The Forgotten Art of Inshaʾ: Elegant Letter-Writing in Classical Persia

In the grand halls of medieval Persian courts, the art of inshaʾ (انشاء), or elegant letter-writing, occupied a place of honor alongside poetry and calligraphy. More than mere correspondence, inshaʾ was a refined genre combining rhetoric, style, and social grace—an indispensable skill for statesmen, scholars, and poets alike. Today, its conventions and delights have largely faded from popular memory. Let’s rediscover this vanished cultural treasure.

1. What Is Inshaʾ?

Inshaʾ refers to the craft of composing letters, petitions, and formal documents in a polished, rhetorically rich prose. Unlike dry administrative record-keeping, inshaʾ prized:

• Eloquent openings (madāḥiya): ornate salutations praising the recipient’s virtues.

• Structured arguments (muqāṭaʿāt): neatly arranged points, often signposted by antonymic or parallel phrases.

• Artful closings (khatima): graceful conclusions invoking goodwill or divine blessings.

Imagine a high-stakes petition to a sultan: every phrase is an opportunity to flatter, to persuade, and to showcase the writer’s learning.

2. Historical Roots and Manuals

Although letter-writing existed in earlier Islamic culture, Persian scholars elevated inshaʾ into a full literary discipline from the 10th century onward. Two landmarks stand out:

1. “Dīvān al-Inshāʾ” by Ibn ʿAbd Rabbihi (d. 940)
   – A groundbreaking anthology of letters, poems, and administrative documents from the Umayyad court in al-Andalus.
   – Its model salutations and closings set patterns that Persian secretaries adopted.

2. “Al-ʿAmal bi-l-Inshāʾ wa-l-Khaṭ̣̣iṭ̣̣̣” (The Practice of Composition and Calligraphy) by Nizam al-Mulk (d. 1092)
   – The brilliant vizier to the Seljuk sultans, Nizam al-Mulk compiled guidelines for bureaucrats in his famous Siyāsatnāma.
   – He emphasized clarity …