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Islamic Calligraphy
By: Ghulam Reza Rahpaymah (Isfahan)
 The Arabic script is today one of the greatest scripts in the world, owing to the fact that it is the sacred script of Islam. One of the most glorious features of Islam as the ultimate religion could be summed up in the fact that no other major religion has attached such profound importance and appreciation to knowledge and the pen at its initial stage of development as Islam. In the revealed Chapter of the Holy Qur’an, Allah makes mention of “PEN” and “WRITING”.
 The Short History of Islamic Calligraphy
 The Glorious Qur’an says:
 “Noon. I swear by the pen and what the angels write.” (68:1)
 Almighty God in His first heavenly message to the Holy Qur’an, swore by the Pen and its manifestations as a sacred matter. God in His first Divine Message introduced knowledge and the art of using the Pen as one of the greatest blessings granted to mankind. The Holy Qur’an says:
“Read in the name of your Lord Who created.
“He created man from a clot.
“Read and your Lord is Most Honorable.
“Who taught (to write) with the pen.
“Taught man what he knew not.” (96:1-5)
 It has been mentioned in the Traditions that the Holy Prophet (SAW) remarked: “The art of perfect hand-writing is a gift which reveals truth and is the first of Allah’s creations. Also God commands the using of the Pen as an art to document all that concerns man till the Day of Resurrection.
Ibn Khuldun, the great Tunisian scholar, describes Calligraphy as such: “Writing consists of signs and symbols of letters where these symbols represent spoken words and are used by people to express themselves.Therefore script in comparison to written words or signs is at a secondary level.
Calligraphy is a fine art. Writing is one of those particularities of man which distinguishes him from the animals and with the help of man’s script he gains knowledge.1
 Studying ancient scripts of the Arabian peninsula, it become evident that before the dawn of Islam, the inhabitants of the region had their own particular inscriptions. An inscription known as `Masnad’ is attributed to the tribe of Qahtani, who were the native inhabitants of Yemen’s region. In the north of the Arabian peninsula, native “Nabitean” tribes adapted an inscription called “Nabati” in their writing materials.
Relying on evidence of history in the dawn of Islam, Arabs eventually adapted the “New Nabitean” and “Syriac” script as their own.
 Writing and Calligraphy Following the Dawn of Islam:
Following the dawn of Islam and declaration of the seal of prophets, the civilization of the region was profoundly transformed, which in turn left its mark on writing system and calligraphy of the region. Eventually the `Syriac’ ancestor gave way to the `Kufic’ script, as the “Naskh” script was driven from its “Nabitean” ancestor. A close study reveals the fact that both these languages are fully developed versions of their ancestors. Further more, in the process of their development, they gained delictely progressed along with apparent changes in the Geometry of symbols or letters. Indicating this maturity even in their shape and poise. It seems relevant to note that primarily “Kufic” script was called “Heyri” script, pointing to its line of descent in Heyreh.
It was only in the later years after the Muslims built “Kufah”, that it became known as “Kufic”, reminding that the script is attributed to “Kufah”.
Historical evidence suggests that at the dawn of Islam, very few people particularly from Hejaz could read and write. At that time, the art of reading and writing was of little importance to the Arabs. As a result there were only a handful of people who were able to read and write among them were: Ali bin Abi Talib (AS), Umar bin Khattab and Talha bin Abdulla who were among the companions of the Prophet (SAW) - were considered to have mastered their education.
A renowned writer, during the period of the Umayyads, who was privileged enough to write down the Divine Revelations of the Holy Qur’an was “Qotbe”. It is widely believed that he was capable of writing four different forms of the “Kufic” script. According to historical indications, translation of scientific literature was promoted at the time of the Umayyads, but it reached its peak and establishment as a great scientific movement known as the “Movement of Translation” during the reign of Abassids. Following the establishment of this Movement, a large number of Greek literature and works of great scholars such as: Galenus, Aristotle, and Plato, were translated into Arabic.
The encouraging influence of the Movement led to promotion of experiments in creating new scripts. Thus during Abassids’ period, particularly at the time of Caliph Ma’mun, a lot of attention was paid to handwriting and calligraphy. So the artistic spirit of the Arabs found certain distinctive Arabic symbols and words inspiring, so in the height of enjoying calligraphy the “Kufic” script was represented almost in 20 different forms.
It is paramount to mention that in the beginning the “Kufic” script lacked flourishes representing vowels, so it writing was actually incorrect, therefore, it presented unforeseen difficulties in reading the letters. In principle, vowels weren’t marked, until a distinguished student of Imam Ali (AS) called Abu Aswad Douely introduced additional signs to help the reader in pronouncing the vowels. So in due course, by using three basic signs above and below the line, the vowels came to be marked and representing corresponding sounds that were in the Arabic language. 2
Abu Aswad Douely by using his signs and a system of dots placed above or below a letter, referred to as “vowels points”, and also to extra consonants which exist in Arabic, established a new order of the sound alphabets, which was largely based on the basis of the shapes of the letters and represented sounds that exist in Arabic language.
At the time of using dot system, it seemed as inevitable necessity, because in practice a letter without a dot could be read in various different ways corresponding to different meanings.
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