Are you looking to buy Islamic art for home? Have you been wanting to buy Islamic art online?
Do you want your home to visually reflect your faith and belief? So that when people visit your home, they know that you are Muslim. As a start, it would help to know the basics of Arabic calligraphy, which is the mainstay of Islamic art. Arabic calligraphy is the art of writing Arabic text – in the case of Islamic calligraphy, the text is the verses from the Quran – in stylish fonts.
There are different fonts of Arabic calligraphy, which evolved at different points of time, and different places. Some of the most popular fonts have been explained below:
- Kufic: Among the oldest Arabic fonts, Kufic is believed to have originated in 7th century AD in Kufa, Iraq. It is also believed to be among the first fonts in which the Quran was transcribed. At that point of time, the Arabic script had no diacritical symbols. The Kufic style has very long or very short horizontal strokes and round characters with very little counters.
With the passage of time, and with Arab conquests of non-Arab areas and the resultant entry of non-Arabs into the fold Islam, the Kufic script lost relevance for the purpose of transcribing the Quran. The main reason, it is believed, is that the absence of diacritical marks made it difficult to read for non-Arabs.
That said, Kufic still was used for ornate purposes like for ceramic crafts. It later brached into floral or interlaced, bordered, and squared varieties.
- Naskh: In 10th century AD, a new font, Naskh, was developed for transcribing the Quran. Apart from Kufic, Naskh introduced diacritical symbols and was cursive in style – thereby offering ease in both reading and writing. Even today, it is still used for transcribing the Glorious Quran. It is the standard font of writing the modern Arabic script, and is applied in newspapers, periodicals and official communication.
- Thuluth: “Thuluth” means one-thirds, that is, one-thirds of the letters are straight in the font. The long, vertical lines, broad spaces as well as prominent dots and diacritical symbols make Thuluth look very grand and thus fit for engraving on walls of monuments, mosques and buildings. The Taj Mahal, for instance, has Thuluth font on its walls.
- Nast’aliq: This font originated in Iran, and began being employed for secular purposes like writing court papers. The word ta’liq means “hanging”, since the letters slope slightly from right to left, thereby giving the overall script a hanging appearance. It is also applied for writing Farsi and Urdu.
- Diwani: This Arabic font came about in the Ottoman era in the 16th A very decorative, intricate and elaborate font, Diwani is characterised by slanting letters and abundance use of decorative dots that fill up the narrow spaces between and around the letters. It is perfect for buy islamic wall art. This elementary knowledge should be of help if you plan to buy Islamic art online.