Islamic calligraphy

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Eighteenth century mirror writing in Ottoman calligraphy. The phrase means 'Ali is the vicegerent of God' in both directions.

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Islamic calligraphy, also known as Arabic calligraphy, is the art of artistic handwriting, and by extension, of bookmaking. It is both an art, and a practical way of writing.

Arabic calligraphy may be found on tiles and other ornaments. The text usually comes from the Koran (Qur'an).

Styles

The different styles of Arabic writing mostly derive from early versions of the Koran. There are geometric styles such as Kufic, and cursive (flowing) styles like Naskh, Thuluth, and Muhaqqaq.

Gallery

• Kufi - D Va style.jpg

  Kufic script in a Qur'an from the 9th-10th centuries

• Al Fatihah - naskh script detail text.jpg

  Naskh script in an Egyptian Qur'an from the 14th-15th centuries

• AndalusQuran.JPG

  Page of a 12th century Qur'an written in the Andalusi script

• 

  Allah In Thuluth Script Allah's (Arabic) proportion rules.

• Qutb Minar Minaret Delhi India.jpg

  Inscriptions in calligraphy, form regular bands throughout the Qutb Minar, India, built 1192 CE

• Bismillah.JPG

  Bismillah in calligraphy

• Bismillah gold.svg

  Bismillah in calligraphy

• Learning Arabic calligraphy.jpg

  The instruments and work of a student calligrapher.

Islamic Calligraphy Media

• Folios 1b-2a from Part 15 of a 30-part Qur’an copied by Ya'qut al-Musta'simi in Baghdad 1282-1283 AD (681 AH) (cropped).jpg

  The surah "Al-Isra'" copied by the 13th century calligrapher Yaqut al-Musta'simi in muhaqqaq script with Kufic incidentals.

• Niebuhr Beschreibung von Arabien Tab XIII.png

  Five principal Arabic calligraphic cursive styles:*

  1. *
  2. Naskh*
  3. Nasta'liq*
  4. Diwani*
  5. Thuluth*
  6. Reqa*
• A section of the Koran - Google Art Project.jpg

  9th century Qur'an, an early Kufic example from the Abbasid period

• Bowl with Kufic Calligraphy, 10th century.jpg

  Bowl with Kufic calligraphy, 10th century. Brooklyn Museum

• Copied by Mehmed Şevki Efendi - Qur’an - Google Art Project.jpg

  Muraqqa script by Mehmed Şevkî Efendi of the two intro pages of the Quran

• Folio from a Qur'an (Mamluk dynasty).jpg

  Muhaqqaq script in a 14th-century Qur'an from the Mamluk dynasty

• A digital rendering of the Bismillah in an 18th-century Islamic calligraphy from the Ottoman region, Thuluth script

• Nasta'liq calligraphy of a Persian poem by Mir Emad Hassani, perhaps the most celebrated Persian calligrapher

• 

  leftThe official imperial Tughra of the Mughal Empire.

• Bismillah calligraphy from the Mughal Empire.

References

• Wolfgang Kosack: Islamische Schriftkunst des Kufischen. Geometrisches Kufi in 593 Schriftbeispielen. Deutsch – Kufi – Arabisch. Christoph Brunner, Basel 2014, ISBN 978-3-906206-10-3.