islamic manuscript examples in chapter 10

The image below, from a copy of the Qur’an, illustrates how the combination of scripts works. Scripts can be combined together to create beauty, but also to help orient the reader within the text. From the top, they are: naskh, thuluth, muhaqqaq, rayhan, tawqiʻ, riqaʻ. For the most part, you will not see them in codices. The bottom pair ( riqaʻ and tawqiʻ ) are scripts mostly used for correspondence and not for book copying. The top pair and second pair are basically each a small and large version of the same script: naskh (small) and thuluth (large), rayhan (small) and muhaqqaq (large). The six below can be broken up into three sets of two. The scripts can be scaled up and down easily and are quite readable. They are what is known as proportioned script because the letter sizes are in proportion one to another. There are six scripts which are known as the ‘Six Pens’.

(Image: detail from Columbia University RBML MS Or 238 on OPenn) Six Pens The strokes in maghribi also tend to be of a more uniform thickness than in other scripts because of the way the reed pen is cut. Maghribi script has a few particular letter shapes and is generally more curvilinear than naskh. Scripts used in manuscripts produced in West Africa also have more similarities with maghribi than they do with scripts produced elsewhere. Maghribi is the book hand of North Africa (excluding Egypt) and southern Spain. (Image: detail from Columbia University RBML MS Or 25 on OPenn) Maghribi In comparison to naskh, nastaʻliq slants more to the right and has more ligatures.

It is used for the vast majority of Persian language manuscripts. Nastaʻliq is the book hand of the Indo-Persian region. (Image: detail from Bryn Mawr College Libraries BV53 on OPenn) Nastaʻliq It is also sometimes used when copying books in Arabic in areas such as Iran, India, Anatolia, etc. It is clear, readable and is not specific to any region, though it does tend to be used more heavily in the central region, meaning Egypt, Syria and surrounding areas. When a script name is linked, click on the name to see an example page of the script from OPenn’s collection. There are several scripts that commonly appear in Islamic manuscripts, but the following three are the main types that you will probably run across when looking at manuscripts.

Islamic manuscript examples in chapter 10