User:Peter u18/Caligrafía árabe

Arabic calligraphy (Arabic: فن الخط‎ [fann al-jaṭṭ], «art of the line»; Persian: خوشنویسی‎‎ [joshnevisí], «beautiful writing») is a decorative art of the people that use the Arabic alphabet and its variants. It is usually considered as the principal of Islamic arts.

Origins

The development of Arabic calligraphic art, as well as the development of writing in itself, is closely linked to the expansion of Islam starting in the 7th century. Until then, the Arab culture was spread mostly by means of spoken language and despite having their own alphabet, they did not use writing for more than mnemonic character annotations, business accounting, epitaphs and other areas of little importance. The dots, which today distinguish one letter from another did not exist in the Arabic alphabet at the time. For example the letters "ب", "ت", "ث" (th, t, b), were written identically, since only the basic stroke common to all of them was written. The reader had to make an extra effort to interpret the text based on its context, which was generally not a problem given that often the reader was the writer himself or someone that, in any case, had an idea about what was written. This origin began in the 7th century.

The formation of the umma (Islamic State), first in Arabia and later in non-Arabic language territories, raised two questions. The first was the need to fix the text of the Qur'an in order to facilitate its transmission between non-Arabic speakers, while guaranteeing the inalterability of the text. It was then that the alphabet is perfected in such a way that each sign represents a single sound: the dot was invented and when added it creates new letters from what back then were common strokes to represent different phonemes. Later on, a vocal annotation was invented which was added to the writing as a diacritic. Arabic writing was fixed around the year 786 with the contribution of Jalil ibn Ahmad al-Farahidi. The second question raised was that, as the Islamic State was growing, the administration was becoming more complex and required a volume of paperwork unknown in the Arab tribal organisation prior to Islam. This was the driving force behind the perfecting of writing, which became faster and sharper, as well as the proliferation of different styles.

At the beginning of Islam, the calligraphic styles were basically two, related to the writing stand. More schematic, square looking letters were engraved in hard materials, while for soft supports a cursive letter was used. The first style gave way to Kufic writing, which got its name having been developed in Kufa (Iraq), in an ornamental and solemn character that was in turn derived into different styles. It also gave way to the cursive writing traditionally used in Magreb and al-Andalus, as well as in parts of Africa under its influence. The nasji style or ‘copy’ style emerged from the original cursive writing. It is used even nowadays as a model for print letter, which will in turn give way to various forms of writing, among which the schematic cursive writing is highlighted, as it is used today in manuscript writing, especially in Mashreq.

The development of calligraphy as an art is linked to the fact that Islam prohibits the adoration of figurative representations and so, calligraphy serves as a substitute of figurative representations in sacred places. Instead of representing God or the prophet, or any other figurative motif related to religion, the islamic art substitutes them by means of calligraphic representation of their names or through phrases extracted from the Koran, particularly the basmala. Arabic writing in general, besides its artistic usage, is experiencing an authentic revolution in the Islamic era, taking into account its marginal usage in previous eras. The medieval Islamic societies, predominantly urban, have a high level of alphabetism and educated people pride themselves on dominating different calligraphic styles. The oral transmission is kept by tradition, especially in the case of the Koran, whose students will continue memorising it. Simultaneously, oral transmission awakens an interest in leaving a written record of everything that happens, is fabulated or thought of, giving way to an extensive literature. Musulmans justify their interest in writing by arguing that the first word revealed by God was the imperative "to read" (iqra), which leads the first words which, according to the tradition, God said to Mahoma:

Read in the name of your God, who created,

Who created man from a blood clot,
Who taught the use of the calamus,

Who taught man what he did not know.

— Qur'an, 96, 1-5.

Technique

Calligraphy began to develop beyond its functional use with the calligrapher Abu Ali Muhammad Ibn Muqla (died 940), who was the vizier of three Abbasid caliphs. Ibn Muqla and his brother established the first rules of proportion in the strokes of the letters. The 'point', or diamond shape drawn by the calamus was the main form of measurement used to measure the length of the line and the circle with diameter equal to the letter alif (ا) in order to calculate the proportions of the letters. The styles derived from the original italics are governed by these units of measure.

The instrument usually used for this writing is called a calamus (qalam in Arabic), still used today in artistic calligraphy. The calamus is a cane that has a transversal cut at the end of it. This cut determines the alternation between thick and thin strokes characteristic of the majority of calligraphy styles. In the Maghreb and al-Andalus styles however, a calamus with a pointed end was used more often, much like traditional European quills, and for this reason the so-called Andalusian or Maghreb writing has no alternation in strokes. Other lesser well-known calligraphy styles use different tools. Muslims in China, for example, used paintbrushes belonging to Chinese calligraphers, giving the Arabic calligraphy drawn in this way, a very peculiar appearance.

Key styles

The classical forms adapted by the Arabic characters derive from one of the two writing systems used in the pre-Islamic era: the cursive or Hirí, later called Kufic.

Nasj

Nasj (“copy”) is the most basic style, derived from the ancient pre-Islamic cursive and from the rules coined by Ibn Muqla. Its name comes from its development as a script meant to be written in a fast and clear manner at the same time, to be used for copying manuscripts. The printed characters in most of languages that use the Arabic scripts are based on nasj; similarly it is the style used in typewriters and computers. The majority of calligraphic styles derive from nasj.

Ruq’a

Ruq’a, derived from nasj, is not an ornamental style, but rather a functional one. Its name means “piece”, because it was developed for writing on small pieces of paper, in a way that fits as much text as possible in the smallest possible space. For this reason, it simplifies the shape of the letters, eliminates the ornaments and diacritics altogether, and tends to incline words in a way that some characters can overlap others. The two dots become a horizontal line; the three dots become a type of a circumflex accent; a simple dot reduces its size in half so as not to be confused with a line. Ruq’a is the most used style in manuscripts nowadays, especially in the Mashriq region (the Arab east).

Kufic system

A page of the Qur'an in old Kufic.

A Surah of the Qur'an in geometric Kufic. It's read like the clock, starting with the green word on the left.

Kūfī, or Kufic, is called so from the city of Kufa, where it was developed from the 8th century onwards. It’s the oldest style, previously having been called hiri, from the city of al-Hīra, the capital of the Lakhmid kingdom. It was influenced by the Syriac alphabet. It’s generally characterised by its pronounced angles and square-like shape. In order to not destroy its solid shape, dots are often reduced down to nearly unnoticeable small lines. It’s one of the most commonly used styles in signs and decorations nowadays. It has the most variations, aside from having been the source of the Maghrebi and Andalusian styles. Its variations include:

• the flowered Kufic, in which strokes acquire certain vegetation-like features and cross one another. 
• the geometric Kufic, in which the letters are simplified and styled to become geometric figures. It’s one of the most used styles in decoration, especially in mosaics and tiles, to which it adapts perfectly because it can fit square shapes. External walls of mosques, minarets or bases of the domes are often inscribed in geometric Kufic.

Thuluth

The thuluth style resembles nasj’s, from which it derives from. However, it has wider letters in relation to the strokes thickness. It was enhanced in the 13th century as an ornamental style, along with the Kufic. The original thuluth gave way to a variety called deformed thuluth, in which the letters widen or narrow freely depending on the need of letter adaptation regarding the space they are written in (usually a rectangle). The blanks left by the wide letters are usually filled with diacritics or even purely ornamental signs, so there is an overall harmony. A good example of this can be found on the Saudi Arabia flag.

Persian styles

Fārsī, or Persian, and its derivatives come from nasj and arose, as its name indicates, in regions of Asia influenced by the Persian culture. It came from ruq`a, an equally simplified style, and is generally characterised by letter simplification, stroke widening and size shift between letters. Within the Persian styles, the most notorious is nasta`liq for its genuine oriental origin. The name hails from nasj ta`liq or “loose nasj”. It is called so because, like in other oriental styles, not all letters stay on the line. Words tend to start slightly above the line, ending on it just about. That gives the loose impression, also allowing words to be lightly mounted one above the other. The alternation between thick and thin strokes is remarkable. This is done by shifting two quills, one being three times thicker than the other. Also, the quill usually rotates after a stroke, changing the thickness of it. This does not usually happen with other styles, when the quill ends up in the same angle over the line. Nasta`liq is the preferable style when it comes to printing in Urdu and other Indian subcontinental languages that use characters from Arabic origin.

Diwani

The dīwānī style, also derived from nasj, is named after the Ottoman Empire’s dīwān administration. It was created by the calligrapher Husam Rumi in the ta`liq style, predecesor of nasta`liq. It became popular during the reign of Suleiman The Magnificent (1520-1566). It is quite an ornamental Baroque style characterised by wide curved lines. Strokes are lengthened to such an extent that letters that don’t go together are often joined to each other. It is common to write words and sentences in dīwānī without lifting the quill from the paper. Spaces between words are narrowed. This style gave place to another Baroque one, the so called yallī dīwānī or dīwānī sublime. Just like thuluth, blanks are filled with diacritics and ornamental signs.

Maghrebi or Andalusian Styles

An important style, or combination of styles, called Andalucian or Maghrebi style, bears little relation to the other styles as it is derived from the old Kufic and not from nasj. It is the script traditionally used in Al-Andalus in the northeast of Africa and in Muslim towns in Western Africa. It is performed with a different calamus to what is normally used; similar to European quills, it has a sharp tip. Because of this the strokes are not very thick and they tend to be uniformly structured. They don’t conform to the rules of proportion applied to the other styles, consequently allowing for greater freedom of execution.

Calligraphic compositions

Calligraphy is often used to show drawings or artistic compositions that represent objects, plants and living beings or even just agreeable shapes such as symmetrical compositions or geometric figures. These compositions do not try to communicate a text but instead try to show the expertise of the calligrapher. Generally, they are very difficult to read and for this reason they usually convey messages that the observer already recognizes. The most common ideas are basmala, the invoking muslim ritual, shahada, a profession of faith or even short verses of the Qu’ran that Muslims know from memory.

The oldest examples feature angular shapes using a script called geometric Kufic.  Compositions written in cursive script traditionally portray animals or fruit. Another traditional sub-style is “mirror” drawings, double compositions where the original form is reproduced directly in a mirror form. This symbolism shows the double expression of human beings, the visible physical part; the body and its different manifestations, and the internal part; represented by the psychological world.

Another calligraphy composition that must be mentioned is tughra (in Arabic; tuğra in Turkish), a signature stylized by Ottoman Sultans that appeared on the heading of official documents like a coat of arms. Tughras have common characteristic features, and apart from some small details only the name of the Sultan changes.

[[Category:Islamic art]] [[Category:Calligraphy]] [[Category:Arabic calligraphy]]