кроме того, как комплексное изучение истории государств, являющейся неотъемлемой частью исламской цивилизации необходимо углубленное исследование исторических процессов в становлении ранних форм государственности, развитии и совершенствовании системы государственного управления, их межгосударственные отношения и типы взаимного симбиоза культур. Данная статья направлена на изучение вышеперечисленных исторических процессов посредством изучения истории первых письменных источников мусульманской дипломатики.
Ключевые слова: дипломатика, мусульманская дипломатика, письма, писцы, юридические акты.
The factors and reasons for the emergence of Muslim diplomacy have a significant place. With the emergence of the first state associations, the system of state administration was also created, and the need for documents with legal force in state administration began to be felt. This is the reason why the first documents were created. In the system of state administration, the first Muslim diplomacy, which was formed on the basis of the relations of state affairs of the kingdom of rulers, developed, and the need for documents began to be felt. Among these documents, of course, for the first time, official documents related to state administration have developed.
At the time of the emergence of Islam, it was observed that official documents were written on the issues of the system of work in practice in the country, the way of life of Muslims, issues of religious belief, the implementation of existing laws, and the issues of maintaining a fair state system. Later, after the widespread development of Islam, religious documents issued by religious leaders, documents that were used by citizens and taken from their personal collections began to appear, and the foundation for the formation of legal culture in society was laid. The first documents related to the Muslim society are distinguished by the fact that they were written in languages other than Arabic, including Greek, Persian, and Sogdian, which were used in the countries where Islam had just entered.
The study of documents belonging to the Muslim society is dealt with by the branch of Islamic diplomacy, which is a subsidiary branch of history. The term diplomacy is derived from the Greek word diploma , which is interpreted as a double-folded paper, a document. The term diplomacy was introduced in the XIV-XV centuries. By the 18th century, the study of all kinds of documents began to be called diplomacy [2]. Since the 17th century, diplomacy has been taught in European universities as a special study of ancient and medieval legal acts.
Later, a number of directions of diplomacy were formed, such as Latin, Slavic-Russian, German, Arab Muslim. XIX-XX centuries were an important turning point in diplomatic science. During this period, many documents were researched, systematized and classified. The main goal of Muslim diplomacy is to study various correspondences related to the socio-political and economic life from the time of the establishment of the Islamic society to the beginning of the 20th century [4]. At this point, the main task is to study the formation, sphere of circulation, actual function, structure and composition of official legal documents.
Led to the socio-political, economic, scientific and cultural development of Islamic civilization — in the context of the Prophet Muhammad's (pbuh) call to the leaders of the states outside the Arabian Peninsula to accept Islam, believe in Allah and His Messenger, and Letters sent through ambassadors are of great importance in Muslim diplomacy. According to the types of these documents: acts with legal force, contracts, decrees and letters were in use and some of them have been preserved to this day.
Letters of this type, in particular, were sent to the ruler of Oman, two powerful and influential states of his time, the Roman and Byzantine emperors (in the embassy of Sahabah Dihya ibn Khalifa ibn Farwa al-Kalbi al-Kuda'I — emperor Irakli), led by Khatib bin Abu Balta — the ruler of Egypt Mukawkis (Dhuraydj bin Mina), the ruler of Bahrain — Munzir bin Sawa al-Tamimi (a facsimile copy of the document is kept in the Yemeni Military Museum in Sana'a), the Sassanid King Kisro — Khusraw Parviz II on the embassy of Abdullah bin Khuzayfa, Amr bin Umayya ad-Damri — the ruler of Ethiopia Ashama are letters sent to heads of state [3]. Facsimile copies of some of these letters are stored in the historical museums of the Sultanate of Oman, Yemen, and the Republic of Turkey.
The letters are short and clear, and it is stated that if the tribes accept Islam, all their lands will be preserved, their lives and property will be secured, pastures and cultural resources will be given to some tribes for their use. Also, those who convert to Islam are asked to fulfill the obligations of Islam. According to the content of the words in these letters, Jews, Christians, non-believers who refused to recognize the Muslim rule and religion of Islam were to pay taxes if they wanted to remain in their faith. In some documents, at the end of letters sent with the content of a call to accept Islam, the procedure of using explanatory texts ending with the words of the Holy Qur'an, verse 64 of Surah Ali-Imran (the letter sent to the ruler of Egypt, Mukawkis) and the formalization of letters was also used. Therefore, the importance of documents with diplomatic force for the purpose of establishing mutual social and political relations between the states was extremely high.
According to external signs, these documents were written in Kufic script on deer skin. It is known from the documents that diplomatic traditions were followed in order for the letters to have legal force, and the seal of the Prophet (pbuh) with the name and nickname of the leader of the Muslims, may Allah be pleased with him, was confirmed with a ring type seal. The document is also signed by witnesses and guarantors.
With the spread of Islam, more than ten people wrote in Arabic: Umar ibn al-Khattab, Usman ibn Affan, Ali ibn Abu Talib, Talha, Abu Huzaifa ibn Utba ibn Rabi'a, Abu Sufyan ibn Harb, Yazid and Muawiya, Hatib ibn Amr ibn Abd Shams, Ala ibn al-Hazrami, Abu Salma ibn Abdulashhal, Abdullah ibn Abu Sarh, and Huwaytib ibn Abd al-Aza.
As the scribes of the Prophet: Usman ibn Affan, Ali ibn Abu Talib, Ubba ibn Ka'b, Yazid ibn Thabit, Khalid ibn Sa'id ibn al-As, Mu'awiya ibn Abu Sufyan, al-Mughairah ibn Shu'ba wrote in the presence of the Prophet. Along with them, Ibn al-Arqam, Huzaifa ibn al-Yaman, Zayd ibn-Thabit wrote letters to kings along with writing revelations.
We find information that Huzaifa ibn al-Yaman wrote (a letter) to the kings of Hijaz dates without leaves. Beruni said in the book «India» that in the southern cities of India, it is a tall tree similar to date and narjil trees, and it has leaves that are three fingers wide [1]. According to Abu Mansur al-Saalibi, the letter written by Huzaifa ibn al-Yaman was written to the leafless kings of the Hijaz date. Therefore, it can be seen from the edicts and decrees, letters and correspondences written by the order of the Messenger of God Muhammad (pbuh) that in that period the noteworthy traditions of the document exchange system were formed and developed as a part of the Islamic culture.
The extensive propaganda carried out by Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) led to the development of Islamic culture in an unprecedented situation along with the widespread spread of Islam. This in itself influenced the formation of documentary science in Islamic civilization. At that time, the Sassanid Empire of the Persians was located in the north of Arabia, and the Byzantium, i.e., the Eastern Roman Empire, with its center in Constantinople, was located in the northwest. With the subjugation of the two large countries during the Caliphate period, their separate culture was transformed into the development of Islamic civilization, the Iranian culture of the Sassanid period was influenced by China, India, the Roman Empire, Western Europe and It had an impact on African countries. It is known that this situation also influenced the formation of the document processing system in the Middle Ages in Central Asia.
According to the sources, the state administration during the Sasanian Empire was divided into four types of classes. Among them, the secretariat consisting of state officials, people who compiled diplomatic documents (letters, biographies), representatives of the class consisting of astrologers and poets — dibheran , that is, secretaries, kept state correspondence. After the spread of Islam and the Arabic script during the Sassanid period, the art of calligraphy written on the basis of the Persian alphabet was highly developed. There are many styles, types and calligraphic writings of calligraphy, each used for a specific process. For example, Kufic and Taliq scripts were widely used for writing official correspondence, Suls and Shikasta scripts were used for writing letters and poetic works, and naskh script was widely used for copying books. Calligraphy was used to write the Qur'an in Persian, hadiths, letters and documents, and to decorate written works.
Therefore, with the beginning of the rule of local dynasties, legislative acts in Muslim states in different regions were prepared in accordance with the unified Islamic ideas and Sharia (despite sectarian differences). However, due to the emergence of some local features (calligraphy, paper, ornament, seal, etc.), differences began to appear in official documents. Along with the improvement of socio-economic and political relations of the cities, the documents also improved. Documents are varied and numerous. The purpose, direction, size, form and a number of other qualities of the documents are also different. A thorough study of the perfect documentation system is a complex process without comprehensive and in-depth visualization of the features and qualities of the documents. For this reason, the application of the field of diplomacy in source studies is of particular importance.
References:
1. Biruni Abu Reyhan. India. / Per. А. B. Khalidova, Yu.Н. Zavadovskogo. // Izbr. proizv. — Т.: Fan, 1963. — P. 38–39.
2. Ismailov М. Hujjatshunoslik va Markaziy Osiyo diplomatikasi. — Т.: “Akademnashr”, 2010. — P. 29.
3. Pisma proroka Mukhammeda // – URL/:http://darbaresultania.org/Muhammad/letters.html.
4. Sultonov U. А. Musumn mamakatari diplomatikasi. Uquv qollanma. — Т.: Navruz, 2019. — P. 4.
