Arabic calligraphy in Islamic civilization

Sunday, 25 July 2010

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Written by Dr. Ragheb Elsergany

Aesthetic value of Arabic calligraphy

Arabic calligraphy is a purely Islamic art. It is the making of Islamic religion, and closely associated with the Holy Qur'an. The word had never been a visible art in any nation before the descending of the Holy Qur'an. Although every nation had its respective language and scripts, these scripts were restricted to its expressive job on the basis of having been logical symbols of meanings to be expressed. But, such symbols had never been elevated to become an aesthetic art, unlike the Arabic word that derived its holiness from the Holy Qur'an[1].

Dr. Ismail Faruqi said[2]: "We don't find anybody among those who belong to all these cultures, i.e. the people of Mesopotamia, Hebrews, Hindus, Greeks, Romans and even Arabs themselves, who could have tried to discover the aesthetic value of the visible word. Writing was, and is still in most cases, a crude process that draws no aesthetic attention in world cultures. In India, Byzantium and the Christian West, writing was confined to its expressive function, i.e. being just logical symbols. It had only a complementary role in visible arts (performance) in Christianity and Hinduism, i.e. it was used as a logical symbolism to express the content of artwork…but the emergence of Islam opened up fresh horizons for the word as a way of artistic expression. In fact, Islamic genius here is unparalleled. This script has become a color of arabesque and that's why we can consider it an independent and purely Islamic artwork regardless of its intellectual content[3]."

Echoing this, Dr. Mustafa Abdel-Rahim says: "Arabic calligraphy is the sole art that was purely created by the Arabs, so it was not influenced by anything…some Orientalists say: if you want to study Islamic art, then you should go directly to Arabic calligraphy[4]."

Arabic sources, like Al-Eqd al-Farid (The Unique necklace), Khulasat al-Athar (The Epitome of Reports), al-Bedaya Wal Nehaya (The Beginning and The End), al-Kamil (The Perfect), al-Fihrest (The Index), Sobh al-Asha (Morning of the Night-Blind), and others, were unanimous that none of those nations that boasted civilizations could attach too much attention to, or master, Arabic calligraphy just as the Muslims did[5].

Within just a short period of time, the Muslim artist managed to give the word another visible job, along with its audio function. No sooner had the word joined the aesthetic domain than it witnessed fervent steps of development, which synchronized with, and even outdid, those steps of arabesque. There was close cooperation between both arts[6].

Plurality of Arabic calligraphy

Plurality of this inherent art is clear-cut evidence that the Muslims accorded it much significance. It includes Kufic[7], Naskh, Thuluth, Andalusi, Riq'a (a cursive style of calligraphy), Diwani (chancellery), Ta'liq (Persian) and Ijaza scripts.

Other types were derived from such scripts, enriching this art and enabling it to produce more, boasting the potential of adaptation in order to play its due role in all cases and on all occasions. For instance, Kufic script produced Muwarraq (foliated) Kufi, Muzahar (floriated) Kufi, Monhaser Kufi and Me'ashaq, Muthafar or Muwasah Kufi, while the Diwani script led to the birth of Jalli Diwani, and Jalli Thuluth was derived from Thuluth script, and so on[8].

Creativity of Muslim calligrapher

The Muslim calligrapher sometimes used more than one script on the same painting, thus making it charming and amazing, and putting this art on the track of development and creativity, with relevant competition having been only aimed at perfection just in a bid to get maximum aesthetics[9].

The Muslim artist did not pause at the letter and how to improve it, but he made more headway by making the letter itself a material of arabesque, thus turning calligraphic paintings into aesthetic arabesque pieces. The Muslim artist could amazingly control his painting when he gave the letter two functions at the same time; the expressive and arabesque functions, and then used the latter to serve the former!

The Muslim artist did not even stop at the acme, which he reached in his calligraphic creativity, but took the letter up to fresh horizons, using it as a tool of plastic art and an effective material able to produce. Once the eye looks at the painting, it finds itself, at first glance, before a drawing in the shape of something (a bird – an animal – fruit – jellyfish). And when it scrutinizes it, it finds out that the drawing is no more than Arabic words and letters amazingly produced by the calligrapher, and whose meaning is often associated with the apparent shape, and therein lays creativity[10].

Calligraphic painting in the shape of a lion

Thus, Muslim heritage in the field of Arabic calligraphy was so amazing that it became an outstanding art of Islamic civilization throughout its eras and everywhere in the Muslim world.

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