When I was a little kid whenever we drove by mosques, I would be intrigued by the complex motifs they’re decorated by. I always tried to figure out the pattern; to me it was just a pattern, I never thought it can be writing because they didn’t look like letters from any alphabet I knew at the time. I remember thinking that I had finally found a full pattern that was only to be broken in the next square. As I grew older I learned that these pieces that resemble a labyrinth, at first sight, have so much more to offer than just lush visuals. Verses from the Quran were taken and turned into striking artwork carrying valuable messages. The more I learned about Islamic calligraphy and especially square Kufic, the more interesting it became and I will be delighted to share this fascination with my readers.
The importance of calligraphy in Islamic culture is indisputable. Unlike in Christian culture, the visual depiction of verses from the Holy Book is not used in decoration. Calligraphy shows itself reciting the Quran with beautiful writing decorating everything from mosques to plates to clothes to carpets. Islamic Calligraphy derives from two main styles; Naskh and Kufic. The peculiarity of Kufic Calligraphy is the straight and structured lettering. The Kufic style in itself comes in a variety of styles such as floriated, square, knotted, new style… The patterns that appear complex and random comes with strict rules and systematics. This form of Islamic Art is gaining popularity again due to its moderln and graphic look and resurfacing the traditional alluring patterns.
Square Kufic dates all the way back to the 12th-13th century. Sometimes it is also referred to as banna-i which is a Farsi word and it is mostly used to refer to the architectural square Kufic. There are two main theories about how Square Kufic came into being. The first one suggests a fusion between the Arabic script and the Chinese seal script; the Arabic script was fitted into the forms of Chinese scripts and created square Kufic. The second theory argues that it came from architectural adaptations of Arabic script. The second theory seems to be more accreditable and I saw some articles mentioning this assumption as well. This is further supported by the first examples of square Kufic. These were seen in architecture and was done using bricks packed next to one another. The earliest example is from Ghazni (modern-day Afghanistan) in Sultan Meshud Tower also known as the Victory Towers or Masud III Tower.
As I have mentioned above, Kufic calligraphy has strict rules but in square Kufic, these rules are often bent, and even broken. The letters and the overall script is skewed to fit it into shape. This is why sometimes it can be very hard to decipher what was written in the text. I think the fact that it is not always done to pass on the message openly excites me too. Having a somewhat hidden message in the image makes things a lot more amusing. The only rule that is always followed is keeping the filled out and empty spaces even especially when it comes to thickess. Although this is the rule, the artist might knowingly leave out spaces to create a pattern within the pattern. Typically, the diacritical dots are not used when writing down the script in this form but there are examples of square Kufic using diacritical dots as well. Sometimes dots are used not for diacritical purposes but as filler dots.
The technicalities can get a little bit confusing but I’ll do my best to simplify them and keep it short. The script is written commonly clockwise but it can be anticlockwise or a zigzag pattern. Furthermore, the direction of the writing can change midway to make it fit into the shape. Not only the direction of writing but even the letters and their forms are played with to fill up space evenly. Although the name is Square Kufic, there are many shapes the script can be fitted into. Most commonly it is rectangular shapes but it can be even other words that the Kufic is written into. Once a verse or a single word is written in Square Kufic form, it can be repeated to create a pattern. Sometimes the initial piece is rotated in various ways to create different patterns. This is why I think it is sort of like a pixel, it is the one of many which an image, pattern is created. I envisage that the flexibility it has in comparison to other forms of Kufic makes it easier to adapt to the aesthetic likes we have today. There are two modern-day square Kufic artists that I very much enjoy the work of. These are Kamal Boullata and Ahmed Moustafa. I wasn’t sure if I can include designs of these artists due to copyrights but I most definitely recommend a quick Google search. Ahmed Moustafa can combine different styles of Calligraphy creating multi-layered masterpieces. Kamal Boulata, a Palestinian Christian combines the traditional styles with modern movements combined with impeccable color harmonizations. He uses not only verses from the Quran but also the Gospel of Saint John.
Taking a step back to the past, one specific example of square Kufic I want to look at in more detail is located in Topkapı Palace, about 30 minutes away from where I am writing this article. The examples on this scroll are some of the oldest of its kind that survived to this day. It is not known exactly when, where, or by whom it was made, although we do know that it was done by a single person. It is assumed that it was done either 15th or 16th century in Iran but not known where exactly in Iran (there is different evidence pointing to different cities). The scroll is impressive in size and design. It is almost 30 meters long which is almost 100 feet. It is actually two different parchments that were combined into one scroll. The scroll shows the different geometrical shapes done in the Timurid architectural style. It is made as a guide for architectural designs and these include square Kufic as well. I can’t help but think how much one had to master different styles of design and calligraphy to be able to prepare a guide for it. Although I have been to the Topkapı Palace multiple times, I don’t remember seeing this scroll (well, the Palace is enormous) but I am very excited to go and examine it in detail.
Valérie González, an expert on Islamic visual culture, mentions “Sometimes calligraphy is so manipulated visually that the legibility is very difficult” in a lecture she gave in Casa Árabe. Probably the eyes of the little girl I used to be were interested in this elaborate style because it was not meant to be understood right away. This form of art has so many layers to be discovered and every layer is even more valuable than the previous one. At first, the eyes are blessed with the intricate design. Then the mind tries to decipher the pattern and the words. Lastly, the meaning and the message makes it more memorable and leaves you with something to think over. Unfortunately, I am not able to decipher these on my own and I need a little bit of help to go deeper than the first layer. Nevertheless, my fascination exceeds what my mind comprehends.
For anyone who wants to learn more about calligraphy in general here is a documentary I very much enjoyed: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v9uuNagb4po
Some of the useful technical information I found was on two sources;
First one is kufic.info, it is a website explaining many aspects of Square Kufic
The second one is the article here; https://design.tutsplus.com/tutorials/creative-arabic-calligraphy-square-kufic–cms-23012
If you speak Turkish, I found the article “Kufi Yazıda Geometrik Yorumlar Üzerine Bir Deneme” by Omiir Bakirer very helpful. It can be found on dergipark.
