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“Hijri calligraphy” is not established in the sources as a distinct calligraphic style. Hijri refers to the Islamic calendar; Kufic, Naskh, Ruq’ah, Thuluth and Hijazi are names for scripts or calligraphic traditions. The useful way to understand the phrase is Arabic and Islamic calligraphy in works dated by the Hijri calendar.
What does “Hijri calligraphy” mean?
Arabic calligraphy is artistic handwriting using Arabic script. Arabic is written cursively from right to left, and the shaping of its letters can emphasize harmony, grace and beauty. The Hijri calendar is a way to date events and objects; it does not name a calligraphic hand. The Victoria and Albert Museum, UNESCO and museum collections discuss Arabic or Islamic calligraphy and use historical periods or dates, but do not identify a standardized style called “Hijri calligraphy.”
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That distinction matters when describing an artwork: a date may be Hijri, while the writing is in a particular script tradition, on a particular surface, and made for a particular purpose. “Hijazi” is a historical script name, not another spelling of “Hijri.”
Why calligraphy is prominent in Islamic art
Calligraphy has a central place in Islamic visual culture in part because the Qur’an is central to Muslim religious life. Qur’anic writing appears in manuscripts and on buildings, but calligraphy is not limited to sacred text. Artists and scribes have also written poetry, praise, aphorisms and other secular content. A calligraphic work may be intended to communicate readable words, contribute to an architectural setting, or make writing itself a visual form.
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Its appearance depends on both purpose and medium. A manuscript page, a monumental inscription and writing on a ceramic vessel pose different demands: the lettering may prioritize reading, decoration or a balance of the two. Some works remain readily legible; others treat letters more abstractly. The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s 2019 exhibition overview presents this range across periods and media.
How Arabic calligraphic traditions developed
Early Qur’an manuscripts
The Victoria and Albert Museum describes a distinctive Qur’an manuscript form established by the eighth century and continuing until changes in materials, script and format in the tenth century brought Qur’an copies closer to other fine manuscripts. More fluid styles developed, and by the thirteenth century they had replaced older hands in Qur’an production. Later calligraphers refined styles in regional and dynastic settings.
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One object-specific example helps clarify the names. The Metropolitan Museum’s record for an eighth- to ninth-century Qur’an folio describes early surviving Qur’ans written in a tall, streamlined Hijazi hand on vertical parchment. It notes the development of horizontal formats and Kufic writing under the Umayyads; in the folio, elongated letters fill the horizontal lines. This is the record’s account of that manuscript and period, not a universal sequence for every Qur’an copy.
Early scripts often lacked dots and vowel or consonant signs. The Met record notes that marks were later added to help readers follow the text. These features belong to the history of Arabic writing and manuscript reading, not to a separate “Hijri” style.
Manuscripts, materials and wider use
Manuscript production expanded alongside the spread of Islam and the need to preserve and distribute authoritative Qur’an copies. Discover Islamic Art also connects this history with the arrival of papermaking in the Middle East and the Umayyad administration’s use of Arabic. Arabic calligraphic traditions were adapted for Persian, Turkish and later Urdu.
Calligraphy also moved well beyond manuscripts. It appears on architecture, coins, textiles, wood, stone, glass, metalwork and ceramics. The material shapes what is possible: a scribe writing on prepared paper works differently from a craftsperson carving, embroidering or etching letters into another surface. In the late nineteenth century, mechanical printing became permitted for Qur’an texts, though the V&A notes that the text to be printed was still written by a traditional scribe.
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- Naskh is one of the six major cursive Arabic scripts
- Its origins can be traced back to the late 8th century AD and it is still in use today, over 1300 years later
- In its earliest form Naskh was a utilitarian script, mainly used for ordinary correspondence on papyrus, but during the 10th and 11th centuries it was completely transformed by the elegant refinements of the great Abbasid calligraphers
- The Ottoman Turks also considered Naskh the script most suited for copying the Quran
How to distinguish the names of scripts
Kufic is one important tradition, not a synonym for all Islamic calligraphy. Qatar’s Ministry of Culture lists Naskh, Ruq’ah, Kufic and Thuluth among Arabic calligraphy types. Museum records also document early Hijazi writing. These names refer to different script traditions; none is interchangeable with the Hijri calendar.
There is no single ranking of these styles or simple progression in which one universally replaces another. To compare examples, look at the question the work is answering:
- Purpose: Is the writing meant to be read, to mark a building or object, to decorate a surface, or to function as contemporary visual art?
- Legibility: Can the words be read readily, or are the letters used in a more abstract, decorative way?
- Script and tradition: Which named hand or regional tradition is identified, and what does the object’s date and context establish?
- Medium: Is the work on paper or parchment, or on architecture, ceramic, metal, cloth, wood, stone or glass?
- Tools and technique: Was it written with a pen and ink, painted, carved, embroidered or etched?
Tools and materials used in Arabic calligraphy
Traditional practice can involve a qalam—a pen made from reed or bamboo—along with ink, an inkwell, a sharpener and prepared paper. UNESCO describes traditional ink made with honey, black soot and saffron, and handmade paper treated with starch, egg white and alum. These are documented materials, not a requirement that every calligrapher use one fixed recipe.
Contemporary work may use markers and synthetic paint; spray paint is used in calligraffiti. Calligraphic forms can also be made through carving in marble or wood, embroidery and metal etching. Qatar’s Ministry of Culture lists wood, metal, porcelain, glass, marble and cloth among surfaces used for calligraphy. Choose tools for the intended surface and the kind of practice you want: a qalam suits a traditional pen-led approach, while markers or paint suit some contemporary approaches.
How people learn calligraphy
Learning can take place through formal education, specialist schools, apprenticeships and informal teaching. UNESCO’s description of Arabic calligraphy recognizes these different ways skills are transmitted. For a learner, the right starting point depends on whether the goal is to practice a traditional pen technique, study a particular script, or explore lettering as contemporary painting and design.
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