Islam is a religion of the book. In other words, the whole of the revelation of God to man is bound in the complete scriptures. For Muslims, this is the holy Qur’an. The Qur’an is more than just a sacred book containing scriptures. It is the exact duplicate of the word of God, which is in heaven. This includes the language in which it is written.
The perfect Qur’an with God is in Arabic as is its duplication in our earthly Qur’ans. This idea of the perfection of the Qur’an written in Arabic combined with a strict prohibition against the production of graven images has lead to an interesting development in the way religion is expressed in art. Namely, it has lead to the development of a highly stylized form of writing known as calligraphy.
This is not to say that other forms of artistic expression of religion do not exist in Islam. All one must do, as Leonard Librande points out, is to examine the mosaics that adorn the walls of the Great Mosque of Damascus or those of Cordoba. These contain images of buildings and nature arranged in such a way as to symbolically represent the paradisal existence of a truly Islamic society. However, as the most potent religious matter is contained in the verse of the Qur’an it is calligraphy that takes the forefront of artistic religious expression.
Calligraphy can take on a variety of styles and formats. These can be explored in detail through a visit to islamicart.org and clicking on calligraphy and then on scripts. This process will lead you to an extensive dialogue on the various forms of Arabic scripts used in calligraphy and the inherent symbolism of each.
A treasure trove of information on Islam and the development of calligraphy as an Islamic art form can be found in printed format. Many libraries either have these titles or can acquire them for you through inter library loan.
Denny, F. An Introduction to Islam, 2nd ed. (New York: Macmillian, 1994)
“Khatt” The Encyclopedia of Islam, vol 5. 1978 ed.
Glasse, C. “Arabic” The Concise Encyclopedia of Islam. 1989.
Glasse, C. “Calligraphy” The Concise Encyclopedia of Islam. 1989.
Librande, L. “The Calligraphy of the Qur’an:How it Functions For Muslims” Religion 9 (1979) : 36-58.
Massoudy, H. “The Calligraphers Art” UNESCO Courier 48.4 (1995)
Sulzberger, J. “Some Notes on Arab Calligraphy” Parabola 16.3 (1991)
Williams, J. The Word of Islam, (Austin, Univ. Texas P., 1994)
Zakariya, M. “Islamic Calligraphy” Calliope 7.3 (1997)
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Links to sites containing further inromation and examples of Islamic calligraphy
