Islamic Art and Arabic Calligraphy

Al-Hambra Palace (Grenada, Spain) Islamic art is generally split up into three components:

1. Arabic calligraphy (or Khatt),
2. Geometric patterns, and
3. Arabesque designs, which are floral and vegetal motifs usually made from geometric patterns.

Most pieces of Islamic art use a combination of all three components, resulting in intricate designs that almost camouflage the calligraphy within. Examples such as the one on the right can be found all over the Muslim world and beyond.

What is Arabic Calligraphy?

Arabic calligraphy is the art of beautiful writing using the letters of the Arabic alphabet. The Arabic word for calligraphy, Khatt is derived from the words 'line', 'design' and 'construction'. It was developed mainly as a result of the advent of Islam, which led to a desire to beautify the text of the Qur’an. As time went on, calligraphy increased in sophistication and rules governing the proportions of the letters were formalised.

The man credited with this was a calligrapher called Ibn-Muqla who lived in the 9th century. He formalised the rules for the ‘six hands' - a collection of six cursive scripts. Over time hundreds of different scripts were created, but only several primary styles that are in common use.

Geometric Patterns

Geometric patterns reached their pinnacle in the Islamic world, but the origins of the art form lay with the Greeks and the Romans. Islamic artists borrowed these early geometric decorations and elaborated them, creating patterns that stressed the importance of unity and order. The patterns were built from four basic shapes, circles, squares, triangles and multi-sided polygons. Arranging these in different ways allowed artists to create intricate patterns that could be repeated infinitely.