Introduction

ʿIlm al-siyāq or ʿilm al-ḥisāb is a special knowledge of bookkeeping and financial affairs. This chapter discusses the relationship between knowledge and power in Safavid Iran. The general description of siyāq has already been provided by Mohammad Bagheri, and more recently, Brian Spooner and William L. Hanaway, but they explained siyāq as accounting, numerical notation, or numeracy. Certainly, the siyāq notation (raqam-i siyāq) was a distinctive part of ʿilm al-siyāq. These numerals originated from numerals written in Arabic scripts, for example, aḥad (one) asand ʿašara (ten) as. However, ʿilm al-siyāq contains more matters related to fiscal administration. There are still points to discuss on the history of siyāq, including the origin of the term siyāq and the difference between siyāq and siyāqat. Contrarily, Walther Hinz worked on siyāq manuals from the Ilkhanid and Timurid period, including an edition of Risāla-i Falakiyya. Recent publications by Ryoko Watabe also largely concern the Ilkhanid period. These works focused mainly on fiscal administration and did not discuss the social background of siyāq as knowledge. In addition, the development of siyāq after the Ilkhanid period was not known in these studies.

Jean Aubin's article on the social background of Iranian notables in the early Safavid period is insightful. He noted that the fiscal technique (ḥisāb) was a factor that allowed Iranian notables to survive political changes during the advent of the Safavid state. However, no researcher has elaborated on his idea afterwards. Moreover, siyāq manuals from Safavid Iran had been neglected for a long time, and no one had enough information on them until recently.