Islamic Kufic calligraphy: How a form of writing became art

Almost a century ago, English orientalist Thomas Arnold travelled to Egypt and was captivated by the beauty of Arabic calligraphy.

As he observed the intricate script adorning everything from grand architectural structures like mosques, palaces and mausoleums to everyday household decorations, Arnold marveled and said “No art has been so much honored or so assiduously cultivated as that of calligraphy.”

Arabic calligraphy was considered as the crowning achievement of Muslim art, and its influence could be seen in things carved out of stone and wood to metal, ceramics, glass, and textiles. Today, Arnold's observations continue to ring true, and Arabic calligraphy has preserved its cultural vibrancy and unprecedented artistry to this day.

The art of beautiful writing, ḥusn al-khaṭṭ, which in Arabic can mean either “beauty of script” or “beautiful script” and is the exact equivalent of Greek “kalligraphia”, appears in Islamic sources centuries before European scholars such as Jacob Georg Christian Adler, who was the first to study Arabic scripts, came across it in the 18th century and brought the attention of the wider world to this form of art.

In the realm of Islamic culture, the art of calligraphy carries an unparalleled and profound meaning, unmatched by any other religion or culture.

“Purity of writing is purity of soul,” says an old Arabic proverb, highlighting the importance of calligraphy in the Islamic culture.

Islam played a central role in the emergence and development of this art form, says Esra Akin-Kivanc, an Associate Professor at University of South Florida.

“Islam holds that, in contrast to the Old Testament and the Ten Commandments, which were conveyed by God to humankind in the written form, the Qur’an was revealed to the Prophet Muhammad orally. However, early Muslims recognized the necessity of written copies of the Qur’an to facilitate accurate and standardized recitation, as prescribed by Islam,” she tells TRT World.

And it all comes to the tradition of how the word of God was revealed in Islam.

“The first word that was said to the Prophet Muhammad was “Iqra” which means to "Read!”. A part of the religious discourse is the written word. So the value of the written word became very important because of this first revelation that was received by the Prophet,” says Bahia Shehab TRT World, a historian, activist, and a professor of design at The American University in Cairo.

In its early days, calligraphy was primarily focused on reproducing the religious text, an honourable pursuit at the time. But over time, calligraphy gradually evolved into an art form in its own right, encompassing a wide range of subjects that extended beyond the strictly religious subjects.

“While it is undeniable that calligraphy fulfilled various religious purposes, its significance in other aspects of Muslim life cannot be underestimated,” says Akin-Kivanc of University of South Florida.

“Since the time of the Umayyad Caliphate (661–750 CE), calligraphy was employed to decorate architectural monuments with non-religious functions, in administrative correspondence, coin design, and the copying of literary as well as historical works, demonstrating the art form’s integral role in the everyday lives of Muslims.”

Kufic, when calligraphy becomes an art

Kufic, a form of Arabic calligraphy, stands as a prominent artistic expression within the Islamic realm, known for its angular strokes, predominantly serving the purpose of transcribing Quranic manuscripts.

Kufic script embodies a remarkable display of artistic excellence, sophistication, and aesthetic appeal. Al-Qalqashandi, a renowned encyclopedist from 14th century Egypt said “The Arabic script is the one which is now known as Kufic. From it evolved all the present pens.”

Kufic script’s story can be traced to Kufa, a city which blossomed amidst the ancient ruins of the southern region of Babylon — renowned for its rich heritage of culture and erudition.

Located approximately 170 kilometers from the Iraqi capital of Baghdad, Kufa stood at a pivotal crossroads of civilization — the Silk Road carved its path right through the city's heart, bringing it in contact with countless cultures that moved through its ancient routes.

It was within this context that the Kufic script, a distinctive form of Islamic calligraphy, bearing the name of the city where it originated from, took shape.

According to Shehab, who considers calligraphy as “an expression of the holy” as well as “a manifestation of identity”, Kufic script, has undergone various cultural influences over the centuries.

“There was a big umbrella for what Kufic looked like. In Islam, throughout the different dynasties, the script that everybody labels as Kufic, which is the geometric script took many forms like the eastern, the western, the square, the floriated ones,” she says.

“Each of these civilizations where the language of Islam visited, took this visual language and translated it, making it their own. So this reflects individuality and expression of different civilizations.”

Transcribers also preferred the Kufic script to write early Quranic manuscripts because of its geometric elegance.

“Calligraphers throughout history have sought the most beautiful way to scribe the Quran, the most fitting and elegant script for it. Their aim was to convey the word of God in its most beautiful form. For in the perception of early scholars, there was a direct link between the shape and form of the letter and the expression of the holy,” says Shehab.

However, in the evolution of Islamic calligraphy, the Kufic script in particular, has transcended its religious function, expanded its horizons and found a new purpose as an essential artistic element in numerous art forms — ranging from embroidery on textiles, adornment of decorative objects for the palaces of Muslim caliphs and engraving on coins to embellishing the walls of luxury buildings — across various historical periods.

“It started as a manifestation of visually translating the word of God in terms of Kufic script” Shehab says, adding, “but it also took over a lot of the royal patronage of buildings. It covered mosques, palaces, houses, schools.”

“Because of its structural character, Kufic script is like an architecture, and the early designers and calligraphers were also architects of letters who were able to represent this authority of the royal and holy visually.”

The centuries-long popularity of Kufic script experienced a decline by the 12th century, in parallel with the further expansion of the Islamic empire, replaced gradually by the more fluid forms of cursive script, but it never lost its exotic appeal.

Akin-Kivanc points out that, like any other art form, calligraphic art has undergone transformations in response to the changing tastes and needs of artists and consumers, noting that cursive script gradually replaced the angular script, the first example of Islamic calligraphy, in the copying of Quranic manuscripts.

According to Akin-Kivanc, calligraphers switched to cursive script, which is easier and faster to write and more legible in terms of having diacritical marks, in order to appeal to a wider audience in the transmission of religious knowledge and to make it easier for people to read the Quran.

“The emphasis on legibility applied mostly to religious texts, however, many of the calligraphic inscriptions we see in public spaces, such as mosques, palaces, and madrasas, are often highly stylized to the point where even experts may struggle to decipher them at first glance,” she says.

“The simultaneous use of angular and cursive scripts, especially when both are highly stylized, serves as calligraphic performances —rather than serving explicitly didactic purposes, they seem to be occasions to showcase the depth of the calligrapher’s mind and the might of his or her hand.”

Pseudo-Kufic: hidden language of Italian Renaissance

In the 14th century, the Renaissance emerged as a transformative force in medieval Europe, Giotto di Bondone, renowned as a pioneer in Italian painting and architecture, attained widespread acclaim for his monumental masterpiece depicting “Madonna and Child”, which was placed as an altarpiece in front of the church in Florence.

In keeping with the prevailing Renaissance tradition for all sculptors and painters, Giotto inscribed his massive work with inscriptions — a common practice during that time. Often, these inscriptions that adorned the Renaissance paintings were not gibberish, but rather legible European language. However, intriguingly, as in Giotto’s painting, artists used inscriptions that at first glance resembled Arabic calligraphy.

One might ponder how pseudo-Kufic inscriptions found their way into Renaissance paintings and architecture, given that most Europeans prior to the 16th century were unfamiliar with Arabic language.

Akin-Kivanc proposes two possible avenues through which the transmission of such pseudo-Arabic, as well as other calligraphic forms like mirror script, which is called ‘muthanna’, could have travelled : “itinerant Muslim calligraphers seeking employment in Europe, and luxury objects exported to European markets.”

“The circulation of portable objects introduced European artists and scribes to Islamic inscriptions and calligraphic motifs, providing them with models,” Akin-Kivanc added.

In the early Islamic royal courts, rulers and individuals in important positions had a tradition of wearing embroidered long dresses, which were called “tiraz”. Derived from a Persian word meaning “adornment” or “embellishment,” these garments held great significance.

Alongside increased trade and diplomacy, Christian warriors participating in the Crusades recognised the value of these silk dresses and took them home as spoils of war. Subsequently, the demand for these exquisite fabrics surged in 14th-15th centuries in Europe, leading to regular shipments of tiraz silks to prosperous Italian city-states, leaving an indelible mark on the European imagination.

Shehab shares an interesting experience she had at Bellagio, demonstrating how this captivating art form has permeated the artistic sensibility Western Christian world.

“Being in Bellagio in North Italy I was feeling really overwhelmed by the beauty of the scenery of the city. As I was strolling around the city my mind was occupied with questions about the existence of the Islamic world, of what happened to it, though I knew the answer to this question already, when I encountered an old 16th- 17th century mausoleum over the lake constructed by rich patrons of the epoch.”

“While admiring the compound's architecture, I noticed a dome with a fascinating pattern that I immediately recognised. It featured mirrored Kufic words that read “wala ghaliba illa Allah” meaning “there is no victor except God.”

Despite the Europeans’ limited understanding of the intricate symbolism behind these ornamental motifs, they were undeniably enthralled by their visual allure.

Thus, these mesmerizing calligraphic inscriptions, referred to as Pseudo-Kufic, manifested in various forms such as floral arrangements or geometric patterns, and integrated themselves into textiles, the attire of high-ranking religious figures like popes and cardinals, and grand architectural structures, Shehab says .

Islamic calligraphy , which brings together different civilizations and artistic traditions, has a more diverse history than is commonly acknowledged.

Emphasizing that this art is actually the product of cross-cultural fertilization, Akin-Kivanc says, “To truly comprehend the multicultural and vibrant history of Islamic calligraphy, we must venture beyond the conventional confines of the field of art history and explore the various sociocultural and religiopolitical interactions among different communities.”