General considerations

The two terms in the title of this article need elaboration. The utilization of the term writing in English to suggest those compositions that are vulnerable to tasteful examination (instead of everything that is composed) is of moderately ongoing vintage, and the advancement of a field of concentrate committed to it is yet later (with the investigation in the West of non-Western abstract customs being considerably more so). In Arabic the term for "writing" in the tight English sense is adab, best deciphered by the French expression beauties lettres ("lovely letters"), which passes on the blend of the stylish and educational components found in adab more adequately than does the English expression writing. In any case, it is imperative to see that, similar to the case with numerous abstract conventions, the roots of this Arabic expression in the premodern period lie in the domains of right conduct ("considerate letters").