Nasta'liq

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Image:Nastaliq.jpg Nasta'liq is a calligraphy style for Arabic alphabet. It was developed in Iran in 14th and 15th centuries. Contrary to many other Arabic scripts, no diacritic mark (Harakat) is transcribed in Nasta'liq. It has thus rarely been used for writing Arabic texts. Instead, numerous Persian poems and prose have been scripted in Nasta'liq. Nasta'liq has extensively been practiced in Iran as a form of art. A less elaborate version of Nasta'liq serves as the preferred style for writing Urdu. It was also used for writing Ottoman Turkish.

Nasta'liq is amongst the most fluid calligraphy styles for Arabic alphabet. It has short verticals with no serifs, and long horizontal strokes. It is written using a piece of trimmed reed with a tip of 5-10 mm, called 'qalam' (pen, in Arabic), and carbon ink, named 'davat'. The nib of a qalam is usually split in the middle to facilitate ink absorption.

Two important forms of Nasta'liq panels are Chalipa and Siah-Masq. A Chalipa (cross, in Persian) panel usually consists of four diagonal hemistiches, clearly signifying a moral, ethical or poetic concept. Siah-Masq (inked drill) panels however communicate via composition and form, rather than content. In Siah-Masq, repeating a few (sometimes even one) letters or words virtually inks the whole panel. The content is thus of less significance and not clearly accessible.

1 History
2 Notable Nasta'liq calligraphists
3 Etiquette
4 Nasta'liq typesetting
5 External links

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History

After Islamic conquest of Persia, Iranians adopted Arabic alphabet and the art of Arabic calligraphy flourished in Iran alongside other Islamic countries. Apparently, Mir Ali Tabrizi (14th century) developed Nasta'liq by combining two existing scripts of Naskh and Ta'liq. Hence, it was originally called Naskh-Taliq. Nasta'liq thrived gradually and many prominent calligraphists contributed to its splendor and beauty. It is believed that Nasta'liq reached its highest elegance in Mir Emad's works. The current practice of Nasta'liq is however heavily based on Mirza Reza Kalhor's manner. Kalhor modified and adapted Nasta'liq to be easily used with printing machines, which in return helped wide dissemination of his transcripts. He also devised methods for teaching Nasta'liq and specified clear proportional rules for it, which many could follow. The Mughal Empire used Persian as the court language during their rule over the Indian subcontinent. During this time, Nasta'liq became in widespread use in South Asia, including Pakistan, India, and Bangladesh. The influence remains to this day. In Pakistan, almost everything in Urdu is written in the script, and you see more Nasta'liq in this country than anywhere else in the world. In Hyderabad, Lucknow, and other cities with large Urdu-speaking populations have many street signs in Nasta'liq. The situation of Nasta'liq in Bangladesh used to be the same as in Pakistan until 1971, when Urdu ceased to remain an official language of the country. Today, only a few neighborhoods (mostly inhabited by Biharis) in Dhaka and Chittagong retain the influence of the Persian and Nasta'liq of the Mughals.

Nasta'liq is a descendant of Naskh and Ta'liq. Shekasteh Nasta'liq (literarily `broken' Nasta'liq) style is a successor of Nasta'liq.

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Notable Nasta'liq calligraphists

Mir Ali Tabrizi
Mir Emad
Mirza Jafar Tabrizi
Abdul Rashid Deilami
Sultan Ali Mashadi
Mir Ali Heravi (16 A.D.)
Emad Ul-Kottab
Gholam Reza Esfehani
Mirza Reza Kalhor
Mirza Abbas Nuri, later known as Mirza Buzurg-i-Nuri (Vizir at the court of Fath Ali Shah and father of Baha-u-llah).
Áqá Husayn-í-Isfahání better known as Mishkín-Qalam (The Musk Scented - Jet Black Pen).

And among contemporary artists:

Hassan Mirkhani
Hossein Mirkhani
Abbas Akhavein
Qolam-Hossein Amirkhani.

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Etiquette

Arabic calligraphy was originally used to adorn Islamic religious texts, specifically Quran, as pictorial ornaments were prohibited in Islam. Therefore, a sense of sacredness always hovered in the background of calligraphy. A Nasta'liq disciple was supposed to qualify him/herself spiritually for being a calligrapher, besides learning how to prepare qalam, ink, paper and more importantly master Nasta'liq. For instance see Adab al-Masq, a manual of penmanship, attributed to Mir Emad.

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Nasta'liq typesetting

Producing high quality Nasta'liq in print is a demanding process. For example, Monotype's attempt to implement Nasta'liq for photo composer typesetting resulted in a repertoire of 20,000 different glyphs.

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