Abstract
Calligraphy (Khattati) is an art of producing beautiful handwriting, More frequently this term is used to write in ink and the reed pen having a special cut for the certain style or script. In Islamic world Calligraphy got higher importance than any other type of art for the reason that in Islamic teachings paintings or sculptures of living things were forbidden. So the believers, who had a good taste of arts and devotion to their religion as well, fixed all of their artistic passions towards beautifying the Heavenly words of Allah (Majestic & Exalted). In the first three centuries of Islamic history, ornamental angular scripts remained popular until the period of the Abbasid Vizier Abu- Ali ibn Muqlah. Following on the cursive style, the great calligrapher established a geometric codification according to Euclidean theory and invented the new proportional cursive script. From that time “calligrapher held a position of dignity and honor above the painter”. This article attempts at describing the master inventor of Proportional Script: Ibn Muqlah and his six styles of Arabic calligraphy.
Keyword(s)
calligraphy, reed pen, kufic script, naskhi script, cursive script, al-khatt al mansoob, thuluth, rayhani, muhaqqaq, tawaqi, riqa