Back to writing

The writings of the early Islamic period can be broadly classified into the cursive script and the Kufic script. The former was more commonly used for informal writing, while the latter was used for official and religious purposes. A workshop on the art of Kufic writing has just concluded at the Islamic museum in Sharjah. The one-day workshop acquainted the student with the origins of the Kufic script, the history and the famous people associated with it. The students were familiarised with the letters of the Kufic script and practice was held in reading old coins and manuscripts.

Angular letter formation and lack of diacritical marks distinguish the Kufic script. The script is named after the city of Kufah, an Islamic city founded in the older civilisation of Mesopotamia (modern day Iraq). According to Afaf Al Marri, Director of the Islamic Museum in Sharjah: "The absence of 'dots' and 'tall vertical accents' characteristic of cursive writing are not utilised in Kufic writing. This makes it difficult for modern-day Arabic readers and writers to understand the inscriptions on coins, pottery and manuscripts of the early Islamic period. The rule of the more familiar cursive writing style were formalised by Ibn Muqla (died 328 H), a native of Shiraz and minister of the Abbasid caliph of Baghdad, and was the key calligrapher responsible for its development. Ibn Al Bawwab (died 413 H), a house decorator who later turned his hand to calligraphy, was chiefly responsible for perfecting the proportioned script of Ibn Muqla."

Afaf has practically taught herself to decipher and read Kufic writing through painstaking research. The two-hour workshop she holds takes the students through a quick progression of understanding of the Kufic style of lettering to the point of attempting to read inscriptions on old Islamic artifacts. As the unfamiliar writings of antiquity start to make sense, the joy of delving into history and becoming a part of it is palpable on the face of her enthusiastic students. The connection to the origins of their Islamic heritage becomes a tangible reality.

"The letters of Kufic writing are thick, squat and unslanted and were particularly suited for writing on stone or metal, for painting or carving inscriptions on the walls of mosques and lettering on coins. Professional copyists employed the Kufic style of writing for the earliest versions of the Holy Quran. The development of the Arabic calligraphy to a highly exalted art form saw the development of the Kufic writing as an exceptionally beautiful script."