Islamic calligraphy is the beautiful writing of the
Arabic script. It is has been the main Islamic art since the Quran's revelation
(610 AD). It has helped and continues to help preserve the beautiful words of
the Quran. The Muslim scribes of the time recorded the Quranic text and many of
the Muslim's memories it. Images of living beings are not aloud to be drawn in
Islam so the text is very precious.
From the Greek word for "beautiful
writing," calligraphy was considered the highest art form in Islam, for
several reasons. For one, Muslims believe that Allah used the Arabic language
to recite the Qur'an to Muhammad, and for that reason, it has a spiritual
meaning for Muslims. Also, using words as artistry avoided the problem of using
pictorial images. Whereas decorative writing all but disappeared in Europe with the advent of the printing press, the Islamic
world retained it as an art form long after the necessity of writing longhand
was removed by modern technology. Calligraphy adorned architecture, decorative
arts, coins, jewelers, textiles, weapons, tools, paintings, and manuscripts.
The Nabatean script was the recorded earliest form of
pre-Arabic script. The early Arabs, called the Nabatean's, are said to have
developed the Aramaic script, also known as the north Arabic script, during
around the 5th century. It became very popular and swept to the rest of the
ancient Middle East in around 9 BCE. Ammonite
and Aramaic were languages that used the Aramaic script.
As the Aramaic language and writing evolved, the
Arabic script took over and started from around 500AD, which was the first
recorded Arabic alphabet. There are around roughly 20 languages all spoken
today that writes in the Arabic script. As the time went on, the Aramaic
dictionary was developing leading to the Arabic alphabet, evolving and becoming
the most widespread writing system worldwide.
