Misplaced Pages

#949050

69-597: The Samarkand mushaf was moved around throughout centuries and as a result it has one of the richest histories and also saddest fates because of its alterations. It is one of the first texts written in the Kufic script . Today it is kept in the Hast Imam library , in Tashkent , Uzbekistan . Based on orthographic and palaeographic studies, the manuscript probably dates from the 8th or 9th century. Radiocarbon dating showed

138-410: A maddah is placed on any other letter to denote the name of the letter, though some letters may take on a dagger alif . For example: ⟨ لٓمٓصٓ ⟩ ( lām - mīm - ṣād ) or ⟨ يـٰسٓ ⟩ ( yāʼ-sīn) The waṣlah ⟨ وَصْلَة ⟩ , alif waṣlah ⟨ أَلِف وَصْلَة ⟩ or hamzat waṣl ⟨ هَمْزَة وَصْل ⟩ looks like the head of

207-590: A 95.4% confidence interval for a date between 775 and 995. However, one of the folios from another manuscript (held in the Religious Administration of Muslims in Tashkent) was dated to between 595 and 855 A.D. with a likelihood of 95%. The copy of the Quran is traditionally considered to be one of a group commissioned by the third caliph Uthman. According to Islamic tradition, in 651, 19 years after

276-422: A continuous rectangle . The letters including their respective dots must only leave 1 pixel apart from each other. Linear is preferred to write long scriptures such as Quranic verses along the interior perimeter or broken into lines elegantly against mosque walls. While the name suggests a radial or circular form, they are usually presented in a square or rectangular shape. The 1 pixel space applies between

345-422: A diacritic over or under an alif , wāw , or yā . Which letter is to be used to support the hamzah depends on the quality of the adjacent vowels and its location in the word; Consider the following words: ⟨ أَخ ⟩ /ʔax/ ("brother"), ⟨ إسْماعِيل ⟩ /ʔismaːʕiːl/ ("Ismael"), ⟨ أُمّ ⟩ /ʔumm/ ("mother"). All three of above words "begin" with

414-519: A disciplined approach of creating Square Kufic calligraphy. This controlled method of creation preserved basic and accurate features of Arabic letters with few compromises, if any. A finished work can then be qualitatively judged rather than only appreciated as an abstract piece. While there are no restrictions to formats that Square Kufic should be written in, Square Kufic can be categorized into three most commonly used configurations. The normal writing format using pixelated Arabic font. The overall shape

483-804: A fully vocalised ( vowelised or vowelled ) Arabic from the Bismillah : بِسْمِ ٱللَّٰهِ ٱلرَّحْمَٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ bismi l-lāhi r-raḥmāni r-raḥīm In the name of God, the All-Merciful, the Especially-Merciful. Some Arabic textbooks for foreigners now use ḥarakāt as a phonetic guide to make learning reading Arabic easier. The other method used in textbooks is phonetic romanisation of unvocalised texts. Fully vocalised Arabic texts (i.e. Arabic texts with ḥarakāt /diacritics) are sought after by learners of Arabic. Some online bilingual dictionaries also provide ḥarakāt as

552-673: A gift after he had cured the ruler. The Quran remained in the Khoja Ahrar Mosque of Samarkand for the next four centuries. The mushaf was initially in Damascus, Syria however after Tamerlane sacked the city during the Siege of Damascus in the beginning of the 15th century, he took it to Samarkand , as loot. In 1868, the Russians conquered Samarkand in the Siege of Samarkand and as a result Russian general Abramov bought it from

621-441: A horizontal emphasis. Until about the 11th century it was the main script used to copy the Quran. Professional copyists employed a particular form of Kufic for reproducing the earliest surviving copies of the Quran, which were written on parchment and date from the 8th to 10th centuries. It is distinguished from Thuluth script in its use of decorative elements whereas the latter was designed to avoid decorative motifs. In place of

690-543: A letter, and represents a short /a/ (like the /a/ sound in the English word "cat"). The word fatḥah itself ( فَتْحَة ) means opening and refers to the opening of the mouth when producing an /a/ . For example, with dāl (henceforth, the base consonant in the following examples): ⟨ دَ ⟩ /da/ . When a fatḥah is placed before a plain letter ⟨ ا ⟩ ( alif ) (i.e. one having no hamza or vowel of its own), it represents

759-435: A long /aː/ (close to the sound of "a" in the English word "dad", with an open front vowel /æː/, not back /ɑː/ as in "father"). For example: ⟨ دَا ⟩ /daː/ . The fatḥah is not usually written in such cases. When a fathah is placed before the letter ⟨ ﻱ ⟩ (yā’), it creates an /aj/ (as in "l ie "); and when placed before the letter ⟨ و ⟩ (wāw), it creates an /aw/ (as in "c ow "). Although paired with

SECTION 10

#1732779642950

828-479: A long fatħah , was used for a contracted (assimilated) sin . Thus ⟨ ڛ سۣ سۡ سٚ ⟩ were all used to indicate that the letter in question was truly ⟨ س ⟩ and not ⟨ ش ⟩ . These signs, collectively known as ‘alāmātu-l-ihmāl , are still occasionally used in modern Arabic calligraphy , either for their original purpose (i.e. marking letters without i‘jām ), or often as purely decorative space-fillers. The small ک above

897-479: A modified abjad , where all letters are consonants, leading it up to the reader to fill in for vowel sounds. Short consonants and long vowels are represented by letters but short vowels and consonant length are not generally indicated in writing. Tashkīl is optional to represent missing vowels and consonant length. Modern Arabic is always written with the i‘jām —consonant pointing, but only religious texts, children's books and works for learners are written with

966-474: A non-Arabic context in Europe, as decoration on architecture, known as pseudo-Kufic . Calligraphers in the early Islamic period used a variety of methods to transcribe Quran manuscripts. Arabic calligraphy became one of the most important branches of Islamic Art. Calligraphers came out with the new style of writing called Kufic. Kufic is the oldest calligraphic form of the various Arabic scripts . The name of

1035-412: A phonetic guide similarly to English dictionaries providing transcription. The ḥarakāt حَرَكَات , which literally means 'motions', are the short vowel marks. There is some ambiguity as to which tashkīl are also ḥarakāt ; the tanwīn , for example, are markers for both vowels and consonants. The fatḥah ⟨ فَتْحَة ⟩ is a small diagonal line placed above

1104-421: A plain letter creates an open front vowel (/a/), often realized as near-open (/ æ /), the standard also allows for variations, especially under certain surrounding conditions. Usually, in order to have the more central (/ ä /) or back (/ ɑ /) pronunciation, the word features a nearby back consonant, such as the emphatics, as well as qāf , or rā’ . A similar "back" quality is undergone by other vowels as well in

1173-462: A red dot placed above, below, or beside the rasm , and later consonant pointing was introduced, as thin, short black single or multiple dashes placed above or below the rasm . These i‘jām became black dots about the same time as the ḥarakāt became small black letters or strokes. Typically, Egyptians do not use dots under final yā’ ( ي ), which looks exactly like alif maqṣūrah ( ى ) in handwriting and in print. This practice

1242-411: A short /i/ (as in "me", "be") and its allophones [i, ɪ, e, e̞, ɛ] (as in "Tim", "sit"). For example: ⟨ دِ ⟩ /di/ . When a kasrah is placed before a plain letter ⟨ ﻱ ⟩ ( yā’ ), it represents a long /iː/ (as in the English word "steed"). For example: ⟨ دِي ⟩ /diː/ . The kasrah is usually not written in such cases, but if yā’

1311-457: A small ṣād on top of an alif ⟨ ٱ ⟩ (also indicated by an alif ⟨ ا ⟩ without a hamzah ). It means that the alif is not pronounced when its word does not begin a sentence. For example: ⟨ بِٱسْمِ ⟩ ( bismi ), but ⟨ ٱمْشُوا۟ ⟩ ( imshū not mshū ). This is because in Arabic, the first consonant in

1380-559: A stable number of lines per page, and these were strictly parallel and equidistant. One impressive example of an early Quran manuscript, known as the Blue Quran , features gold Kufic script on parchment dyed with indigo. It is commonly attributed to the early Fatimid or Abbasid court. The main text of this Quran is written in gold ink, thus the effect on looking at the manuscript is of gold on blue. According to Marcus Fraser, "the political and artistic sophistication and financial expense of

1449-414: A superscript kaf or a small superscript hamza ( nabrah ), and lam with a superscript l-a-m ( lam-alif-mim ). Although normally it is sometimes not considered a letter of the alphabet, the hamza هَمْزة ( hamzah , glottal stop ), often stands as a separate letter in writing, is written in unpointed texts and is not considered a tashkīl . It may appear as a letter by itself or as

SECTION 20

#1732779642950

1518-431: A trend towards simplifying Arabic grammar. The sign ⟨ ـً ⟩ is most commonly written in combination with ⟨ ـًا ⟩ ( alif ), ⟨ ةً ⟩ ( tā’ marbūṭah ), ⟨ أً ⟩ (alif hamzah) or stand-alone ⟨ ءً ⟩ ( hamzah ). Alif should always be written (except for words ending in tā’ marbūṭah, hamzah or diptotes) even if an

1587-717: A very simplified rectangular style widely used for tiling. In Iran sometimes entire buildings are covered with tiles spelling sacred names like those of God, Muhammad and Ali in square Kufic, a technique known as banna'i . Moreover, there is " Pseudo-Kufic ", also "Kufesque", which refers to imitations of the Kufic script, made in a non-Arabic context, during the Middle Ages or the Renaissance : "Imitations of Arabic in European art are often described as pseudo-Kufic, borrowing

1656-399: A vocalised text, they may be written even if they are not pronounced (see pausa ). See i‘rāb for more details. In many spoken Arabic dialects, the endings are absent. Many Arabic textbooks introduce standard Arabic without these endings. The grammatical endings may not be written in some vocalized Arabic texts, as knowledge of i‘rāb varies from country to country, and there is

1725-470: A vowel opening the syllable, and in each case, alif is used to designate the initial glottal stop (the actual beginning). But if we consider middle syllables "beginning" with a vowel: ⟨ نَشْأة ⟩ /naʃʔa/ ("origin"), ⟨ أَفْئِدة ⟩ /ʔafʔida/ ("hearts"—notice the /ʔi/ syllable; singular ⟨ فُؤاد ⟩ /fuʔaːd/ ), ⟨ رُؤُوس ⟩ /ruʔuːs/ ("heads", singular ⟨ رَأْس ⟩ /raʔs/ ),

1794-469: A word must always be followed by a vowel sound: If the second letter from the waṣlah has a kasrah, the alif-waslah makes the sound /i/. However, when the second letter from it has a dammah, it makes the sound /u/. It occurs only in the beginning of words, but it can occur after prepositions and the definite article. It is commonly found in imperative verbs, the perfective aspect of verb stems VII to X and their verbal nouns ( maṣdar ). The alif of

1863-450: Is a small curl-like diacritic placed above a letter to represent a short /u/ (as in "duke", shorter "you") and its allophones [u, ʊ, o, o̞, ɔ] (as in "put", or "bull"). For example: ⟨ دُ ⟩ /du/ . When a ḍammah is placed before a plain letter ⟨ و ⟩ ( wāw ), it represents a long /uː/ (like the 'oo' sound in the English word "swoop"). For example: ⟨ دُو ⟩ /duː/ . The ḍammah

1932-632: Is a style of Arabic script , that gained prominence early on as a preferred script for Quran transcription and architectural decoration, and it has since become a reference and an archetype for a number of other Arabic scripts. It developed from the Arabic alphabet in the city of Kufa , from which its name is derived. Kufic is characterized by angular, rectilinear letterforms and its horizontal orientation. There are many different versions of Kufic, such as square Kufic , floriated Kufic, knotted Kufic, and others. The artistic styling of Kufic led to its use in

2001-520: Is also used in copies of the muṣḥaf ( Qurʾān ) scribed by ‘Uthman Ṭāhā . The same unification of yā and alif maqṣūrā has happened in Persian , resulting in what the Unicode Standard calls " Arabic Letter Farsi Yeh ", that looks exactly the same as yā in initial and medial forms, but exactly the same as alif maqṣūrah in final and isolated forms. At

2070-518: Is composed of geometrical forms like straight lines and angles along with verticals and horizontals. Originally, Kufic did not have what is known as a differentiated consonant, which means, for example, that the letters "t", "b", and "th" were not distinguished by diacritical marks and looked the same. However, it is still used in Islamic countries. In later Kufic Qurans of the ninth and early tenth century, "the sura headings were more often designed with

2139-669: Is held in the library of the Telyashayakh Mosque, in the old "Hast-Imam" (Khazrati Imom) area of Tashkent, close to the grave of Kaffal Shashi , a 10th-century Islamic scholar . A folio containing a page from the sura Al-Anbiya is held at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City , US. The manuscript is incomplete: it begins in the middle of verse 7 of the second sura and ends at Surah 43:10. The manuscript has between eight and twelve lines to

Samarkand Kufic Quran - Misplaced Pages Continue

2208-454: Is in children's literature. Moreover, ḥarakāt are used in ordinary texts in individual words when an ambiguity of pronunciation cannot easily be resolved from context alone. Arabic dictionaries with vowel marks provide information about the correct pronunciation to both native and foreign Arabic speakers. In art and calligraphy , ḥarakāt might be used simply because their writing is considered aesthetically pleasing. An example of

2277-533: Is not a priority of this script. The Syrian calligrapher Mamoun Sakkal described its development as an "exceptional step towards simplification in Kufic styles that evolved towards more complexity in the preceding centuries". In recent years, this calligraphy form has been receiving more popularity for use in ornaments (such as in decorated clocks, frames, stickers), logos (that usually implies Islamic enterprises in government and private sectors), and even in freestyle Arabic calligraphy competitions. There has been

2346-419: Is not limited by any shape or boundary. Although this configuration is straight forward, it is not used for most Square Kufic-related work, due to its less aesthetic appearance relative to the other configurations. Free flow is mainly used as baseline before developed into more sophisticated configurations. Just like free flow, the writing goes from right to left but within a justified height that conforms into

2415-417: Is not. Grammatical cases and tanwīn endings in indefinite triptote forms: The shadda or shaddah ⟨ شَدَّة ⟩ ( shaddah ), or tashdid ⟨ تَشْدِيد ⟩ ( tashdīd ), is a diacritic shaped like a small written Latin " w ". It is used to indicate gemination (consonant doubling or extra length), which is phonemic in Arabic. It is written above the consonant which

2484-446: Is pronounced as a diphthong /aj/ , fatḥah should be written on the preceding letter to avoid mispronunciation. The word kasrah means 'breaking'. Kasrah s are encoded U+061A ؚ ARABIC SMALL KASRA , U+0650 ِ ARABIC KASRA , U+FE7A ﹺ ARABIC KASRA ISOLATED FORM , or U+FE7B ﹻ ARABIC KASRA MEDIAL FORM . The ḍammah ⟨ ضَمَّة ⟩

2553-745: Is to be doubled. It is the only ḥarakah that is commonly used in ordinary spelling to avoid ambiguity . For example: ⟨ دّ ⟩ /dd/ ; madrasah ⟨ مَدْرَسَة ⟩ ('school') vs. mudarrisah ⟨ مُدَرِّسَة ⟩ ('teacher', female). Note that when the doubled letter bears a vowel, it is the shaddah that the vowel is attached to, not the letter itself: ⟨ دَّ ⟩ /dda/ , ⟨ دِّ ⟩ /ddi/ . Shaddah s are encoded U+0651 ّ ARABIC SHADDA , U+FE7C ﹼ ARABIC SHADDA ISOLATED FORM , or U+FE7D ﹽ ARABIC SHADDA MEDIAL FORM . The i‘jām ( إِعْجَام ; sometimes also called nuqaṭ ) are

2622-663: Is usually not written in such cases, but if wāw is pronounced as a diphthong /aw/ , fatḥah should be written on the preceding consonant to avoid mispronunciation. The word ḍammah (ضَمَّة) in this context means rounding , since it is the only rounded vowel in the vowel inventory of Arabic. Ḍammah s are encoded U+0619 ؙ ARABIC SMALL DAMMA , U+064F ُ ARABIC DAMMA , U+FE78 ﹸ ARABIC DAMMA ISOLATED FORM , or U+FE79 ﹹ ARABIC DAMMA MEDIAL FORM . The superscript (or dagger) alif ⟨ أَلِف خَنْجَرِيَّة ⟩ ( alif khanjarīyah ),

2691-422: Is usually produced automatically by entering alif lām lām hāʾ . The word consists of alif + ligature of doubled lām with a shaddah and a dagger alif above lām , followed by ha' . The maddah ⟨ مَدَّة ⟩ is a tilde -shaped diacritic, which can only appear on top of an alif (آ) and indicates a glottal stop /ʔ/ followed by a long /aː/ . In theory,

2760-498: Is written as short vertical stroke on top of a letter. It indicates a long /aː/ sound for which alif is normally not written. For example: ⟨ هَٰذَا ⟩ ( hādhā ) or ⟨ رَحْمَٰن ⟩ ( raḥmān ). The dagger alif occurs in only a few words, but they include some common ones; it is seldom written, however, even in fully vocalised texts. Most keyboards do not have dagger alif . The word Allah ⟨ الله ⟩ ( Allāh )

2829-514: Is written without ḥarakāt (or short vowels). However, they are commonly used in texts that demand strict adherence to exact pronunciation. This is true, primarily, of the Qur'an ⟨ ٱلْقُرْآن ⟩ ( al-Qurʾān ) and poetry . It is also quite common to add ḥarakāt to hadiths ⟨ ٱلْحَدِيث ⟩ ( al-ḥadīth ; plural: al-ḥādīth ) and the Bible . Another use

Samarkand Kufic Quran - Misplaced Pages Continue

2898-409: The kāf in its final and isolated forms ⟨ ك  ـك ⟩ was originally an ‘alāmatu-l-ihmāl that became a permanent part of the letter. Previously this sign could also appear above the medial form of kāf , when that letter was written without the stroke on its ascender . When kaf was written without that stroke, it could be mistaken for lam , thus kaf was distinguished with

2967-657: The Republican period in Turkey . Also, the current flag of Iraq (2008) also includes a kufic rendition of the takbir . Similarly, the flag of Iran (1980) has the takbir written in white square kufic script a total of 22 times on the fringe of both the green and red bands. Kufic inscriptions were important in the emergence of textiles too, often functioning as decoration in the form of tiraz bands. According to Maryam Ekhtiar, " tiraz inscriptions were written in Kufic or floriated Kufic script, and later, in naskhi or throughout

3036-472: The Universal Declaration of Human Rights , article 1: Arabic diacritics The Arabic script has numerous diacritics , which include consonant pointing known as iʻjām ( إِعْجَام ), and supplementary diacritics known as tashkīl ( تَشْكِيل ). The latter include the vowel marks termed ḥarakāt ( حَرَكَات ; sg. حَرَكَة , ḥarakah ). The Arabic script is

3105-624: The imams of the mosque and it was sent it to the Imperial Library in Saint Petersburg (now the Russian National Library ). It attracted the attention of Orientalists and eventually S. Pissaref published a facsimile edition in 1905. Unfortunately, before doing so he decided to retrace the fresh ink in the folios whose ink had faded over time. In doing so, he introduced many unintentional alterations into

3174-407: The centuries. The literal meaning of تَشْكِيل tashkīl is 'variation'. As the normal Arabic text does not provide enough information about the correct pronunciation, the main purpose of tashkīl (and ḥarakāt ) is to provide a phonetic guide or a phonetic aid; i.e. show the correct pronunciation for children who are learning to read or foreign learners. The bulk of Arabic script

3243-770: The death of the Islamic Prophet, Muhammad , Uthman commissioned a committee to produce a standard copy of the text of the Quran (see Origin and development of the Quran ). According to one report, 6 certified copies were written of which 5 were dispatched to various parts of the Islamic world, with the sixth being for Uthman's personal use in Medina. Each copy dispatched was accompanied by a reciter. These include: Zayd ibn Thabit (sent to Madinah), Abdullah ibn al-Sa'ib (sent to sent to Makkah), al-Mughirah ibn Shihab (sent to Syria), Amir ibn Abd Qays (sent to Basra) and Abdul Rahman al-Sulami (sent to Kufa). The only other surviving copy

3312-458: The decorations in Kufic scripts, Thuluth used vowels. The main characteristic of the Kufic script "appears to be the transformation of the ancient cuneiform script into the Arabic letters", according to Enis Timuçin Tan. Moreover, it was characterized by figural letters that were shaped in a way to be nicely written on parchment, building and decorative objects like lusterware and coins. Kufic script

3381-411: The definite article is considered a waṣlah . It occurs in phrases and sentences (connected speech, not isolated/dictionary forms): Like the superscript alif, it is not written in fully vocalized scripts, except for sacred texts, like the Quran and Arabized Bible. The sukūn ⟨ سُكُونْ ⟩ is a circle-shaped diacritic placed above a letter (  ْ ). It indicates that

3450-518: The development of Islamic calligraphy. In fact, "it is the first style of Islamic period writings in which the manifestation of art, delicacy and beauty are explicitly evident", says Salwa Ibraheem Tawfeeq Al-Amin. The rule set for this writing was about the angular, linear shapes of the characters. In fact, "the rules that were defined at the outset of the Kufic tradition essentially remained the same throughout its lifespan", says Alain George. The Quran

3519-416: The development of the Kufic script. In fact, "the letter strokes on coins, had become perfectly straight, with curves tending toward geometrical circularity by 86", observes Alain George. As an example, Kufic is commonly seen on Seljuk coins and monuments and on early Ottoman coins. Its decorative character led to its use as a decorative element in several public and domestic buildings constructed prior to

SECTION 50

#1732779642950

3588-465: The diacritic points that distinguish various consonants that have the same form ( rasm ), such as ⟨ ص ⟩ /sˤ/ , ⟨ ض ⟩ /dˤ/ . Typically i‘jām are not considered diacritics but part of the letter. Early manuscripts of the Quran did not use diacritics either for vowels or to distinguish the different values of the rasm . Vowel pointing was introduced first, as

3657-412: The diphthong ay ( IPA /aj/ ). A fatḥah , followed by the letter ⟨ ﻭ ⟩ ( wāw ) with a sukūn , ( ـَوْ ) indicates /aw/ . Sukūn s are encoded U+0652 ْ ARABIC SUKUN , U+FE7E ﹾ ARABIC SUKUN ISOLATED FORM , or U+FE7F ﹿ ARABIC SUKUN MEDIAL FORM . The sukūn may have also an alternative form of

3726-410: The full tashkīl —vowel guides and consonant length. It is however not uncommon for authors to add diacritics to a word or letter when the grammatical case or the meaning is deemed otherwise ambiguous. In addition, classical works and historic documents rendered to the general public are often rendered with the full tashkīl , to compensate for the gap in understanding resulting from stylistic changes over

3795-502: The islamic world" . Those inscriptions include the name of God or the ruler. As an example, the inscription inside the Dome of the Rock is written in Kufic. Throughout the text, we can notice the calligraphic line created by the reed pen which is usually a steady stroke with various thicknesses based on the changes in direction of the movement that has created it. Square or geometric Kufic is

3864-434: The letter to which it is attached is not followed by a vowel, i.e., zero -vowel. It is a necessary symbol for writing consonant-vowel-consonant syllables, which are very common in Arabic. For example: ⟨ دَدْ ⟩ ( dad ). The sukūn may also be used to help represent a diphthong. A fatḥah followed by the letter ⟨ ﻱ ⟩ ( yā’ ) with a sukūn over it ( ـَيْ ) indicates

3933-449: The letters here as well. The major differences between a linear and a spiral Square Kufic calligraphy are This configuration is used as a design centerpiece in buildings for shorter scriptures, name design commissions, and logos. Square Kufic calligraphy is by no means limited to the above configurations. There are many forms that are creative iterations or independent from these formats. Google Fonts: Windows: iOS: Sample text from

4002-547: The page and, showing its antiquity, the text is devoid of vocalisation as was the case with Arabic script back then. Kufic Features Types Types Features Clothing Genres Art music Folk Prose Islamic Poetry Genres Forms Arabic prosody National literatures of Arab States Concepts Texts Fictional Arab people South Arabian deities The Kufic script ( Arabic : الخط الكوفي , romanized :  al-khaṭṭ al-kūfī )

4071-451: The presence of such consonants, however not as drastically realized as in the case of fatḥah . Fatḥah s are encoded U+0618 ؘ ARABIC SMALL FATHA , U+064E َ ARABIC FATHA , U+FE76 ﹶ ARABIC FATHA ISOLATED FORM , or U+FE77 ﹷ ARABIC FATHA MEDIAL FORM . A similar diagonal line below a letter is called a kasrah ⟨ كَسْرَة ⟩ and designates

4140-471: The production of the Blue Quran could only have been contemplated and achieved by a ruler of considerable power and wealth". Ornamental Kufic became an important element in Islamic art as early as the eighth century for Quranic headings, numismatic inscriptions and major commemorative writings. The Kufic script is inscribed on textiles, coins, lusterware, building and so on. Coins were very important in

4209-524: The same sequence /ʔaː/ could also be represented by two alif s, as in * ⟨ أَا ⟩ , where a hamza above the first alif represents the /ʔ/ while the second alif represents the /aː/ . However, consecutive alif s are never used in the Arabic orthography. Instead, this sequence must always be written as a single alif with a maddah above it, the combination known as an alif maddah . For example: ⟨ قُرْآن ⟩ /qurˈʔaːn/ . In Quranic writings,

SECTION 60

#1732779642950

4278-439: The script derives from Kufa , a city in southern Iraq which was considered as an intellectual center within the early Islamic period. Kufic is defined as a highly angular form of the Arabic alphabet originally used in early copies of the Quran. Sheila S. Blair suggests that "the name Kufic was introduced to Western scholarship by Jacob George Christian Adler (1756–1834)". Furthermore, the Kufic script plays an important role in

4347-779: The small high head of ḥāʾ ( U+06E1 ۡ ARABIC SMALL HIGH DOTLESS HEAD OF KHAH ), particularly in some Qurans. Other shapes may exist as well (for example, like a small comma above ⟨ʼ⟩ or like a circumflex ⟨ˆ⟩ in nastaʿlīq ). The three vowel diacritics may be doubled at the end of a word to indicate that the vowel is followed by the consonant n . They may or may not be considered ḥarakāt and are known as tanwīn ⟨ تَنْوِين ⟩ , or nunation. The signs indicate, from left to right, -an, -in, -un . These endings are used as non-pausal grammatical indefinite case endings in Literary Arabic or classical Arabic ( triptotes only). In

4416-514: The sura title as the main feature, often written in gold, with a palmette extending into the margin", comments Marcus Fraser. Its use in transcribing manuscripts has been important in the development of Kufic Script. Earlier kufic was written on manuscripts with precision which contributed to its development. For instance, "the precision achieved in practice is all more remarkable because Kufic manuscripts were not ruled", says Alain George. Moreover, he explains that Kufic manuscripts were laid out with

4485-562: The term for an Arabic script that emphasizes straight and angular strokes, and is most commonly used in Islamic architectural decoration". Square Kufic ( Arabic : ٱلْكُوفِيّ ٱلمُرَبَّع ), also sometimes known as banna'i ( بَنَائِيّ , "masonry" script), is a bare Arabic writing form that developed in the 12th century. Invented in Iraq, it was prominently used in Iranian architecture with bricks and tiles functioning as pixels . Legibility

4554-680: The text. This rendered the text corrupted and hence useless for the purpose of textual study. After the October Revolution , Lenin , in an act of goodwill to the Muslims of Russia, gave the Quran to the people of Ufa in Bashkortostan . After repeated appeals by the people of the Turkestan ASSR , the Quran was returned to Central Asia , to Tashkent, in 1924, where it has since remained. The parchment manuscript now

4623-468: The time when the i‘jām was optional, unpointed letters were ambiguous. To clarify that a letter would lack i‘jām in pointed text, the letter could be marked with a small v- or seagull -shaped diacritic above, also a superscript semicircle (crescent), a subscript dot (except in the case of ⟨ ح ⟩ ; three dots were used with ⟨ س ⟩ ), or a subscript miniature of the letter itself. A superscript stroke known as jarrah , resembling

4692-409: Was first written in a plain, slanted, and uniform script but, when its content was formalized, a script that denoted authority emerged. This coalesced into what is now known as Primary Kufic script. Kufic was prevalent in manuscripts from the 7th to 10th centuries. Around the 8th century, it was the most important of several variants of Arabic scripts with its austere and fairly low vertical profile and

4761-628: Was thought to be the one held in Topkapı Palace in Turkey , but studies have shown that the Topkapı manuscript is also not from the 7th century, but from much later. Uthman was succeeded by Ali , who is thought to have taken the Uthmanic Quran to Kufa , now in Iraq . According to another, the Quran was brought from the ruler of Rum to Samarkand by Khoja Ahrar , a Turkestani sufi master, as

#949050