Introduction
Arabic calligraphy: ink, dot, line
In the interest of the preservation and transmission of the cultural and artistic heritage of Muslim civilization, the ADLANIA Foundation invites us to explore the world of Arabic writing from its origins to the present day.
Arabic calligraphy has been included on UNESCO’s List of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity since December 14, 2021. This recognition as a major art, representative of the entire Muslim world, would certainly have been approved by the German poet Goethe (1789 – 1832), he who affirmed, two centuries ago : “ No language other than Arabic has been blessed with such harmony between the soul, the word and calligraphy”.
From the dawn of Muslim civilization, writing in Arabic characters evolved into an art form, as well as a veritable spiritual and religious institution. With the passage of time writing became calligraphy, to allow for the embellishment and transmission of the divine Word, the Qur’an. This art represents a universe waiting to be read, and an open book in which Man is considered to be a lawha (wooden Qur’anic tablet) and a calamus, infused with knowledge and the written word. Writing, reading and transmitting makes the human being at once the holder and revealer of knowledge of the manifested world (âlam al-Mulk). Rûmî (1207-1273) thus describes his heart to be “ like a feather pen in the hands of the Beloved ”.
Calligraphy in Arabic characters first shaped Arabo-Islamic writing, then gradually spread to Persian, Turkish, and Urdu, as well as all the other languages which adopted the Arabic alphabet.
Haloed with a sacred aura, calligraphy is an art form that allows us to perceive the eternal beauty of the Qur’anic text. Muslim copyists strive to perfect their artistic style, because no writing is too beautiful to transcribe the Holy Book and the words of the Messenger of God. Calligraphy is not a simple fantasy of the scribe, but a quasi-religious and spiritual activity, duly regulated, and designated in Arabic by the word khatt (stroke, line). It is governed by standards comparable to those of music or mathematics.
Omnipresent in the visual landscape of Islam from its very beginnings to the contemporary period, calligraphy quickly became an autonomous visual art and the main ornamentation of manuscripts, mosques, madrasas and fountains. To this day, master calligraphers continue to transmit their knowledge from generation to generation through authentic chains of transmission.
Sheikh Khaled Bentounes