Arabic calligraphy is
characterized by flowing patterns and intricate geometrical designs. This fine
writing—which the Alexandrian philosopher, Euclid, called a "spiritual
technique"—has poured forth from the pens of Arabs for the last thirteen
centuries.
In a broad sense, calligraphy is merely hand-writing, a tool for recording and
communicating; but in the Arab world it is an art, an art with a remarkable
history; a form with great masters and revered traditions. Beauty alone
distinguishes calligraphy from ordinary handwriting; writing may express ideas,
but to the Arab it must also express the broader dimension of aesthetics.
Historians disagree on both the birthplace and birthdate of Arabic writing, but
the most widely accepted theory is that it developed from Nabataean, a west
Aramaic dialect which served as the international language of the Middle East from about the fourth century, B.C., until
the seventh century, A.D. As the new Islamic faith emerged and spread, the
Arabic of the Arabian Peninsula replaced
Aramaic as the lingua franca of the area.
As we have noted elsewhere, the Arabs had a highly developed oral tradition in
poetry even before they had an alphabet. Poetry was composed and committed to
memory and was passed on in this manner from generation to generation. Indeed,
in the beginning, even the Qur'an, the Holy Book of Islam and the Arabic
language's crowning literary achievement, was committed to memory by
professional memorizers who attended the Prophet Muhammad. For fifteen years
after his death, it existed only in oral form.
The Caliph 'Uthman, 644-656 A.D., fearing dangerous diversity in such a method,
ordered that an official recension be undertaken. In the seventh century, only
consonants and long vowels were written; the short vowels had to be inferred by
the reader. But even more confusing was the fact that several consonants were
written with the same symbol; only later was a system of dots above and below
the letters devised in order to differentiate among them. Finally, in 933 A.D.,
the final version of the written Qur'an—the one which is considered
authoritative even to this day— was completed.
Just as the Christian monks of Europe in the Middle
Ages spent lifetimes writing and illuminating religious manuscripts, so, too,
did the Arab forebears devote their lives to producing elegantly handwritten
copies of the Qur'an. Because Islam's monotheism discouraged the
representation of human or animal forms, the calligrapher found artistic
expression in highly stylized intricate and flowing patterns. Over a period of
centuries, calligraphy remained a supreme art form, replacing design, painting
and sculpture. Calligraphy filled not only palaces and mosques, but clothing,
carpets, decorative items and literary works. The artist could draw from any
number of styles—kufic, thuluth and the best known, naksh—depending,
often, on the purpose of that inscription.
From the Dome of the Mosque of the Rock in Jerusalem
to the great mosques of Isfahan in Persia,
calligraphy decorated, enhanced and even helped to visually unify the greatest
Muslim structures. The art of Arabic calligraphy was employed in many European
churches as well, such as in Saint Peter's in Rome. The representations of Christian saints
that beautify the Capella Palatina in Palermo,
Sicily, bear inscriptions in kufic,
the early Arabic script. Today, the calligraphic tradition lives on throughout
the Arab/Islamic world in religious, educational, governmental and commercial
architecture.
31/5/2008, 5:53 pm
