Islamic Calligraphy

Word is the mightiest medium of self-expression as well as communication. The spoken word had preceded the written word, for writing did succeed the speaking. The spoken word is ephemeral and hence it cannot last longer and that was why the spoken word was transformed into the written word. Writing is an ancient art, if not so ancient as that of speaking.

There are three types of scripts, in general, in the world. The Indo-European scripts as well as the Dravidian ones are written from left to right, the Semetic scripts are written from right to left, while the Mongolian ones are done from above to below in a vertical form.

In Islam, which used the Semetic script or the Arabic letters, was prohibited the art of painting depicting the animate beings and that was why the Islamic artists had developed the art of calligraphy or the writing of beautiful letters. The Arabic letters are exclusively apt to be written in rhythmic strokes in an artistic semblance. In times when printing was unknown, the holy Quran was written in ornate Arabic letters by the calligraphers. Since copies of the holy book were usually in great demand, the job of the calligraphers was a prosperous one.

In Islamic calligraphy there are several styles with different names and forms; they are Kufic, Naskh, Nastaliq, Muhaqqaq, Raiban, Thulth, Taukhi, Rikha, etc. Of these styles, Kufic and an older type of Naskh were the oldest styles of Islamic calligraphy. Kufic style is vertical and sharply angular while Naskh is round and horizontal. But later emerged the style of Nastaliq, in Persia, which is rounder than Naskh.

Kufic style of calligraphy, which had been in practice, for a long time, in the Islamic countries, was used first for writing copies of Quran, the earliest copies of which belong to 784 A, D. They were written on various materials including parchment, papyrus, deer-skin, etc. Kufic style was divided into two styles, plain and ornate, and thus the former was in use of writing documents and other secular literature, while the latter for religious literature.

In the later days, the scribes found the angular Kufic more difficult to execute than the cursive Naskh and thus the Naskh style grew very popular in the Islamic world. In due course the Naskh too split into several styles, among which Tughra style got special importance; but this Tughra style was intricate and even illegible to some extent, and thus it was mostly used by the rulers for signing. The name Tughra originally meant the royal sign. The Tughra style was written in fascinating designs including the ‘bow and arrow’ style and the most intricate ‘lattice’ style.

In Islamic calligraphy, especially in the Naskh style, the name of Ibn Muqla (885-939 A. D.) stands out in relief. He was a master innovator of the art of calligraphy. He was not only able to give final and finer touches to Naskh style but also able to invent five other styles, mentioned in the preceding paragraph. Prior to the advent of Ibn Muqla, Naskh style was conspicuous by its ornate character, but later, Ibn Muqla rendered it non-ornate and thus, in due course, Naskh style had become pure writing instead of embellishment. Superfluous ornamentation in any art is as undesirable as over-simplification.

After Ibn Muqla, emerged Ibn Bawwab (11th century A. D.). He gave some finishing touches to Islamic calligraphy, especially in the matters of diacritical marks and in improving the materials of writing as well as other technical aspects of calligraphy. The next master was Jamalud-Din Yaqut al-Mustasimi (13th century A. D.) who was the greatest of those masters who had preceded him. He was the most refined, the most enlightened and the most dextrous calligrapher of all the past masters; he could write with the same flawless dexterity all the styles of Islamic calligraphy.

The art of beautiful writing has got its own merit apart from the language which it contains. Beautiful ideas are to be clothed in beautiful language and beautiful language in beautiful letters. One cannot read the language without seeing the letters which contain the language; without reading the language one cannot grasp the ideas expressed by the language. Thus in order to read the ideas one should read the language and again in order to read the language one ought to see the letters written on any surface. Hence seeing the written letters is the base of all literature; that is why the base should be beautiful as well as strong, otherwise the edifice would emerge ugly and frail. Consequently, calligraphy was the primary aspect of literature, especially in those days when printing was unknown. Emperor Aurangzeb was a great calligrapher who used to prepare copies of Quran in charming calligraphy with his own hand and sell them; he made his livelihood on the income he got from the sale of his copies of Quran.

The Islamic calligraphy did emanate originally in Arabia and later spread to Persia and many other lands including India. The Persians were more artistically sensitive than the Arabs. Arabs were science-minded, while the Persians art-minded. Thus the Arab calligraphy in the hands of the Persians underwent many a modification in the middle of the 13th century A. D. The art-conscious Persians were able to create a new style known as Taliq; this new style was a product of the blending of the old styles of Tauqi and Raiqa. Taliq is an enchanting form in which the sloping down of horizontal strokes is manifested. This new style continued in Persia for a long time and thus numerous books were either originally written or copied in Taliq. Khwaja Taj-i-Salmani of the 15th century was the great master who rendered the Taliq style consummate. During the end of the fourteenth and the beginning of the fifteenth centuries in Persia there emerged a new style called Nastaliq which was a fascinating synthesis of Taliq and Naskh styles. This new style is rounder in appearance than Naskh and the ends ofthe letters are curved.

The Nastaliq style was both intensively as well as extensively practised in Central Asia, Persia and India. The name of Mir Ali was associated with the evolution and refinement of the Nastaliq style, which has since become a standard script in Islamic calligraphy. There has been a number of other sub-styles, namely, Larza, Manshur, Ghubar, Vilayat, Shafia, etc., which are not styles in the strict sense but some sort of ornamentations.

Owing to the Muslim rule in India, Islamic calligraphy was able to enter India and flourish in the same way as it flourished in other Islamic countries. But the pre-Moghal specimens of Islamic calligraphy are hardly to be found except some specimens of epigraphy. It was only with the advent of Moghal rule in India that genuine Islamic calligraphy had found its way permanently. Moghal rulers were cultured, were aesthetico-mystic in their approach to life and were great patrons of fine arts including calligraphy. Originally Islamic calligraphy took its birth in the times when the art of painting depicting the living beings was strictly prohibited. But by the time Islamic calligraphy was practised in the Moghal courts in India, the prohibition of the depiction of living beings was no more alive and that was why both the art of painting depicting the living beings and the art of calligraphy were simultaneously practised in Moghal courts with equal zeal by the talented painters and the deft scribes respectively.

Babur was not only interested in appreciating the art of calligraphy but also versed in creating that of calligraphy. He did also invent a new style known as Babury. His son Humayun had been, for sometime, in Persia, in exile, whence he returned to India bringing along with him numerous artists including painters, architects and calligraphers; hence in Humayun’s court the Islamic calligraphy had found its full expression.

It was in Akbar’s period that all sorts of fine arts, including that of calligraphy, were in full swing, Akbar used to reward the calligraphers with the awards of various titles of merit. Mir Abdullah Tarmizi, one of the talented calligraphers of Akbar’s court, was awarded the title of Mushkin Qalam which meant ‘musk pen’. He executed some panels displaying the art of his calligraphy, and besides them, there are some inscriptions at the Khusran Bagh in Allahabad and Ajmer, executed by this calligrapher in the charming Nastaliq style. Another calligrapher of those times, Muhammad Hussain Kashmiri, was acclaimed by Abul Fazl as the Wizard of Indian calligraphers. Later, the successors of Akbar, Jahangir, Shahjahan and Aurangzeb had been keen enough to keep ablaze the flame of the tradition of Islamic calligraphy in their courts. Mir Abdullah Mushkin Qalam, and Abdur Rahim Raushan Qalam were Jahangir’s court calligraphers. In Shahjahan’s reign too there was a number of master calligraphers such as Muhammad Murad Kashmiri, Kifayat Khan, etc. Late arrived from Persia a great master calligrapher, by name Aka Abdur Rashid Dailami, who gave new final touches to Nastaliq script. He was appointed as an instructor in calligraphy to Dara Shukoh and subsequently to Zaibun-Nisa, daughter of Aurangzeb.

Sayeed Ali Jawahir Raqam, another calligrapher of the same period, was one of the great masters of Nastaliq style. He arrived in Shahjahan’s court from Tabriz in Persia and Shahjahan rewarded him with the title of Jawahir Raqam. He was an instructed or in calligraphy to Aurangzeb who had later appointed him as instructor to his sons, and afterwards he was appointed as the librarian.

Islamic calligraphy was usually written in bold letters, but there were some calligraphers who had specialised in thin writing and one of such talented calligraphers was Abdul-Baqi-Haddad who was invited by Aurangzeb who bestowed on him the title of Yaqut Raqam.

Under the Moghal rule, India imbibed Islamic culture and under its influence great Arabic and Persian scholars as well as poets did emerge. Sufi mysticism, which transcended not merely race, creed and caste but also the barriers of religion and superstitions, was able to enable the people to practise the religious tolerance. Sufi mystics, who happened also to be transcendental poets, used to preach the message of the spiritual glory of the futility of the man-made distinctions of races and sects, of unity and fraternity of the humanity and of universal love towards the fallen and the destitute. In such a tranquil atmosphere the art of calligraphy flourished well in India.

Bahadur Shah, the last Moghal emperor, was a remarkable student of calligraphy and he was well-versed in executing the Naskh, Nastaliq and Tughra styles. Bahadur Shah was a Sufi mystic and a poet besides being a talented calligrapher and in all these fields he had got many pupils.

During the Moghal period, Islamic calligraphy had attracted many a cultured person and thus any cultured person, who happened to be ignorant of the art of calligraphy, was deemed to be lacking in true culture. In those times, calligraphy did thrive not merely in the north of India but also in the Deccan under the reign of the five Muslim Sultanates, especially Bijapur and Golkonda. The same dignity, which was enjoyed by other artists, was enjoyed by the calligraphers too in those Deccan Sultanates.

Under the Nizams of Hyderabad the art of calligraphy was patronised and encouraged well and hence many nobles had acquired mastery over calligraphy, and among them the names of Jamshid Quli Khan, Muhammad Muzaffaruddin, Hidayat Ali Vilayat Raqam, etc., did stand outshining. It is said, Maharaja Krishan Prasad, the then Diwan of Hyderabad, was a talented calligrapher. Even today there exist in Hyderabad, Lucknow, Rampur and Delhi eminent calligraphers. But due to the printing presses, this glorious art of calligraphy is destined to decline. As a pure fine art, calligraphy requires immense encouragement by both the Islamic as well as the non-Islamic cultural leaders. Art is creative and pan-human and hence it is beyond the horizons of sects and cults.

The execution of exquisite calligraphy requires both physical effort and psychical alertness. Both contemplation, which belongs to the mind, and execution, which belongs to the hand, should follow like parallel lines in creating the charm of the calligraphic strokes form. In the absence of alert contemplation, calligraphic strokes would turn into mere inanimate stripes of ink, while in the absence of deft execution, they would become mere capricious vibrations.

Every form is a visual perception, no doubt, but every visual perception is not delightful. The form of the object of our visual perception should be vibrant with the movement of rhythm, proportion and balance. Then alone our visual perception could impart to our sensitive hearts the light of delight. Islamic calligraphy displays such a movement of rhythm, proportion and balance in its composition of letters. The letters of a script, in general, are static, but what renders them dynamic is the unusual composition of those letters in such an aesthetic way by the master calligraphers that annihilates the static aspect by creating the rhythmic movement. The pieces of Islamic calligraphy are indeed the masterpieces of visual music, oscillating in crescendoes and decrescendoes. The falling and rising, the horizontal, vertical and diagonal strokes, the straight and the curved lines in the art of Islamic calligraphy are the most non-representational or the abstract aspects of art, with no resemblance with the ensemble of any of the familiar objects in the visual world.