Words in Visual Art
Arabic calligraphy is a purely Islamic art, as it is a product of the Islamic religion and is closely linked to the Qur’an. no civilization had elevated words to such a refined level of visual art. How did this art originate and how did it develop until it reached the global level? Is the distinguished status of Arabic calligraphy in the lives of Muslims a coincidence or did it arise from its connection to the Islamic religion, or are there other motives? Their answer is here.
The heritage of Muslims was wonderful in the field of Arabic calligraphy, which made it a distinctive art of Islamic civilization throughout ages. In every part of the world, calligraphy and writing formed essential manifestations of Islamic civilization
Arabic calligraphy is considered the most important art that Islamic civilization gave to the world. It is present in all types of architecture as well as in utensils, furniture and clothing. It is not an entertaining or aesthetic art devoid of function, but rather an industry that arouses in the soul the most sincere feelings of reverence and veneration and makes the Muslim feel that he is a member of the Islamic nation, as it is above all a tool of Quranic expression, and in another sense it is spiritual engineering with a physical machine that combines the abstraction of meaning and the materiality of drawing. More importantly, it surrounds the viewer with cognitive aesthetic frameworks that mix the material with the abstract, so he sees himself in it and works to transcend the material in search of the abstract, solidifying his faith in Allah Almighty and striving with it to advance in the degrees of perfection
How does a word have a visual function?
“We do not find among the peoples of Mesopotamia, the Hebrews, the Hindus, the Greeks, the Romans, and the Arabs themselves, anyone who tried to discover the aesthetic value of the visual word,” says Dr. Ismail Faruqi, one of the world’s leading specialists in the study of Islam. “But the advent of Islam opened new horizons for the word as a means of artistic expression. Indeed, the Islamic genius here is unparalleled. This line has become a type of arabesque, and we can therefore imagine it as an independent work of art, purely Islamic, regardless of its intellectual content”.
This is confirmed by Dr. Mustafa Abdul Rahim in an article in the Kuwaiti newspaper Al-Anbaa, saying: “Arabic calligraphy is the only art that originated purely Arab, clean and unaffected by other influences. Some orientalists say : “If you want to study Islamic art, you should go directly to the art of Arabic calligraphy.”
Dr. Ragheb Al-Sarjani says in his study on Arabic calligraphy that Arabic sources, such as Al-Iqd Al-Fareed, Khulasat Al-Athar, Al-Bidayah wa Al-Nihayah, Al-Kamil, Al-Fihrist, Subh Al-A’sha, and others, have agreed that Arabic calligraphy has not received the attention and creativity it received from any civilized nation as it has from Muslims.
Within a short period of time, the Muslim artist was able to give the word another visible function, in addition to its audible function. As soon as the word entered this aesthetic field, development began to proceed with it in rapid steps, keeping pace with the steps of the art of decoration, and even preceding it. There was close cooperation between the two arts.