The Zamam Diwan and Seal

The source transmits from Ibn al-Muqaffa' a description of the office of the zimam (register) and the seal among the Persians. It notes that Ziyad ibn Abi Sufyan was the first of the Arabs to adopt an office of the register and the seal, following the practice of the Persians. ¹

When the king of Persia ordered something, the keeper of the signature stood before him and recorded it in his servant's monthly register, which the king sealed and which was stored. The signature was then sent to the keeper of the register, who held the seal, and he sent it on to the official in charge of the province, who wrote a letter of the king from it. It was copied in the original, then returned to the keeper of the register, who presented it to the king and compared it with what was in the register; then it was sealed in his presence or in the presence of the most trusted of the people near him. ¹

The king had a seal for secrets, a seal for messengers, a seal for perpetuity with which records, grants of land, and documents of honour were sealed, and a seal for the land tax. The keeper of the register had charge of them, and sometimes the seal of secrets and letters was given to one of the king's intimates. ¹

It is related that Khusraw Parviz was troubled by the smell of the land-tax ledgers, and ordered that they be brought to him in pages tinted with saffron and rosewater. ¹