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StillnessCalligraphic art fact

Arabic calligraphy is the art of beautiful writing in the Arabic script. Because the letters join from right to left, calligraphers can stretch, compress and stack them, controlling every line with a pen cut from reed, called a qalam.

Arabic calligraphy

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The story behind the card

Arabic has 28 letters, and most change shape depending on whether they stand alone or join the letters beside them, which gives the calligrapher great freedom. In the tenth century Ibn Muqla, a vizier in Baghdad, set rules of proportion using the diamond-shaped dot made by the pen's tip as a unit of measure, and six classic styles grew from them, among them the monumental thuluth and the clear naskh used for books. Training is long: students copy a master's models stroke by stroke until they receive a licence, the ijaza, to sign their own work, a tradition that was especially strong in Ottoman Istanbul. Calligraphers cut their own reed pens and often use soot-based ink. In 2021 UNESCO listed Arabic calligraphy as Intangible Cultural Heritage.

Türkçe oku
Arap hat sanatı, Arap harfleriyle güzel yazı yazma sanatıdır. Harfler sağdan sola birbirine bağlandığı için hattat onları uzatabilir, sıkıştırabilir, üst üste bindirebilir; her çizgiyi kamıştan açılmış kalemle denetler.

Arap alfabesinde 28 harf vardır ve bunların çoğu tek başına durmasına ya da yanındaki harflere bağlanmasına göre biçim değiştirir; bu da hattata büyük bir serbestlik tanır. 10. yüzyılda Bağdat'ta vezirlik yapan İbn Mukle, kalemin ucunun bıraktığı eşkenar dörtgen biçimli noktayı ölçü birimi alarak harflerin oranlarını kurala bağladı. Bu kurallardan, aralarında anıtsal sülüs ile kitaplarda kullanılan okunaklı nesih de bulunan altı temel yazı türü doğdu. Eğitim uzun sürer: öğrenci ustasının örneklerini çizgi çizgi taklit eder ve sonunda kendi eserini imzalamasına izin veren icazeti alır. Bu gelenek Osmanlı İstanbul'unda özellikle güçlüydü. Hattatlar kamış kalemlerini kendileri açar, çoğunlukla isten yapılmış mürekkep kullanır. UNESCO 2021'de Arap hat sanatını Somut Olmayan Kültürel Miras listesine aldı.

Sources and further reading

Background reading: Arabic calligraphy
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