“If you want to excel in calligraphy, dedicate yourself to your Lord and Master”, Ibn Bawwab (séc. XI)
Present in day to day objects, multiple temples, in museums and residencies, the Arab calligraphy is the most revered artistic representation in the Islam, because of its link to divine revelation. It congregates science and art, and sometimes, it refers to the holy as a means of transmitting a message from the Koran and an exaltation of the divine.
“Say: nothing will reach us except what was prescribed by God”. DIWANI JALI with ornamental art. Nanking on paper Couché, 2006.
By excellence an Arab and Islamic art, the calligraphy is better known as ?a??, from the verb to ?a??a, which means to draw a line, revealing the link between the drawing and the term.
Representing an extreme refined art to which one adds arabesques, between the geometric and the vegetal , it aquired a harmonic balance between different letters and ornamental patterns
This way, in the Arab calligraphy, letters can acquire distinct forms according to its position in the word, which allows flexibility and unlimited ornamentation.
- Birth and Expansion of Arab Calligraphy
- Instruments of Arab Calligraphy
- The Styles
- Calligraphy work
Source: Book “Caligrafia Árabe”, by Moafak Dib Helaihel. BibliASPA Editions.