Islamic Calligraphy

Islamic calligraphy, colloquially known as Arabic calligraphy, is the artistic practice of handwriting, or calligraphy, and by extension, of bookmaking, in the lands sharing a common Islamic cultural heritage. The work of calligraphers was collected and appreciated.

Contemporary artists in the Islamic world draw on the heritage of calligraphy to use calligraphic inscriptions in their work. Calligraphy has arguably become the most venerated form of Islamic art because the Arabic script was the means of transmission of the Qur'an. Proverbs and complete passages from the Qur'an are still active sources for Islamic calligraphy.

In Islamic times, Kufic became the favored style for Qur’anic transcriptions, due to its gravity, legibility, grace, and sheer visual impact. For writing of Qur'ans and other documents, Kufic was eventually replaced by the cursive scripts. Cursive styles of calligraphy appeared during the 10th century. Because the shapes and sizes of the letters were calculated geometrically, these scripts were called "the proportioned scripts", include the Thuluth, Naskh, and Muhaqqaq scripts.

Four important calligraphers, working in Baghdad during the Abbasid caliphate, founded the modern trend in Islamic calligraphy, were Muhammad ibn Muqla (d. 940); his brother Abu Abdullah ibn Muqla (d. 939); Ali ibn Hilal, called Ibn al-Baw wab (d. 1022); and Yaqut al-Musta'simi (d. 1298). Through the works and teachings of these masters, the art of calligraphy radiated to other important Islamic cultural centers.

The proportion of the different letters is based on the letter 'Alif, a simple vertical line. Nasta'liq is a cursive style developed in the Persian world. It gave the style a refined look. The Ottoman calligraphers produced splendid works with this style.

The Diwani script is a cursive style of Arabic calligraphy developed during the reign of the early Ottoman Turks. As decorative as it was communicative, Diwani was distinguished by the complexity of the line within the letter and the close juxtaposition of the letters within the word.

Sini has evident influences from 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.

To present calligraphy, diverse media were used. The advent of paper revolutionized calligraphy. Generally the coins were inscribed with quotes from the Qur'an.

Islamic Mosque calligraphy is calligraphy that can be found in and out of a mosque, typically in combination with Arabesque motifs. Commonly used in mosques:

1. Bismillah ir-Rahman ir-Rahim

Bismillah ir-Rahman ir-Rahim is the most common phrase found in mosques.

2. Allah & Muhammad

Allah is Arabic for One God and Muhammad is the last of the prophets in Islam.

Although Islamic calligraphy reached its apogee in the late nineteenth century, it is experiencing a revival today, in particular due to the efforts of the Research Centre for Islamic History, Art, and Culture in Istanbul (IRCICA).