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Early Islamic Calligraphy

Arabic epitaph of “Imru-l-Qays, son of 'Amr, king of all the Arabs”, inscribed in Nabataean script. Basalt, dated in 7 Kislul, 223, viz. December, 7 328 AD. Found at Nemara in the Hauran (Southern Syria).

Pre-Islamic script can be divided into 2 main families - Ancient North Arabian (e.g Taymanic) and Ancient South Arabian (e.g Sabaic and Himyaritic among others).Ancient North Arabian was closely related to Old Arabic which was the ancestor of Quranic Arabic.Until the fifth century Arabic script was associated with the local language of prestige: Dadanitic in Dedan and Nabatean in Hegra, however by the fourth century, the scripts of north-west Arabia were replaced with Nabataean which evolved over centuries to the script that we know as ‘Arabic’.

The propagation of the Arabic script can be attributed to the movement and interaction of people of the region in the century before Islam. Alain George provides a historical context for this attribution by distilling multiple sources to form a single historical narrative where Muramir ibn Murra, Aslam ibn Sidra, and Amir ibn Jadra of the Tayy tribe gathered in Baqqa and created the Arabic alphabet by modelling it upon the Syriac alphabet (hija).One source, al-Qalqashandi states that Muramir created the letter forms (suwar), Aslam divided and linked the letters at the base, and Amir introduced the diacritics (i’jam).Some sources argue that the Arabic script was modelled on the Nabataean script, however the scholar Briquel-Chatonnet argues that due to the prestige of Syriac in the centuries prior to the rise of Islam, it is more likely that the Arabic script developed from the Syriac alphabet.

Arabic writing underwent a major transformation with the rise of Islam which created a different political situation and gave birth to a scribal tradition. It transformed Arabic writing from something that was once associated with prestige to one that was now associated with religion. The first codices (masahif) of the Quran are said to have emerged between the days of the battle of Yamama (633) and Uthman’s reign (644-56) when an official recension of the Quran was commissioned.However since this account was inscribed after a significant amount of time had passed (two to three centuries later), extra evidence is required. In this case the earliest dated Islamic documents are two papyri written in 643. The script utilised in these fragments is similar to the script used in a large rock carving written by Zuhayr in 645 near Hegra commemorating ‘the death of Umar’, who was possibly a Caliph.

Folio from a Quran manuscript containing Kufic script, ca. 1180

The introduction of Islam meant that the Arabic script had to adapt and introduced diacritical signs to distinguish phonemes, the distinct notation of the short final ta’, and the long sound ‘a’ in the middle of words.These adaptations, or reforms, appear to have come into being as a response to the weaknesses of the Arabic script where several consonants were noted by the same letter and many vowels were omitted leaving readers to guess the meaning of words and thus making them prone to error. Alain George theorizes that the need to record the Quran served as an impetus to reform the script.The previous script is historically often referred to as jazmbut in modern times is referred to as Hijazi(from the Hijaz) and is derived from al-Nadim’s description of the Meccan and Medinan scripts.al-Nadim writes that the Meccan and Medinan scripts have alifson the right hand side and an elevation of the vertical strokes (al-asabi).Hijazi Qurans are similar to seventh-century Islamic papyri and even bear a resemblance to an inscription of the caliph Mu’awiya’s name written in 678.By the end of the seventh century a more uniform script had developed as a part of the reforms initiated by the Umayyad Caliph, Abd al-Malik (reigned from 685-705).This script was a more decorative, confident script that was developed in Kufa and thus termed the Kufic script. Hijaziwas being replaced by Kuficin the first quarter of the eighth century.Kuficwas a structured script based on precise definitions that standardised the more individualistic Hijaziscript by making it conform to the discipline and some of the characteristics of the Syriac Estrangelo script.

As Islam spread throughout Syria, Egypt, Iraq, Persia, and other areas the need to learn Arabic and the desire to ensure correct interpretations of the Quran heralded the arrival of more reforms to the script. Abu l-Aswad al-Du’ali (d.688) is credited with creating the system of placing large coloured dots to indicate elements of Arabic speech that are not represented by letters, called tashkil.

Al Walid is thought to have been the first great patron of calligraphy and was responsible for introducing the scripts of Jalil and Tumar for royal correspondence and for large Qurans. These scripts along with those of Nisf, Thuluth, and Thuluthayn contributed to the catalogue of more than twenty different styles of calligraphy that were in common use by the late ninth century.All of these scripts were in need of structure to prevent an endless multiplicity of style and this is where Ibn Muqla, an Abbasid vizier joined the canon of Islamic calligraphers. Ibn Muqla designed a calligraphic script that would be beautiful but at the same time perfectly proportioned with a system of geometrical rules that provided no room for error, thus standardising the Islamic script.

Ibn Muqla's Contribution

Ibn Muqla was born in Baghdad in 885 and climbed through the ranks of the Abbasid administration eventually serving as a vizier three times between 928 and 936, during ‘The Golden Age’ of the empire.During this period the Abbasid empire, with its capital at Baghdad became a centre for knowledge and culture and employed several thousands of scholars at its famed Bayt al-Hikma or House of Wisdom. This school became known for its dedication to translating ancient scripts from other languages to Arabic so that they could be read and appreciated by people all over the empire. It is presumably for these reasons that Ibn Muqla became “concerned with clarity and legibility” of the Arabic script.As a vizier and a member of the elite class of society Ibn Muqla was duty bound to engage in conspicuous consumption to prove his ability to be a good ruler. This involved providing more religious and educational material to those around him. One way to ensure the spread of religious and educational texts was to standardise the Arabic script so that it would be accessible to a larger group of people. His dedication to creating a perfect calligraphic script resulted in him building the foundation for contemporary calligraphy. Muqla created a series of mathematical rules of proportion for the script that came to be called al khatt al-mansub,or the proportioned script.Muqla lengthened the jilfa(nib) and trimmed the point obliquely to the right while also relating each letter to “three standard units: the nuqtaor rhombic dot, the alif, and the circle that must have a diameter equal to the height of the alif.These new rules “helped to produce identifiable scribal styles that communicated the genre, audience, or intended role of written messages”.

Housed in the Charles Beatty Library in Dublin, this manuscript by Ibn al-Bawwab from 1001 AD is thought to be the earliest example of a Quranic manuscript written in cursive

They also revolutionized Islamic calligraphy by giving order to the previous chaos of more than twenty different styles of calligraphy. This new style of calligraphy was widely embraced with Ibn Khallikan, a thirteenth century biographer of Islamic scholars, and Hajji Khalifa, a seventeenth century encyclopedist, both praising Muqla’s work as al-khatt al-badior the marvellous script.By standardising the script, calligraphy began to play an important role in the spread of Islam and developed into an art form rather than simply a communicative tool.

Despite Ibn Muqla’s immense contribution to Islamic calligraphy there remains no formal record of any of his works. Instead we have records from his successor Ibn al-Bawwab who studied under his daughter.

Calligraphy as Ornament

The MET museum’s Department of Islamic Art defines calligraphy as ornament, a most influential art form within the Islamic world, and the transmissions of the prophetic teachings of Muhammad. Art Historian Oleg Grabar defines “ornament” as, “[an agent] that is not logically necessary to the perception of a visual message but without which the process of understanding would be more difficult”.

Four aspects are attributed to the formation of an ornament - Writing (i.e. calligraphy), Geometry, Architecture, Nature. These four aspects are evident in the creation and growth seen in Islamic calligraphy as an ornament used by influential persons throughout each Islamic caliphate. Calligraphy was a main way the Caliphates showed wealth and emphasizing key teachings of the prophet. Writing, beginning with the transcribed Qur’an’s and Muhammad’s teachings specifically during the Abbasid Dynasty began to be mass produced with the spread of paper production and the political shifts during the 10th century. It was during this time the Caliphate under which Ibn Muqla worked when the Quran began to move away from this notion of being within a higher place. Calligraphy was now something that was needed to spread these teachings. Textiles were another common form calligraphy was produced and spread throughout the Islamic states. Abbasid tirazwere widespread and great examples are held today at the MET which show the importance of Islamic calligraphy as an art form; ”calligraphy inscribed on the tiraz were used primarily for decoration, so that even when the text was illegible or contain errors, still the “presence of writing was sometimes as important as its content”. Geometry is emphasized in Islamic script specifically, since the strokes have to be so precise. Ibn Muqla’s system of proportions is directly tied to geometry, each stroke having to be measured to a certain degree. Architecture is a clear influencer of Islamic calligraphy as well since Quranic texts and dedications were inscribed on mosques, shrines, and tombs within the Islamic world. Nature is perhaps the most important part of Grabar’s outline of calligraphy as an ornament used within the Islamic world. Islamic Calligraphy is almost always accompanied by floral and vegetal forms both on buildings and on illuminated texts. The Abbasid Dynasty became the pioneer for portable goods and textiles which boasted the accomplishments of Ibn Muqla’s more readable style. These trade goods were almost always decorated not just with the precise script, but also with vegetal and floral forms found in nature. This aspect allowed calligraphy to become even more approachable and useful within the public sphere as well as within the political contexts in which these goods were produced.