Kufic[edit]

9th century Qur'an, an early kufic example from the Abbasid period.
Kufic is the oldest form of the Arabic script. The style emphasizes rigid and angular strokes, which appears as a modified
form of the old Nabataean script. The Archaic Kufi consisted of about 17 letters without diacritic dots or accents. Afterwards,
dots and accents were added to help readers with pronunciation, and the set of Arabic letters rose to 29.
[4]
It is developed
around the end of the 7th century in the areas of Kufa, Iraq, from which it takes its name.
[5]
The style later developed into
several varieties, including floral, foliated, plaited or interlaced, bordered, and squared kufi. It was the main script used to
copy Qur'ans from the 8th to 10th century and went out of general use in the 12th century when the flowing naskh style
become more practical, although it continued to be used as a decorative element to contrast superseding styles.
[6]

There were no set rules of using the Kufic script; the only common feature is the angular, linear shapes of the characters.
Due to the lack of methods, the scripts in different regions and countries and even down to the individuals themselves have
different ways to write in the script creatively, ranging from very square and rigid forms to flowery and decorative.
[5]

Common varieties includes:
[5]

1. Maghribi (Moroccan or western) kufic is a slight modification of early Kufic. It features a significant amount of
curves and loops as opposed to the original Arabic kufic script. loops for the characters such as the Waw and the
Meem are pronounced and perhaps more exaggerated.
2. Fatimi (or eastern) kufic is prevalent in the North African region, particularly in Egypt. The stylized and decorative
form was mainly used in the decoration of buildings.
3. Murabba (or square) kufic is absolutely straight with no decorative accents or curves. Due to this rigidity, this type
of script can be created using square tiles or bricks. In Iran, entire buildings may be covered with tiles spelling
sacred names like those of God, Muhammad and Ali in square Kufic, a technique known
as banna'i.
[7]
Contemporary calligraphy using this style is also popular in modern decorations.
Decorative kufic inscriptions are often imitated into pseudo-kufics in Middle age And Renaissance Europe. Pesudo-kufics is
especially common in Renaissance depictions of people from the Holy Land. The exact reason for the incorporation of
pseudo-Kufic is unclear. It seems that Westerners mistakenly associated 1314th century Middle-Eastern scripts as being
identical with the scripts current during Jesus's time, and thus found natural to represent early Christians in association with
them.
[8]

Naskh[edit]

Naskh script in a 14th-century Qur'an from the Mamluk dynasty.
[disambiguation needed]

The use of cursive script coexisted with kufic, but because in the early stages of their development they lacked discipline
and elegance, cursive were usually used for informal purposes.
[9]
With the rise of Islam, new script was needed to fit the
pace of conversions, and a well defined cursive called naskh first appeared in the 10th century. The script is the most
ubiquitous among other styles, used in Qur'ans, official decrees, and private correspondence.
[10]
It become the basis of
modern Arabic print.
Standardization of the style was pioneered by Ibn Muqla (886-940 A.D.) and later expanded by Abu Hayan at-Tawhidi (died
1009 A.D.) and Muhammad Ibn Abd ar-Rahman (14921545 A.D.). Ibn Muqla is highly regarded in Muslim sources on
calligraphy as the inventor of the naskh style, although this seems to be erroneous. However, Ibn Muqla did establish
systematic rules and proportions for shaping the letters, which use 'alif as the x-height.
[11]

Variation of the naskh includes:
1. Thuluth is developed as a display script to decorate particular scriptural objects. Letters have long vertical lines
with broad spacing. The name reference to the x-height, which is one third of the 'alif.
[3]

2. Riq'ah is a handwriting style derived from naskh and thuluth, first appeared in the 9th century. The shape is simple
with short strokes and little flourishes.
[3]

3. Muhaqqaq is a majestic style used by accomplished calligrapher. It was considered one of the most beautiful
script, as well as one of the most the difficult to execute. It is commonly used during the mamluk era, but the use
become largely restricted to short phrases, such as basmallah, from the 18th century onward.
[12]

Regional[edit]

Nasta'liq calligraphy by Mir Emad Hassani, perhaps the most celebrated Persian calligrapher.
With the spread of Islam, the Arabic script was established in a vast geographic area with many regions developing their
own unique style. From the 14th century onward, other cursive styles began to developed in Turkey, Persia, and China.
[10]

1. Nasta'liq is a cursive style originally devised to write the Persian language for literary and non-Qur'anic
works.
[5]
Nasta'liq is thought to be a latter development of the naskh and the earlier ta'liq script used in Iran.
[13]
The
name ta'liq means 'hanging', and refers to the slightly steeped lines of which words run in, giving the script a
hanging appearance. Letters have short vertical strokes with broad and sweeping horizontal strokes. The shapes
are deep, hook-like, and have high contrast.
[5]
A variant called Shikasteh is used in a more informal contexts.
2. Diwani is a cursive style of Arabic calligraphy developed during the reign of the early Ottoman Turks in the 16th
and early 17th centuries. It was invented by Housam Roumi and reached its height of popularity underSleyman I
the Magnificent (15201566).
[14]
Spaces between letters are often narrow, and lines ascend upwards from right to
left. Larger variation called djali are filled with dense decorations of dots and diacritical marks in the space
between, giving it a compact appearance. Diwani is difficult to read and write due to its heavy stylization, and
became ideal script for writing court documents as it insured confidentiality and prevented forgery.
[5]

3. Sini is a style developed in China. The shape is greatly influenced by Chinese calligraphy, using a horsehair brush
instead of the standard reed pen. A famous modern calligrapher in this tradition is Hajji Noor Deen Mi
Guangjiang.
[15]

Gallery[edit]
Kufic[edit]

Kufic script in a 11th-century Qur'an.

Maghribi kufic script in a 13th-century Qur'an.

Square kufic tilework in Yazd, Iran.

Under-glaze terracotta bowl from the 11th century Nishapur.

Gold dinar from 10th century Syria.
Naskh[edit]

Muhaqqaq script in a 15th Century Qur'an from Turkey.

Muhaqqaq script in a 13th-century Qur'an.

Riq'ah script in an early 16th century Ottoman manuscript dedicated toSelim I.

Diploma of competency in calligraphy, written with thuluth and naskh script.

Thuluth script tile inSamarkand.

One of the calligraphy decorating Hagia Sophia.
Regional varieties[edit]

Ta'liq script in an Ottoman manuscript.

Nasta'liq Script.

Proportions of the nasta'liq script.

Sini script in an 11th-century Qur'an.

Chinese Qur'an written in Sini with Chinese translation.
Modern examples[edit]

Bismallah calligraphy.

Bismallah calligraphy.

An example ofzoomorphic calligraphy.

flag of the Islamic Emirate of AfghanistanIslamic Emirate of Afghanistan 2001.

Animation showing the calligraphic composition of the Al Jazeera logo.

The Emirates logo is written in traditional Arabic calligraphy.

The instruments and work of a student calligrapher.

Islamic calligraphy performed by a Malay Muslim in Malaysia. Calligrapher is making a rough draft.

Nasta'liq[edit]
Main article: Nasta'liq script
The Nasta'liq calligraphic writing style began as a Persian mixture of scripts Naskh and Ta'liq. After the Mughal conquest,
Nasta'liq became the preferred writing style for Urdu. It is the dominant style in Pakistan, and many Urdu writers elsewhere
in the world use it. Nasta'liq is more cursive and flowing than its Naskh counterpart.

Nastalq (also anglicized as Nastaleeq; in Persian: nastalq) is one of the main calligraphic hands used in
writing the Perso-Arabic script, and traditionally the predominant style in Persian calligraphy.
[1]
It was developed inIran in the
8th and 9th centuries.
[citation needed]
It is sometimes used to write Arabic-language text (where it is known as Taliq
[citation needed]
and is
mainly used for titles and headings), but its use has always been more popular in the Persian, Turkic, and South Asian
spheres of influence. Nastalq has extensively been (and still is) practiced in Iran, Pakistan and Afghanistan for written
poetry and as a form of art. However, it is harder to read than Naskh.
A less elaborate version of Nastalq serves as the preferred style for writing Persian, Kashmiri, Punjabi and Urdu, and it is
often used alongside Naskh for Pashto. Nastalq was historically used for writing Ottoman Turkish, where it was known
as tlik
[2]
(not to be confused with a totally different Persian style, also called taliq; to distinguish the two, Ottomans referred
to the latter as ta'liq-i qadim = old ta'liq).
Nastalq is the core script of the post-Sassanid Persian writing tradition, and is equally important in the areas under its
cultural influence. The languages of Afghanistan (Dari, Uzbek, Turkmen, etc.), Pakistan (Punjabi, Urdu, Kashmiri, Saraiki,
etc.), India (Urdu, Kashmiri, Rekhta), and the Turkic Uyghur language of the Chinese province of Xinjiang, rely on Nastalq.
Under the name taliq (lit. suspending [script]), it was also beloved by Ottoman calligraphers who developed the Diwani
(divan) and Ruqah (rka) styles from it.
Nastalq is amongst the most fluid calligraphy styles for the Arabic alphabet. It has short verticals with no serifs, and long
horizontal strokes. It is written using a piece of trimmed reed with a tip of 510 mm (0.200.39 in), called "qalam" ("pen",
in Arabic and Persian ""), and carbon ink, named "davat". The nib of a qalam is usually split in the middle to
facilitate ink absorption.
Two important forms of Nastalq panels are Chalipa and Siah-Masq. A Chalipa ("cross", in Persian) panel usually consists
of four diagonal hemistiches (half-lines) of poetry, clearly signifying a moral, ethical or poetic concept. Siah-Masq ("inked
drill") panels, however, communicate via composition and form, rather than content. In Siah-Masq, repeating a few letters or
words (sometimes even one) virtually inks the whole panel. The content is thus of less significance and not clearly
accessible.

History[edit]
After the Islamic conquest of Persia, Iranians adopted the Perso-Arabic script, and the art of Persian calligraphy flourished in
Iran as well as in other Islamic countries. Apparently, Mir Ali Tabrizi (14th century) developed Nastalq by combining two
existing scripts of Nas and Talq.
[3]
Hence, it was originally called Nas-Talq. Another theory holds that the
name Nastalq means "that which abrogated (naskh) Talq".
Nastalq thrived, and many prominent calligraphers contributed to its splendor and beauty. It is believed that
[by
whom?]
Nastalq reached its highest elegance in Mir Emad's works. The current practice of Nastalq is, however, heavily based
onMirza Reza Kalhor's technique. Kalhor modified and adapted Nastalq to be easily used with printing machines, which in
turn helped wide dissemination of his transcripts. He also devised methods for teaching Nastalq and specified clear
proportional rules for it, which many could follow.
The Mughal Empire used Persian as the court language during their rule over South Asia. During this time, Nastalq came
into widespread use in South Asia, including Pakistan, India, and Bangladesh. The influence continues to this day. In
Pakistan, almost everything in Urdu is written in the script, constituting the greatest part of Nastalq usage in the world.
In Hyderbd, Lucknow, and other cities in India with large Urdu-speaking populations, many street signs and such are
written in Nastalq alongside Devanagari, Telugu or other Indian scripts. Also, the education system in India recognises
Urdu as a language of preference for students who wish to designate it as their first language, and the quality of the
language training is of a high standard. The situation of Nastalq in Bangladesh used to be the same as in Pakistan until
1971, when Urdu ceased to remain an official language. Today, only a few people use this form of writing in Bangladesh.
Nastalq is a descendant of Nas and Talq. Shikasta Nastalq (literally "broken Nastalq") style is a development
of Nastalq.

Urdu or more precisely Modern Standard Urdu, is a standardized register of the Hindustani language. Urdu is
historically associated with the Muslims of the region of Hindustan. It is the national language and lingua franca of Pakistan,
and an official language of six Indian states and one of the 22 scheduled languages in the Constitution of India. Apart from
specializedvocabulary, Urdu is mutually intelligible with Standard Hindi, which is associated with the Hindu community. The
Urdu language received recognition and patronage under the British Raj when the British replaced the Persian and local
official languages of North Indian states with the Urdu and English language in 1837.

Origin of Urdu[edit]
Main article: History of Hindustani
The word Urdu is derived from the same Turkic word ordu (army) that has given English horde.
The Mughal Empire's official language was Persian[1]. With the advent of the British Raj Persian language was replaced by
the Hindustani written in the Persian script and this script was used by both Hindus and Muslims. The language was
variously known as Hindi, Hindavi and Dehlavi. The communal nature of the language lasted until it replaced Persian as the
official language in 1837 and was made co-official, along with English. This triggered a Hindu backlash in northwestern
India, which argued that the language should be written in the native Devanagari script. Thus a new literary register, called
"Hindi", replaced traditional Hindustani as the official language of Bihar in 1881, establishing a sectarian divide of "Urdu" for
Muslims and "Hindi" for Hindus, a divide that was formalized with the division of India and Pakistan after independence
(though there are Hindu poets who continue to write in Urdu to this day, with post-independence examples including Gopi
Chand Narang and Gulzar). At independence, Pakistan established a highly Persianized literary form of Urdu as its national
language. Ain-ul-Haq Faridkoti theorized that Urdu was not an Indo-European language. Faridkoti suggested that not only
Urdu but many other South Asian languages, including Punjabi andSindhi, are Dravidian languages with influences
from Manda and the Indo-Chinese family of languages.
[11]

There have been attempts to "purify" Urdu and Hindi, by purging Urdu of Sanskrit loan words, and Hindi of Persian loan
words, and new vocabulary draws primarily from Persian and Arabic for Urdu and from Sanskrit for Hindi. This has primarily
affected academic and literary vocabulary, and both national standards remain heavily influenced by both Persian and
Sanskrit.
[12]
English has exerted a heavy influence on both as a co-official language.