Arabic+Calligraphy

=Arabic Calligraphy= Meaning "beautiful writing" in Greek, calligraphy was considered one of the highest forms of art in Islam for its significant religious, political, and artistic purposes.toc
 * Rowan Wu**

History
In the 5th century, North Arabic script was established in northeastern Arabia among Arabian tribes. It spread to Hijaz in western Arabia, was spread with the tribe of the Prophet Muhammad, Quraysh, by Harb ibn Ummayyah. In the early Islamic period, calligraphy was written on parchment and papyrus from Egypt, and eventually paper from China which greatly helped and popularized it. It flourished in the Umayyad Dynasty in Damascus and was systematized under the Abbasids. In the first half of the 10th century, Abbasid vizier Ibm Muqlah completed the development of the kufa style, established a number of the rules on shape and proportion followed ever since his time, and created the traditional classification of calligraphy into six major styles of cursive script.

[[image:lion.jpg width="182" height="155" align="left" caption="Calligraphy could depict images through words, avoiding the prohibition of using figures"]]
Originally used for producing detailed copies of the Quran, calligraphy was adorned everywhere - architecture (especially religious), coins, jewelry, textiles, weapons, tools, paintings, and manuscripts are just some of the surfaces it was decorated on. It reached areas far and wide, proudly adorning many Balkan Muslim tombstones. The prohibition of using pictures of figures or living things was avoided through artistry in words. The Ottoman Empire created an official monogram for each sultan, called a //tughra//. Another addition from the Ottoman Turks was a script called diwani, used primarily for documents issued by the Ottoman Council of State. After it's development in Turkey, it spread to other Arab countries and is still in use today for formal documents and architectural decorations.

Writing Instruments and Tools
The typical tools for a calligrapher included reed or brush pens, a knife for cutting the pens, an ink pot, and asharpening tool. The reed pen, called a //qalam//, was preferred among Islamic calligraphers and highly valuable. The best were found in the Persian Gulf, and traded across the Muslim world. There were different qalams for different degrees of fineness, and shaping the reed was considered one of the most important skills acquired by the scribe. A good pen was cherished and sometimes even buried with the calligrapher. Most qalams were 9.5 inches to 12 inches in length and half an inch in diameter. There was a rainbow of ink colors from yellow to blue to silver but blacks and browns were used most often for their wide range of consistency and intensity. Although techniques for ink preparation varied with each place, most were based on soot or lamp-black mixed with water and gum-Arabic. The introduction of paper was a turning point in writing, and reformed calligraphy. They were made from cotton, sometimes silk and other fibers but not wood pulp, and polished before the calligrapher wrote on it.

Kufic Style
Kufic, or Kufi, was established in Iraq in 641 A.D, and combined square, angular lines on one hand and bold, circular lines on the other hand. Reaching perfection in the second half of the 8th century, it became the only script used to copy the Quran for the next three hundred years.

Cursive Styles[[image:Cursive_styles.gif width="234" height="317" align="right" caption="The five major types of cursive"]]
The early styles of cursive date back to the first decades of the Muslim world. Used for practical purposes mainly, it lacked the elegance for decorative purposes. Eventually, older styles were perfected and new styles were created to meet the demands for various occasions. There are five main types:

Naskh
Meaning "copying", Naskh is clear and legible and preferred script for typesetting and printing. It was one of the earliest scripts to evolve, and displays a rhythmatic line because of its comprehensive system of proportions. Since it is elegant and worthy enough for the Quran, more copies have been copied in Naskh than any other script.

Farsi﻿ (Ta'liq)
Farsi or "hanging" script was developed by the Persians and used as early as the 9th Century. Currently, it is favored among the Arabs and is the native style for Persians, Indians, and Turkish Muslims, who continue to use this script for large occasions.

Deewani
Deewani is an Ottoman creation and reached its height in the 17th century and used for Ottoman chancellery. It developed a very ornate variety called Deewani Jari which is highly favored for ornamental purposes because of its excessive cursive and joined together style.

Thuluth
Meaning "a third" for its proportions of straight lines to curved, Thuluth did not develop fully until the 9th century though it was formulated in the 7th century. It is widely popular as an ornamental script for inscriptions, titles, and headings, and is rarely used for copying the Quran.

Riq'a (Ruq'ah)
Riq'a evolved from Naskh and Thuluth and becamed simplified from Thuluth with a round structure and short, horizontal stems. It was favored among Ottoman calligraphers, revised to become the most favored for handwriting in the Arab world. =media type="youtube" key="gNaeXFXU5QI?fs=1" height="329" width="406"= Al-Bab. “Arabic Calligraphy.” //http://www.al-bab.com//. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Jan. 2011. . Finn, Helena Kane. “U.S. Cultural Diplomacy in Turkey .” //Council on Foreign Relations//. N.p., 5 Dec. 2002. Web. 19 Jan. 2011. . Islamic Arts and Architecture Organization. “Writing Instruments.” //htttp://islamicart.com//. 22 Aug. 2003. Web. 19 Jan. 2011. .// // Sakkal, Mamoun. “The Art of Arabic Calligraphy.” //http://sakkal.com//. Sakkal Design, 1993. Web. 19 Jan. 2011. .// // University of Calgary. “Calligraphy.” //http://www.ucalgary.ca//. University of Calgary, 1998. Web. 19 Jan. 2011. .

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