Developing a Knowledge System Based on adab: Birds Fluttering from Ibn Qutayba’s Adab al-Kātib to the ʿUyūn al-Akhbār

The notion of adab is at the very heart of the Islamicate cultures. Born in the crucible of the Arabic and Persian civilisations of the Late Antiquity period, nourished by Greek, Syriac and Indian influences, this polysemic notion could cover a variegated range of meanings, ranging from good behaviour, good manners, etiquette, proper knowledge of the rules, to belles-lettres, and finally, literature. In this article, In this essay, I address some issues on contents, ordering principles, and writing techniques related to two milestones of adab literature – the Adab al-kātib (The Manual of the Secretary) and the ʿUyūn al-akhbār (Choice reports) – with the aim of illustrating how they contributed, albeit mutually but differently, to articulating a way of conceiving adab that Ibn Qutayba developed over a lifetime.