Islamic Studies (Islamabad) 23:4 (1984)
MUSLIM CALLIGRAPHY : ITS BEGINNING AND MAJOR
STYLES
A. K. M. Yaqub Ali
Calligraphy is the most dignified art in Islam. Primarily it was
associated with the writing of the ~rvi!zi or revelation that came to the
Prophet. Qur'Sm is the repository of the total revelation. Arabic, being
its language, was very enthusiastically studied by the votaries of Islam and
its writing in a beautiful hand was thought to be an act of great virtue.
The holy Qur'in says, "Oh Prophet, rzad in the name of the Lord who
taught thee with pen".' It is also narrated in the tradition, "The first
thing that the Lord created was the pen".2 On the other hand, Muslim
artists are theologically barred to represent the living things on any object
of embellishnlent. AnsZb (Statues or idols, etc.) along with the accessories
are looked down with indignation in the Qur'in3. Muslim Jurists4, though
they tried to differentiate between the representstion of animate and
inanimate objects for the decorative purposes, could not dare legalizing
the pictorial art. G-nerally, no copies of the Qur'an and no masaid
could be seen embellished or decorated with any sort of pictorial representalion, because the AhZdith or traditions of the Prophet categorically put a
ban on the art of painting5 This is why the artists employed their artistic
skill for beautiful writing to be looked upon with honour and to earn lawful
bread. The necessity for preparing the enormous copies of the Qur'ln
in the early Islam captured the imagination of the calligraphists.
Gradually, this art was not confincd to the copying of the Qur'Bn, but
extended to the production of innumerable books with the expansion of
the territorial jurisdiction of the Maslirns. Various styles of calligraphic
writing were iiwented by the artists to suit the occasion and to grace the
beauty of decoration. Thus, besides the manuscript calligraphy, the mural
calligraphy arrested the attention of the calligrapher-artists. Moreover,
the Arabic alphabets were conducive to the formation of decorative motifs
in mural art. Because the vertical strokes and horizontal curves of the
letters could easily be moulded to produce rythrnic movement and ornamental design in decorative scheme of the monuments. We, therefore, find
the Qubbat al-Sakhra' or the Dome of the Rock a t Jerusalem and the
© Dr Muhammad Hamidullah Library, IIU, Islamabad.
http://iri.iiu.edu.pk/
374
YAQUB ALI
Jrimi'masjid of al-WalTd at Damascus faced with Arabesque motifs and with
Quranic verses incised in Kufic Kha!! - foliated or f l ~ r i a t e d . ~Calligraphy as mural art or on monuments was not confined to any particular
region, rather it spread to all countries of Muslim domination in Medieval
times.
The origin of Arabic writing seems to be obscure. Though conjectures were made, n o definite conclusion could be arrived at. Adam, the first
man on this earth, is said to have introduced the Arabic, Syriac and all other
scripts and spoke in all these l a n g ~ a g e s . ~Those who advocated this in
their favour have possibly been led by the verse of the Qur'Fn, "He taupht
Adam the names and knowledge of all thing^".^ After Adam, his son
Shith followed him in the practice of Arabic writing9 'Abdullah b.
'Abbas narrzted t5at it was IsmLil who spoke and wrote in Arabic at the
age of fourteen years1'. If it be so, it is possible that the Arabic wriling
invented by Adam was given proper shape by Isma'il, the son of Ibriihirn.
The credit for inventing writing has also been given by some scholars to
According to some
Idris who perfected the Ma'qali character of writing.'
authorities Arabic was derived from the Nabatean script towards the
beginning of the 6th century A. D.12 while others attribute its origin to thz
Syriac writing13 . In the Nabatean scripts the letters were mostly ofcursive
) and orthographical
form, and the vowel marks, diacritical dots (
signs were noticed in the Syriac script. The A4dqali character of writing
had no curved lines, but had the vertical strokes and shafts14. The
character of these types of scripts might have influenced the growth of
Arabic script. I t owed to the Mu'qdi character the vertical shafts, to the
Nabatean the cursive form, and to the Syriac the diacritical dots and
orthographical signs.
The necessity for writing down the revelation was felt in the early
period of Islam. The writing materials were then generally the leather,
bones, flqt stone, palm-trunks, potsherds and ail other bald objects15.
None other but the angular script was found suitable for writing on these
objects. Hence, the Kujc style of writing was resorted to16. This is
why there has been a common belief t h ~ rthe pr~mriiveform bf Arabic
writing was K ~ f i cand
.
that Ncskh was a subsequent Gevelopnient cf
the same.'
Abul Fad1 asserts that the nqlrim al-Sitrah including Naskh
were derived from Kujic by Ibn Muqlah in A.H. 3191922-23. A.D18. But
the discovery of papyri19 has proved the fact that A'askh had been as old
MUSLIM CALLIGRAPHY
375
as Kujic. We may, therefore, presume that both the angular and cursive
scripts represented by the Kufic and Naskh respectively existed side by side
as early as the beginning of Islam. The stiff angular shape of the Kujic
character was subsequently reserved for the copies of the Qur'in and
inscriptions on stones and coins, while the round script of the Naskh was
used by the Arabs for official correspondence and other odinary
purposes20. 'Ali, the fourth Caliph of Islam, is said to have derived the
Kufc character from the Ma'qali script2 Its first official use from the
city of Kijfah found in A. H. 171638 A.D. possibly designated the script
as Kufi or Kufc2 2. Naskh literally means cancelling, and, therefore, it
owes its name to the fact that the Qur'fin and other books were written in
it and it had cancelled all other writings23. Whatever explanation regarding the naming of these two earlier scripts be propounded it is noticed that
the Kufc - whether foliated or floriated - became obsolete by the sixth
century A. H./12th century A. D. from the practicll use due to the fantastic
decorative shape and it was replaced by the Naskh as early as the seventh
century A.H.113th century A.D.24
'.
As regards the calligraphic development, Ibn Muqlah is believed to
have invented the Aqlcim al-Sittah or the six styles of writing. In 310 A.H.1
922-23 A.D. he took the circle for the basis of writing, introduced this
These six styles are Tlnrluth,
invention instead of the Kzrfic and taught
Naskh, Muhqqaq, Rayhdn, Tawqicand Riqd: Abul Fad1 is not possibly
justified in stating that Aqlam al-Sittah as mentioned above, were derived
by Ibn Muqlah from the Ma'qali and Kufc character2
Because the basis
of Ibn Muqlah's invention was circular2', and not the angular, script.
Heace it is reasonable to presume that the five styles28were derived from
the Nmkh character. In addition to these main six styles two more substyles Turn& and Ghubcir could be counted. If a larger and bold pen is
used, the writing is Tiundr, but in case a finer pen is used, the writing is
Ghubdr29 .
'.
What are the signs by which one script can be distinguished from the
other ? Of the scripts mentioned above, the difference between the Kujic
and ll'mkh is not far to seek. Generally the former is angular and the latter
is cursive. In the Nmkh style tbe diacritical points and vowel souads are
normally indicated and as such it is readily intelligible30. But the Kzrfic
style generally lacks in orthographical signs which are essential to distinguish the twenty eight sounds of the sixteen basic character of the alpha-
376
YAQUB ALI
b e k 3 The script is not easily intelligible, on the contrary it is amenable to
a variety of readings. In the Naskh character the differentiation of the
various sounds was accomplished by the addition of one, two or three
dots above or below the letter32. The variation of the remaining five styles
of the Aqkim al-Sittah from each other was merely convsntiona13). The
points of difference between these styles, as it seems, are based on the
proportion of straight and curved lines. These are drawn in the following
way. The Thuluth and Naskh possess similar curved and straight lines, the
only difference being Jaii in the former and Khafi in the latter34. Both
these styles consist of one-third curved lines and two-third straight lines35.
The Tawqi' and Riga' consist of three-fourth curved lines and one-fourth
straight lines, but the former is Jali and the latter is Khafi3!j. The
Muhaqqaq and Rayhiin contain three-fourth straight lines and one-fourth
curved lines, the former being Juli and the latter being Khafi3'.
In Pcrsia, the Arabic writing was subjected to a modification under
the influence of the old Pahlawi writing of that country, and led to the
development of a new script known as Ta'liq in the 7th century A.H./
13th century A. D.' 8. Ta'liq seems to have been derived from Tawqi' and
the two component styles of the Aqliim al-Sittah. This style
contains very few straight lines, and it was brought to perfection by
Khwgjah TSj-i-Salm9ni40. The TaYiq style did not remain long in use,
having been replaced by Nasra'liq which evolved from Naskh and Ta'liq
in the next century. Nasta'liq is also included in the group of cursive style
of writing, but it has got its difference with Naskh in the sense that Nasta'liq
is rounder than the Nasklz and this characteristic is particularly noticeable
from the letters ending in curves, which are more circular in the one than
in the cther41. It is easy to write, in some cases, in this style than the
Naskiz and other styles. Sin ( u ) and its sister sound shin ( 4 ), for
example, have three teeth which can be omitted, and they can be written
in a line with an elegant dash of the qalam instesd of the teeth42.
This dash or flourish can be somewhat wavy or serpentine. It
is, therefore, time-saving in writing and ornamental in appearance.
Two explanations can be put foward for its being named Nasra'liq. It
is presumed to have been evolved from the Arabic script Naskh and
Persian script Ta'liq and this is why it is called Nasta'liq by juxtaposition.
But the more plausible explanation may lie in the literal meaning ofthe term
Naskh-i-Ta'liq43, a shortened form of which is Nasta'liq. Naskh means
abrogation or cancelling. By cancelling the Ta'liq it received the name of
Nasta'liq or Naskh-i-Ta'liq.
MUSLIM CALLIGRAPHY
377
Shikastah and Shafi'ah seem to be offshoots of the Nasta'liq style44.
The difference between the Shikastah and Nastatliq lies in the fact that
) alif;( JIa ) dal ( AIJ ) r'ri' and ( J?, ) wEw are made to
alphabets like (
join in Shikastah towards the left, whereas in other styles they are not done
so45. TOachieve this purpose the forms of the letters are slightly modified,
but such modifications are noticeable in the additional strokes and curves
at the beginning and end of the syllables which are formed by not taking the
pen off the paper at the end of a letter that does not join in the left, but
carrying it on to the beginning of the next46. The letters ( c ~ )! bii, ( &+)
'ayn, ( r j J ) nin, ( L5 ) ya and (
rY ) ldm -- alif are slightly altered in
shape, but the remaining letters retain the hrasta'liq form 47. This script
is difficult to decipher and read owing to the ommission of diacritical
) and too much l e g a t u r e ~ ~ ~
Shafi'ah
.
resembles both the
points (
Nasta'liq and Shikastah in some of the features. In this style curves are
often left as half curves and prolonged to such an extent that they resemble
slanting strokes49 .
There are some styles of writing which have not the independent
forms of their own, but are inclined into the ornamental scheme of the
calligraphic art. Bihdr, Tughrii' and Ghubdr being the variations of
Naskh or Nasta'liq - the two major styles -belong to this group5O. Of
them Bihdr is a transition style between Kufc and Naskh, being neither
angular nor round. It is believed to have been evolved in India, but it
could not hold its ground against Naskh which had already reached a
high state of perfections1. Tughra' is an ornamental writing in which the
letters are interwoven as to assume a decorative shape which is difficult
to reads2. Ghubcir means dust and it is applied for thin writing wherein
the letters appear as dust forming ground to set in relief an object or any
other transcliption 3.
Possibly taking Arabic and Persian characters as the basis, Zafar
Hasan classified the Muslim calligraphy into four main divisions, viz.,
(i) Kufc, (ii) Nasklt, (iii) Nasta'liq and (iv) Shikastahs4. But at the same
time he considers the Shikastali to be a simple variation of the Nasta'liq
styless. There are, thus, three main styles of Muslim calligraphy in all the
Muslim countries. His intention in stating the fom main divisions was
possibly to refer to the calligraphic styles, particularly those known to the
Indian Muslims. Ziauddin takes the angular ar?d round scripts as the
basis for division of calligraphic styles and considers the Kufc and Naskh
378
YAQUB ALI
to be the two major styless6. He may be correct in his classification in so
far as the shapes of the letters are concerned. Rut the growth of the
Kufic and Naskh scripts at the hands of the-Arabs and the Nmto'liq script
at the hands of the Persianss7 leads us to maintain that there are three
major styles of calligraphic writing. In this context it can be said that the
names of a good number of other scripts, as mentioned above, refer to
calligraphical systems, belonging otherwise to one or other of the three
major styles.
NOTES
1. Al-Qur'Bn, Siirah al-'Alaq, Verses 3-4.
2. QBdl A mad. Gulist5n-e-Hum, Trans. T. Minorsky, Calligraphers and Painters.
(Washington. 1959). p. 49.
3. Al-Qur'iin, Siirah al-Ma'idah, V. 90.
4. Muslim, Sahib, Vol. I1 (Karachi :Nur Muhammad Library, n.d.), p. 199, f. n. 2.
5. Al-Buk!W, Sabib. Vol. I1 (Karachi :Nur Muhammad Library, 1st edition, 1938).
p. 881.
6. Both the types are ornamental K& having the pattern of leaves and tendrils.
In foliated Kufic the verticlals end in half-palmettes, and often the final letters of
the words are exaggerated vertically and culminate in leaves and half-palmettes.
In the floriated Kufic, in addition to the characteristics applicable to the foliated
Kufic, the leaves and palmettes have actually grown from the body of the letters
themselves. Cf. David James, Islamic Art (London : Hamlyan Publishing Group
Ltd., 1979, pp. 19-20.
7. AbD 'Umzr Yilsuf b. 'Abd al-Bur al-Qurtubi, al-Qa$ad wa al-Umam (Cairo,
1350 A.H.), pp. 11 & 18-19.
8. Al-Qor'gn, Sash al-Baqarah, V. 30.
9. Qadi Ahmad, op. cit, p. 52.
10. Al-Qa.pd wn al-Umam, p. 17.
11. Ab;l al-Padl 'AII?imi, A'in-i-Akbari, Vol. I, trans. H. Blockmann (Calcutta, 1873),
p. 99.
12. Zafar Hasan, "Specimen of Call~graphyin the Delhi Museum of Archaeology",
Memoris of the Archaeological S:~reeyof India, No. 29, 1926, p. 1. (Henceforth
this article will be referred to as ZH.)
13. Tala'at Bay, Tcrikh Duwal-+'Arab (Allahabad, 1315 A.R.), p. 58.
M. Qadi Ahmad, op. cit., p. 53; A'in-i-Akbari, Vol. I, p. 79.
15. B. Mortir, "Arabic writing", Encyclopaedia of Llam, Vol. I (London : 1908),
pp. 384-85.
16. M. Ziauddin, Moslenz Calli~ruphy(Celcutta, 1936), pp. 16-17; S. Ahmed, Inscriptions of Bengal, Vol. IV (Rajshahi, 1960). p. XIII. (Henceforth to be referred to
as IB).
17. Tala'at Bay, op. cit., p. 56; A'in-i-Akbari, Vol. I, p. 99.
18. A'in-i-Akbari, Vol. I, p. 99.
MUSLIM CALLIGRAPHY
19. B. Mortiz, op. cit., P. 381.
ZH, pp. 1-2; David James, op. cit., pp. 19 & 22.
Ah-i-Akhari, Vol. I, p. 99.
M. Ziauddin, op. cit.. P. 16.
Qadi Alunad, op cit., P. 96, f a . 135.
ZH, p. 1 ;Zafar Hassan, "Muslim Calligraphy", Indian Art and Letters, Vol. 11.
London. 1935,. p. 61.
Qadi Ahmad, op. cit. P. 56.
Ain-i-Akbari, Vol. I, P. 97.
Qadi Ahmad, op. cit, P. 56.
These are Thuluth. Muhaqqaq, Ray&n, Tawqi' and Rlqa'.
Q5di Abmad, op. cit. P. 56, f.n. 135.
M. Ziauddin, op. cit., P. 45, David James. op. cit.. P. 22.
David James, op. cit.. P. 22.
Ibid.
ZH, p. 2.
The term Jallmeans bold and clear and Khafi means thin. In calligraphy the term
Jali is used for the letters which are thick and are written with a pen full of ink,
whereas Khafi denotes the letters not written with a pen full of ink. cf. Ain-iAkbari, Vol. I, P. 100, f.n. 3.
Ibid; ZH, p. 2; Hirananda Sastri, "Some Wasils", Journal of tlw Indian Soclty of
Oriental Art, Vo!. VIII, 1940. P. 57.
Ain-i-Akbari, Vol. I, P. 100 ; Hirananda Sastri, op. cit, P. 57.
Ain-i-A!cbnri, Vol. I, P. 100.
ZH, p. 2
A'n-i-Akbari, Vol. 1, P. 101.
In several MSS Sulaymiini is written instead of S a l b n i . See Ibid, F.n. 2.
ZH, p. 2.
QBd! Ahmad, ~ p cit,
. P. 120; S. M. Rahman, Idantic CaIIi~raphyin Medieval
India (Dhaka : University Press Limited, 1977), Pp. 11-12.
QZdi ,#mad, op cit., P. 116. f.n. 377; S. M. Rahman, op. cit., P. 9
M . Ziauddin, op. cit.. P. 66.
S . M. Rahman, op. cit.. P. 9.
Ibid.
E. H. Palmer, Orieatal Pen-manship (London, 1889), P. 24; S. M. Rahmao, op.
cit., P. 9.
ZH, p. 2.
M. Ziauddin, op. cit.. P. 66.
Indian and Letters. Vol. IX, London, 1935, P. 62.
Ibid.
Ibid.
Ibid: QBdi Ahmad, op. cit.. P. 55, f.n. 135; ZH, p. 18.
Indian and Letters, Vol. IX,London, 1935, P. 61.
20.
21.
22.
23.
24.
ZH,p. 2.
Ziauddin, op. cit., P. 45.
57. Ibid, PP. 16 & 58.