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Encyclopaedia of the Qurʾān / Calligraphy

The Arabic script( khaṭṭ), its development, and its formal use in manuscripts of the Qurʾān. Though initially presented as an ¶ oral recitation (see book ), the Qurʾān has played an essential role in the development of the Arabic script (q.v.). According to traditional accounts, certain fragments were committed to writing by some of the Companions of the Prophet (q.v.) on crude materials such as flat stones, veins of palm leaves, animal skins or ceramic shards (see textual history of the qurʾān ). The script was then still imperfect and its signs were little more than a mnemonic technique for fixing a text already committed to memory — a far cry from the Arabic script we know today.

This primitive script, which probably originated in Ḥīra, capital of the Christian Arab kingdom of the Lakhmids (see christians and christianity ), was an adaptation of the Syriac script and was not widespread at the time. With the passing of the generation of the Companions, the first to have heard the Qurʾān from Muḥammad and to have learned it by heart, it became necessary to fix the final text of the holy book and to perfect the system for recording it in written form. Most versions of the textual history of the Qurʾān state that an official text was imposed by the third caliph, ʿUthmān (q.v.; r. 23-35/644-56), and distributed to the main centers of early Islam. Copies of the sacred text thence multiplied in territories conquered by the Arab armies. In an era when reproduction of the Qurʾān depended totally on the scribal art, considerable praise and merit was attributed to the skill of writing and its use in recording the Qurʾān. To emphasize the worthiness and nobility of this task, some religious scholars ( ʿulamāʾ) asserted that at the day of judgment (see last judgment ), the ink of calligraphers, placed on one of the arms of the scale of justice (see justice and injustice ), would balance the blood of martyrs on the other (see blood and blood clot; martyr).

¶ During the first three centuries of Islam, calligraphy underwent considerable development. This was due first of all to the need to meet the demands of state administration (most of the great calligraphers began their careers as secretaries either of the chancellery or the land-tax, both of which required skill in writing). An equal factor was the multiplication and distribution of copies of the Qurʾān throughout the entire empire. Given this increase in written production, efforts were thus made to make the script more legible. Diacritic signs were added to characters with an identical form to prevent confusion. At first, these were very fine lines superimposed above the letters, but the lines were then replaced by small, more or less regular dots. Beginning with the caliphate of ʿAbd al-Malik (r. 65/685-86/705), relatively large red dots corresponding to the vowels were joined to the letters to facilitate the reading of the Qurʾān and to prevent any falsification of the text: A dot above the letter corresponded to a fatḥa (a), a dot under the letter to a kasra (i) and a dot on the base line to a ḍamma (u). This practice provoked opposition among certain scholars ( ʿulamāʾ) who considered it a human addition to an already perfect text given by God and thus a reprehensible innovation (q.v.). At the beginning of the fifth/eleventh century, the vowel signs currently in use replaced the red dots; it is this custom of vocalizing the qurʾānic text which persists today.

In addition to increasing precision of the script, manuscripts of the Qurʾān began to include additional textual specification. In former times (the dating of which is difficult to specify), small superimposed lines, drawn with the same ink as the text, separated one verse from another. The sūras were separated by a single blank line and had no title. Later, colored bands with a crude geometrical design were added to ¶ the empty space separating the sūras. In turn, three small dots in gold replaced the previous separation marks in ink. Small rosettes indicated groups of five verses while larger ones were used for groups of ten verses. Later, titles of sūras were inscribed in golden ink or placed in the centre of a painted band often illuminated with gold.

Centers for the instruction and production of the calligraphic art multiplied in the great urban milieux of the empire, in which various writing styles developed as may be observed in the qurʾānic material written on parchment and preserved in museums all over the world. The calligraphy of these old, handwritten Qurʾāns can be divided into two main groups: The first and oldest is a more or less angular type called Kūfic. The second, which is more cursive, appeared in Baghdad at the end of the third/ninth century. These two groups are further divided into a plethora of scribal forms of which both place of origin and period are difficult to determine. In fact, the earliest qurʾānic material written on parchment is not dated at all. The first established reference (264/877-8) appears in the waqf of the Qurʾān of Amājūr (governor of Damascus). This date refers to its placement in the Umayyad mosque; it was probably copied a bit earlier. Resort must be had to palaeography when attempting to classify the many types of old, handwritten copies of the Qurʾān in order to date them and/or trace their origin. This is a particularly arduous enterprise which specialists have undertaken for more than two centuries without any fully satisfactory results. This continuing ambiguity can be attributed to the fact, on the one hand, that variations in the written form are innumerable and imprecisely named and, on the other, that copies of the Qurʾān were moved from ¶ one calligraphic center to another or given as gifts to sovereigns or other notables who subsequently moved them to mosques in their respective capitals or added them to their personal libraries.

The primary source consulted by palaeographers is the Kitāb al-Fihrist, the famous work of Ibn al-Nadīm (d. after 377/987-8) who includes an inventory of the styles of writing in use during his time. From this and with the help of commentaries by later Arab authors, specialists have tried to identify the types of script encountered in available collections of ancient copies of the Qurʾān on parchment. With a few, rare exceptions, this effort has been unsuccessful since the information provided by Ibn al-Nadīm has proven insufficient to establish secure identification. From this perspective, even a work as important as that of Nabia Abbott (The rise of the north Arabian script) which refers to Ibn al-Nadīm as well as al-Qalqashandī (Ṣubḥ al-Aʿshāʾ) has resulted in very little. In fact, al-Qalqashandī (d. 821/1418) himself used terminology borrowed from writers of different epochs without any regard for possible evolution in the meaning of these terms. Consequently, by classifying very diverse types of script under one single name borrowed from Arab authors, Nabia Abbott's attempt has only added to the confusion since these authors had not clearly identified the terms they used.

Recent studies have made use of a new methodology that consists in classifying — independently from their designation by classical Arab authors — copies of the Qurʾān with easily identifiable common features. Once the numerous collections discovered during the twentieth century have been studied, it should be possible to match different scripts selected on the basis of clearly defined criteria to rare examples lacking dates. Scholars will then be able to fit certain examples into a sequence of ¶ which the date and the provenance are easier to determine.

The most recent conclusions of this new methodology distinguish two main groups which allow classification of the first handwritten copies of the Qurʾān: ḥijāzī and “classical Kūfic.” This latter term is preferred to “Kūfic” which is used widely as though covering a single entity; it actually includes many forms. A broad consensus exists for the identification of the ḥijāzī script as a result of the comparative studies undertaken by A. Grohman between this style of writing and the related script used in papyri. Ḥijāzī — referred to in some works, notably that of Nabia Abbott, as māʾil (slanted), a term presently in question since it groups together scripts too diverse to be characterized by a single term — was already in use at a very early stage in Mecca (q.v.) and Medina (q.v.). It is characterized by oblique strokes, generally oriented, more or less unvaryingly, from right to left; alifs ending in a short curved return; letters having a circular loop (fāʾ, qāf, mīm, wāw); ʿayns having the shape of a small v when in medial position; nūns in the form of a wide and very open curve when in isolated or final positions; characters packed together on the line; short ligatures slightly curved; and a regular, sober rhythm of script which is sometimes interrupted by stretching out letters at the end of a line.

Considered Iraqi in origin, classical Kūfic displays considerable variety but also enough common features to be classified under one heading. At first glance classical Kūfic conveys a balanced and harmonious impression because of the equal space between the lines and the regular dimensions and geometry of the characters. This impression is reinforced by the rhythm created, firstly, by the alternation of short and long ligatures and, secondly, by the contrast of compact (rāʾ, zayn, ḥāʾ, mīm, hāʾ,¶ wāw) and stretched (dāl, dhāl, ṣād, ḍād, ṭāʾ, ẓāʾ, kāf, yāʾ) characters. This type of script has slender, vertical strokes with upper ends that have a beveled edge while the lower ones have either a large, tapering curve (alif) or a right angle descending well below the line (lām and nūn). The tails of the letters jīm, ḥāʾ, khāʾ, wāw are short and compact and their end-point falls below the line whereas the tail of the ʿayn ends in a large curve with a tapered point reminiscent of the alif. The tail of the mīm is reduced to a small horizontal stroke.

Between these two main groupings, a whole range of types shows particularities of both the ḥijāzī group and the classical Kūfic. These are the types of script which specialists attempt to classify for the sake of defining them more precisely.

Several other scripts, related to classical Kūfic but with specific criteria, arose at the end of the fourth/tenth century and were used conjointly with cursive writing (see below). Among these is “oriental Kūfic” which owes its name to its appearance in the easternmost provinces of the Islamic empire (see the examples in the catalogue of M. Lings, pls. 11-21). This type of writing, while retaining the geometry of classical Kūfic, exhibits characters with radically different proportions. In oriental Kūfic, the ratio of the length of the low characters (teeth and loops) to that of the tall characters (down-strokes) is 1:8 whereas it varies from 1:3 to 1:2 in classical Kūfic. The common features of oriental Kūfic can be summarized as follows:

— a strictly horizontal base-line broken by small dots which serve as ligatures between characters closely packed together (letters with teeth and loops); in other cases, the ligatures are rather short but those of the basmala (q.v.) are sometimes thoroughly stretched out so that the phrase fills up the entire line.

— very slender strokes with upper extre-¶ mities ending in a small triangle or bevel extended by a fine oblique segment. Sometimes the down-strokes of certain characters (ṭāʾ, ẓāʾ, kāf) display an obliquity of 45 degrees and end in a leftward pointed bulge. The strokes of the lām-alif are either very close parallel lines or two fairly thin symmetric curves with conjoined ends. The strokes of the two lāms in the word Allāh are sometimes reduced to two small and very oblique segments packed together, thus reducing the size of the word by half.

— the loss of the verticality known in classical Kūfic in characters with teeth which are oblique in oriental Kūfic. The rectangular bodies of the letters dāl/dhāl, ṣād/ḍād, ṭāʾ/ẓāʾ, kāf are thoroughly stretched out in length and small in height.

— the loss of the circular shape of the letters fāʾ, qāf, mīm and wāw as in classical Kūfic, which become either triangular or square or even an oblique trapezoid pointed forward. Only the medial hāʾ has a circular shape with two eyelets.

— the loss of the regular curve in the tails of characters, although still just as large. The tails descend obliquely below the line, then break off and end in a triangle, parallel to the line with the points below. It is perhaps this rupture of curves that provides the origin of the name of broken Kūfic, sometimes used to designate this script.

Many examples of this oriental Kūfic are adorned with illuminated bands in gold which frame the title of the sūra, the number of its verses and its Mekkan or Medinan origin. The rosettes marking the separation between verses or groups of verses are also written in golden ink. The diacritical dots are generally in the same ink as the text but the vowels are often in red.

Some of these qurʾānic manuscripts are signed and dated, for example that written and illuminated by ʿUthmān Ḥusayn ¶ Warrāq (466/1073-4) from Iraq or Iran, that by Abū Bakr Aḥmad b. ʿAbdallāh al-Ghaznawī (573/1177-8) which was copied in Afghanistan and, finally, the one by ʿAlī b. Muḥammad b. Muḥammad (620/1223) copied in Iran.

The appearance of cursive writing, the second main category of qurʾānic scripts, coincided more or less with that of paper (the first attested copy of the Qurʾān in cursive dates from 361/971). The cursive script, quite ancient but reserved up to that time for daily use, owes its nobility to the vizier and famous calligrapher, Ibn Muqla (d. 328/940). Using a circle with a diameter corresponding to the height of an alif, he standardized the method of tracing the characters, all other characters being defined in accordance with this circle. A system of measures allowed the standardization of the characters' proportions, where the unit used for measuring was the dot, still in use today by calligraphers. This square-shaped dot, resting on its point, corresponds to the trace left on paper by the tip of the calligrapher's reed when applied to the sheet with a certain pressure. Ibn Muqla's innovative style of writing is called al- khaṭṭ al-mansūb, “the well-proportioned script,” though its exact meaning is not known. Another great master of calligraphy, ʿAlī b. Hilāl, known as Ibn al-Bawwāb (d. 413/1022) improved Ibn Muqla's style by increasing its elegance. In charge of the library of the Buwayhid Bahāʾ al-Dawla in the city of Shīrāz, Ibn al-Bawwāb was very pious and could recite the Qurʾān by heart. He appears to have made sixty-four copies of the Qurʾān, one of which, signed by him, is still extant: Dated 391/1000-1, it is conserved in the Chester Beatty Library in Dublin where it is possible to admire the aesthetic quality of its letters as well as the beauty of its illumination. D.S. Rice has, in a detailed study of the manuscript, demonstrated its au-¶ thenticity. The style Ibn al-Bawwāb created is known as naskhī.

More than two centuries later, another calligrapher succeeded in surpassing Ibn al-Bawwāb. Yāqūt al-Mustaʿṣimī (d. 697/1298), known as the “sultan of calligraphers,” brought Ibn al-Bawwābs naskhī to its apogee. Several manuscripts by this great artist have survived, among them one dated 685/1285, which was written in Baghdad in rayḥānī (a variety of naskhī) and bears witness to the exactness of his skill, as well as the suppleness and lightness of his hand. To attain this quality of writing, al-Mustaʿṣimī cut the tip of his reed at an angle so that it barely touched the paper. In the ornamental band at the head of each sūra, the title — written in oriental Kūfic — is outlined. Thus it appears in white on a blue background adorned with golden arabesque. A flower with slightly gyron-like petals separates each verse.

Cursive scripts multiplied in centers of calligraphy attached to the courts of princes and sultans; these scripts apparently received their name according to their size. It should also be noted that all of these scripts are vocalized. Particular care has been given to the slope of the fatḥas and kasras which are slightly oblique and at the same angle. According to F. Déroche, the six most “fundamental” varieties are the following:

— naskhī, the most common and widely used style throughout the centuries, is a medium-sized cursive. The base line is always horizontal but sometimes broken to allow a new beginning at a slightly higher level for characters starting inside the tail of a preceding letter. This style is easily recognized by its alif, the shape of which is reduced to a simple, vertical segment with a beveled upper end and a pointed, slightly tapered lower end. The tails have fairly small curves protruding under the next character which thus must be written ¶ slightly higher. The longevity of this style explains the many varieties it has. A great number of qurʾānic manuscripts from the Ottoman era were written in naskhī as witnessed in the numerous examples of the Bibliothèque Nationale de Paris now conserved in the Grande Bibliothèque de France (see the examples in the Déroche catalogue, nos. 88-120).

— the rayḥānī and muḥaqqaq scripts seem to present only slight differences. Déroche reserves the term muḥaqqaq for larger scripts whereas M. Lings gives the name of rayḥānī to some large types (see no. 85 of his catalogue). In rayḥānī, the characters appear more packed together than in muḥaqqaq. In both styles, the alif has a small hook at the upper end and terminates in a slightly curved point below. The tails pointing leftwards have such slight curves that they sometimes convey the impression of being oblique, especially in the cases of the mīm and the wāw. Nevertheless, the tails pointing towards the right (like jīm, ḥāʾ, khāʾ, ʿayn) and dropping well below the line, have very ample curves. These two styles were in favor among the Ilkhānids and the Tīmūrids (see the superb examples of muḥaqqaq in Ling's catalogue [nos. 45-51] and rayḥānī [nos. 81-85]). For another example of muḥaqqaq, mention can be made of the manuscript copied in 707/1307 by the great master Muḥammad b. Aybak for the Ilkhānid sultan Ūljāytū (r. 703-16/ 1304-16), preserved in the library of the Top Kapı Sarayı in Istanbul (no. 46). It has a large format (72 × 50 cm) and one of the two pages reproduced has alternating lines of handwritten characters, one in gold ink with a black-ribboned edge and the other in black ink with a golden edge. The rosettes embellishing the margins of the pages are very delicate and quite beautiful.

For examples of rayḥānī, mention can be made of the qurʾānic manuscripts copied in 827/1424 and 834/1440 by the great ¶ calligrapher Ibrāhīm Sulṭān b. Shāhrūkh b. Tīmūr. Richly illuminated under the supervision of the grandson of Tīmūr Leng, they also offer pages entirely written in gold (those of the Fātiḥa [q.v.]) in an illuminated frame in which gold is matched with blue. A detail concerning sūra titles should be added: The type of script selected for these titles is generally oriental Kūfic. A cursive style has rarely been retained but when this is the case, thuluth was chosen (see below). Within the classification of these two scripts, one can include some Mamlūk manuscripts also written in gold ink with frontispieces richly illuminated with geometrical motifs and interlaces that encircle fine golden arabesque which stand out against a blue or red background (cf. M. Lings, nos. 52-59).

— thuluth, rather similar to muḥaqqaq, is easily recognized by the triangular profile of the upper ends of the alif and the very tapered, and sometimes curved, lower end. It is rarely used in the calligraphy of the Qurʾān except for sūra titles (see above). It is equally favored by artists who reproduce “mirrored” qurʾānic verses on mosque walls, thanks to the possibility of giving its tails a tapered curve that intertwines with the down-strokes of other characters (see examples in H. Massoudi, pp. 103 and 104).

— the last two styles considered fundamental by F. Déroche are tawqīʿ and riqʿa (sometimes vocalized as ruqʿa); he underlines the links between these two styles and thuluth. Few qurʾānic manuscripts have been calligraphed in these styles.

The qurʿānic script originating in the western provinces of the Islamicate should be classified separately. In fact, this script has features of both classical Kūfic and some clearly cursive characteristics. The designation as Andalusian Kūfic for manuscripts copied in Andalusia or North African Kūfic for those copied in Ifrīqiyya or the Maghrib bears witness to ¶ the links binding them to the classical Kūfic in spite of the suppleness of certain types of characters. Lings defines this style as the first which stems directly from Kūfic and qualifies it as occidental Kūfic, contrasting it with the earlier oriental Kūfic. This style was known in Ifrīqiyya from the time of the Qurʾān calligraphed by ʿAlī al-Warrāq in 410/1019-20 for the wet nurse of the Zīrid prince al- Muʿizz b. Bādis (r. 407-54/1016-62), which was doubtlessly copied in Qayrawān where it is still preserved in the new museum of Raqqāda. The alphabetic repertoire of this type of large and massive script resembles that of oriental Kūfic: the same ruptures in the horizontal base-line by ligatures in the shape of triangular dots, characters with oblique teeth, characters with non-circular curls varying from the triangle to the square pointed forwards and with small eyes. All these characteristics belong to oriental Kūfic but certain particularities distinguish the two styles: the slight bending of the small oblique teeth, the inflection of median jīm and ḥāʾ, intersecting curves of the lām-alif and the slender and disproportionate tail of the nūn with its broad, angular, lance-shaped end. Classical Kūfic was also known and used in Ifrīqiyya as witnessed by examples from the mosque of Qayrawān and, in particular, one superbly calligraphed Qurʾān in gold on parchment tinted in indigo.

A number of particularities of classical Kūfic are clearly perceptible in North African- Andalusian Kūfic: the horizontal and rigid writing line and the great number of ligatures, the verticality and fineness of the down-strokes of the alif and lām, the open rectangular shapes of dāl/dhāl and kāf along with the stretching out of the body of certain characters. On the other hand, some features clearly refer to cursive writing, like certain supple or slightly dented ligatures, the rāʾ with a very open curve, ¶ the rounded teeth of the sīn/shīn, the flattened ovals of the ṣād/ḍād, ṭāʾ/ẓāʾ, the large semi-circular and sometimes slightly broken tails surrounding several characters, which give a rhythm to the base-line. In other respects, an old writing practice remains in practice in the diacritics of this writing style: The dot of the fāʾ is always placed below the letter whereas the qāf has only one dot placed above the letter. Some of these manuscripts (e.g. nos. 95-98 in the collection published by Lings) are written in large characters and have only a few lines per page (5-9) while certain others (nos. 99, 102 and 103 of the same catalogue) are written in an extremely fine script and have up to 27 lines on a page for qurʾānic manuscripts of a similar size. Splendid frontispieces with richly ornate bands, titles written in gold, series of medallions or small rosettes embellished with fine arabesques in the margin contribute to the beauty and majesty of these manuscripts (see in particular the frontispieces of nos. 100 and 101 of the Qurʾān of Valencia, copied by ʿAbdallāh b. ʿAṭūs in 578/1182).

A few words must be said about the use of qurʾānic calligraphy in epigraphy (q.v.). Its function is both educational and ornamental. It is educational because the choice of reproduced verses reminds the believers of the great truths of the Islamic faith (q.v.); this choice is adapted to the type of education religious authorities want to further (see traditional disciplines of qurʾānic study ). It is ornamental because it is linked to religious architecture where it constitutes one of the essential decorative elements (see art and architecture ). The bands decorated with qurʾānic verses surround the upper part of the walls of prayer rooms in mosques, madrasas and mausoleums, frame the miḥrābs, crown the arcades of mosque courtyards and make the shafts of minarets more attractive; they ¶ generate the composition of stone rosettes that decorate some portals and, inscribed on funerary stelae (see burial ), they accompany the faithful to the gates of the hereafter.

From the very outset, calligraphed verses of the Qurʾān have contributed to the beauty of monuments, like the superb, 240 meter-long band decorating both sides of the arcade around the rock of the Qubbat al-Ṣakhra(the Dome of the Rock; see aqṣā mosque ) in Jerusalem. The style, a form of classical Kūfic adapted to the material (see material culture and the qurʾān ), became the prototype of the Kūfic used in official Umayyad inscriptions. Executed in gold mosaic on a blue background, the angular ductus of the characters is naturally more accentuated than in manuscripts (see manuscripts of the qurʾān ), but the shape and proportions of the letters correspond generally to the same norms. Throughout the centuries, qurʾānic calligraphy on stone (q.v.) has followed, more or less, the development of manuscript calligraphy, though sometimes with a certain delay. It has, however, made its own contributions to the efflorescence of character ornamentation (see ornamentation and illumination ): The down-strokes intersect, curve, turn over and are stretched to create interlaces that balance the empty spaces in the band. Their ends are enriched with leaves, flowers, palmettes or foliage; the bodies of the letters are adorned with indentations, knots, strapwork or vegetal elements; their tails go up in elegant curves and counter curves and their ornate ends add to the whole decorative impression of the band.

At the end of the fourth/tenth century, cursive qurʾānic calligraphy appeared in stone inscriptions in the eastern provinces during the same period in which it appeared in manuscripts; it was often found in combination with Kūfic script and then finally replaced it. Its development was ¶ rapid and it attained a degree of perfection comparable to that of manuscripts. Examples are the so-called throne verse (see throne of god ) that frames the miḥrāb of the Arslanhan mosque in Ankara (seventh/thirteenth century) in thuluth with characters that stand out against a background of arabesque and flowers (G. Akurga et al., Trésors de Turquie, 132); at the Sukulu mosque in Istanbul (tenth/sixteenth century), one can find the four verses of Sūrat al-Ikhlāṣ ( q 112) written in thuluth and arranged in a circle embellishing the rosette of the portal. The radiating strokes of the alifs and lāms are interlaced into strapwork and open out into a star-shaped composition at the center of the rosette (H. Massoudi, La calligraphie, 74 and 110).

Qurʾānic calligraphy remains the most specific expression of Islamic aesthetics. Taken in its entirety, it is an astounding combination that embraces the geometrical rigidity of the Kūfic characters, the fantasy in the rhythm of the inscribed lines, the contrastive sobriety of lines and lavishness of illuminations, the subtle harmony of proportions and supple elegance of the cursive characters; and the delicacy of foliages and arabesques that interlace with the letters. In the eyes of a Muslim, qurʾānic calligraphy is the visible form of the revealed word, an achievement in which artists and faithful are united in their search for the unspeakable and the ineffable.

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Bibliography N. Abbott, The rise of the north Arabian script and its ḳurʾānic development with a full description of the Ḳurʾān manuscripts in the Oriental Institute, Chicago 1939

E. Akurga, C. Mango, and R. Ettinghausen, Trésors de Turquie, Skira, Geneva 1966

F. Déroche, Les écritures coraniques anciennes. Bilan et perspectives, in rei 48 (1980), 207-24 (its excellent bibliography is useful for ¶ earlier works)

id., Catalogue des manuscrits arabes. Deuxième partie, manuscrits musulmans. Tome I/1, Les manuscrits du Coran. Aux origines de la calligraphie coranique, Paris 1983; Tome I/2, Les manuscrits du Coran. Du Maghreb à l'Insulinde, Paris 1985

id., L'écriture arabe dans le Grundriss der Arabischen Philologie, in rei 53 (1985), 325-9

id., Les premiers manuscrits, in Le monde de la Bible — Le Coran et la Bible, 115 (1998), 32-7

O. Grabar, The mediation of ornament. The A.W. Mellon lectures in the fine arts, 1989, Princeton/Washington 1992 (ch. ii, The intermediary of writing, 47-119)

Institut du Monde Arabe/Bibliothèque Nationale, Splendeur et majesté. Corans de la Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris 1987

M. Lings, The qurʾānic art of calligraphy and illumination, Westerham, Kent 1976

H. Massoudi, La calligraphie arabe vivante, Paris 1981

Ṣ. al-Munajjid, Tarīkh al-khaṭṭ al-ʿarabī mundhu l-bidāyat ilā nihāyat al-ʿaṣr al-umawī, Beirut 1972

D.S. Rice, The unique Ibn al-Bawwāb ms. in the Chester Beatty Library, Dublin 1955

H.S.S. Sabah et al., Maṣāḥif Ṣanʿāʾ, 19 March-19 May 1985, Kuwait 1985

A.-M. Schimmel, Islamic calligraphy, Leiden 1970

N. Zayn al-Dīn, Atlas of Arabic calligraphy, Baghdad 1968

Cite this page

Ory, Solange, “Calligraphy”, in: Encyclopaedia of the Qurʾān, General Editor: Jane Dammen McAuliffe, Georgetown University, Washington DC. Consulted online on 07 January 2017 <http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/1875-3922_q3_EQSIM_00069>