Islamic Paleography and the Evolution of the Early Codices: From the Hijazi Script to Artistic Refinement

This lecture was delivered within the “Mushaf Course: History and Characteristics,” organized by the Center for Manuscripts and the Center for Calligraphy Studies at the Bibliotheca Alexandrina (August 2018), in which Dr. Mohamed Hassan presented this session dedicated to the science of paleography and the evolution of the early codices. It continues the study of the history of the “manuscript codices,” focusing on the importance of paleography in dating the texts and determining their geographical identity, and reviewing the theory of the French scholar François Déroche on the evolution of the codices in the Umayyad and Abbasid eras. What follows is a structured record of its main themes, allowing it to be read as a text alongside watching it in full in the video above.

The study of the ancient Arabic scripts and the Qur’anic manuscripts is among the most complex branches of knowledge, where the arts intersect with history, creed, and geometry. This lecture offers a precise grounding of the science of paleography in the Islamic context, shedding light on the evolution of the codices in the Umayyad and Abbasid eras based on the theory of the French scholar François Déroche, and reviewing the academic methodology required to study specific historical periods (such as the Mamluk era) and how to read the visual and technical development of the calligrapher’s tools.

Theme One: The Methodological Grounding of Paleography

Paleography is defined as the science concerned with determining the time, place, and arts relating to writing, such that the manuscript or inscribed piece is studied according to the historical and civilizational foundations that prevailed in its age. It rests on an essential backbone, the science of calligraphy (Calligraphy Science), to which are added two highly important branches:

1. The script of the discipline (khaṭṭ al-ʿilm): the terminology and methods of recording and annotation agreed upon by the people of a given specialty or craft (such as the language of the stationers and copyists).
2. The script of the scholar (khaṭṭ al-ʿālim): the unique style by which a specific scholar became known in his recording and annotation, such that his symbols and abbreviations are understood only by his students and close circle.

The Ten Pillars of the Science of Calligraphy

The study of calligraphy is not confined to the form of the letter, but extends to encompass ten knowledge and applied tributaries:

1. The calligrapher’s output and calligraphic lineage: studying the calligraphic legacy embodied in the teaching copybooks (mashq), the calligraphic panels, and the instructional treatises (such as the “versified genealogy poem”).
2. Qur’anic manuscripts: the apex of paleographic study; the codex is the refined manuscript whose study reflects all the arts of its age: ornamentation, binding, and types of writing.
3. Treasury manuscripts: the luxurious manuscripts written by the order of sultans and princes to be preserved in the royal treasuries (such as the Sahih al-Bukhari copied by the famous calligrapher Hasan al-Rida in the Ottoman era).
4. Buildings and inscriptions: the calligrapher on paper cannot be separated from the calligrapher on buildings; the works of the calligrapher Abdullah Zuhdi (summoned by Khedive Ismail) in the Prophet’s Mosque, the “Sabil of Umm Abbas,” and the “Sabil of Sheikh Salih Abu Hadid” are living examples of this.
5. Diplomatics: the study of the systems of Islamic civilization in the state’s registers (in the East and the Maghrib), and the types of scripts used in endorsement and signing.
6. Royal emblems: including the ṭirāz, the blazons (runūk), the monogram, and the ṭughrāʼ, usually studied in the colophon or the opening pages.
7. Moveable artifacts: the study of the inscriptions on ivory in al-Andalus (which was brought from Africa to make women’s jewelry and inscribed with foliated Kufic), the Iranian ceramics ringed with circular Kufic (as in the dissertation of Dr. Shibl Ubaid at Cairo University), the copper pen-cases inlaid with gold and silver, and the glass tools and clasps.
8. Ideology and beliefs: creed shapes the form of the manuscript; the Fatimid script cannot be studied without understanding Ismaili Shiite thought (and the efforts of the Institute of Ismaili Studies), nor the Ottoman script without understanding the calligraphers’ attachment to the Sufi orders (such as the Rifaʿi and the Bektashi).
9. Raw materials: the study of the history of paper and the making of papyrus (papyrology), Egypt having been the most important station for its export.
10. Illuminations: the study of the early Qur’anic ornaments and their visual references drawn from earlier civilizations.

Theme Two: A Paleographic Case Study of the Codex in the Mamluk Era

To present a mature paleographic study of the codices during the Mamluk era (1250 to 1517 CE), a knowledge framework must be built in which the historical sources intersect with the artistic ones:

Literary and Historical Sources

Reading the historical works to know the context of stationery and copying, such as: al-Suluk li-Maʿrifat Duwal al-Muluk by al-Maqrizi, al-Nujum al-Zahira by Ibn Taghribirdi, and Badaʼiʿ al-Zuhur by Ibn Iyas; alongside the encyclopedia Ṣubḥ al-Aʿshā by al-Qalqashandi (the third part specifically), which documented the development of documentary writing and “the six pens” (The Six Pens): Thuluth, Naskh, Riqāʿ, Tawqiʿ, Rayhan, and Muhaqqaq, which prevailed in the Mamluk chancery in Egypt and the Levant.

The Literature of Calligraphy and the Foundational Manuscripts

• “A Treatise on the Script and the Trimming of the Pen” by the Mamluk calligrapher Ibn al-Sayigh, edited in an exemplary manner by Dr. Farouk Saad.
• “Jamiʿ Mahasin Kitabat al-Kuttab”: a pivotal book that requires consulting three editions together for a complete view:
  1. The edition of Dr. Salah al-Din al-Munajjid (1967): it establishes the intellectual and theoretical framework, despite the poor printing of that time.
  2. The edition of the calligrapher Raad al-Husseini: it represents the vision of the “calligrapher” who perceives the hidden rules of the script, despite the absence of color from his edition.
  3. The edition of Dr. Abdulaziz al-Mani: which provided a full-color facsimile of the copy preserved in the Topkapı Palace Museum in Istanbul, the visual proof.

Modern and Orientalist Studies

• “The Qurʼanic Art of Illumination” by the Orientalist who embraced Islam, Martin Lings, in an elegant edition by Dar al-Maknaz.
• The studies of David James on the Mamluk codices (The Qurʼans of the Mamluks).
• The thesis of Sherine al-Muteini (Faculty of Fine Arts in Zamalek, Helwan University) on the codex and its influence on the contemporary arts.
• The studies of Dr. Nassar Mansour (Al al-Bayt University in Jordan), a professor who revived the “Muhaqqaq script” and derived for it a “calligraphic mashq” (a rule for teaching students), and supervised specialized theses on the “sarlawh” (Sarloha), the double frontispiece page in the Mamluk codices (al-Fatiha and the beginning of al-Baqara).

Reading the Documents and Manuscripts

The picture is completed only by studying the documents of the era, such as:

• The documents preserved in the Monastery of Saint Catherine, which reveal the secrets of writing the basmala in the signed and merged script.
• The signatures of the sultans (such as the signature of Sultan Qalawun), and the copyists’ use of slanted lines in the interstitial spaces of documents to prevent forgery and the addition of texts.
• The longest inscription recorded in history (13 meters) for Sultan Qalawun, which includes the honorific and ceremonial phrases.
• The enormous case of Sultan al-Ghuri’s codex, currently preserved at the University of Manchester.

Theme Three: The Mindset of the Calligrapher and the Geography of Scripts

The paleographer must “suffer and think as the calligrapher thinks,” through understanding:

1. Tools and materials: studying burnished paper, the types of pen-nibs (metal and lapis), and the methods of “cutting the pen” (pen cutting), of which Mr. Muhammad al-Maghribi is the most prominent contemporary master, in addition to the efforts of researchers such as Mr. Bilal (the Muhammad Ibrahim School of Calligraphy) in collecting pen-nibs from the era of Saad Zaghloul and King Fuad, and the use of “Java” pens (imported from Indonesia and sold by the centimeter).
2. Sizes and dimensions: grasping the size of the original manuscript to read it correctly, and not relying on digital images alone.
3. Anatomy and typology: understanding the fine differences; writing the basmala in the Diwani script differs entirely from writing it in the “chained Diwani” pattern (as written by Sheikh Muhammad Abd al-Aziz al-Rifaʿi in the Ottoman era), where the letters merge with aesthetic complexity.
4. The geography of the script: the term “Naskh script” is not academically sufficient; the Naskh of the Abbasid era (as in the codex of Ibn al-Bawwab, the first codex written in the Naskh script for its majesty, to break the monopoly of the Kufic/Jali script) differs from the Ottoman Naskh (the school of Muhammad Shawqi), and differs radically from the Persian Naskh (the school of Ahmad al-Nayrizi in Iran), which retained a distinctive Persian imprint.
5. The diversity of forms: among its examples is the codex written in the “Nastaʿliq” script (the suspended Naskh) written by the Alexandrian calligrapher Mr. Muhammad Ibrahim in 1945 as a gift to King Farouk on the occasion of his turning twenty-five; it was printed at the Survey/Amiri Press after its review by the chief of the reciters, and its copies were distributed among the League of Arab States, the Library of Congress, and the Bibliotheca Alexandrina.

Theme Four: The Evolution of the Early Codices (François Déroche’s Theory)

While the codices of the Umayyad and Abbasid eras lack recorded dates, it is paleography that dates them based on the technical development, according to the theory of François Déroche:

The Hijazi Script (the Untamed Stage)

• Visual specifications: it is distinguished by the vertical format of the page, and the leaning of the letters toward the right (consistent with the description of Ibn al-Nadim in al-Fihrist).
• The untamed pen: it was called “untamed” for the absence of melting and refinement; the calligrapher wrote with the full thickness of the pen (its three-thirds) without lifting the nib to form fine lines (a third of the thickness) in letters such as the wāw.
• Important examples: the codices preserved in Saint Petersburg, the British Library, and the Heidelberg manuscript, on which Dr. Bashir al-Humairi worked.

The Entry of “Calligraphic Craft” and Refinement

• The horizontal format: the manuscripts shifted to the horizontal format.
• Page geometry: frames, the levelness of the lines, and harmony between the words appeared, instead of random crowding.
• Refinement of the letters: the calligrapher mastered directing the pen; in the letter qāf he came to use a third of the pen’s thickness for the beginning of the letter, then the full thickness to complete the curve, and the size of the leaning “tail of the alif” gradually shrank until it became vertical and straight. In this context, one must grasp the names of the parts of the letters as the ancients defined them (such as: kasiya, zinad, and ʿayn hirr).

Dotting and Case-Vowel Marks

The Qur’anic manuscript moved from the absence of dotting, to the case-vowel dotting (the circle of Abu al-Aswad al-Du’ali), then to the poetic dotting / iʿjām (the system of al-Khalil ibn Ahmad al-Farahidi). Studies indicate that the Abbasid state used this artistic development as a political tool to found an official script differing from the scripts of Kufa, which was the spiritual stronghold of the Shia.

Later Developments

• The appearance of the zulf: the upper “zulf” (serifs) began to appear in the Thuluth script, and the pointed, thorny beginnings and endings in the Persian Nastaʿliq script.
• Eastern / Iranian Kufic: which arose in Baghdad and Iran (such as Nishapur) in the fourth and fifth centuries, and represented the peak of the sharp refinement of the Kufic script.
• The codex of the wet-nurse of al-Muʿizz ibn Badis al-Sanhaji: (the fifth Hijri century), a splendid codex from which the contemporary calligrapher Amer Ben Jeddou was able to derive a complete calligraphic rule (mashq) to revive this splendid Andalusi/Maghribi script.

Conclusion

The study of Islamic paleography affirms that the Arabic manuscript is not merely a rigid vessel for the text, but a living being that grows and is affected by the conflicts of politics, the complexities of creed, and the development of the engineering of materials and the skills of the craftsmen. At a time when Western Orientalist studies monopolize, by virtue of enormous funding and accumulated knowledge, the production of the largest studies on our codices and their evolution, it has become imperative for Arab researchers and academic institutions to regain the initiative to deconstruct, study, and catalogue this immense civilizational and human heritage with a sober and complete visual and scholarly vision.