The Quran as the Original Inspiration

Islamic calligraphy primarily serves to beautify the word of God, and therefore one of the main sources of inspiration for the calligrapher is the Holy Quran. For this reason, let’s start with looking a little into how the Quran was revealed and first written. 

The Quran was revealed to Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him), by Allah through the angel Jibreel over the span of 23 years. As each verse or chapter was revealed, the Prophet and his companions committed them to memory, and also had them transcribed. The scribes of the Prophet included 45-65 people, the foremost of them being Zayd ibn Thabit (May God be pleased with him), who used basic writing utensils to transcribe the verses on leaves and other materials, including flat white stones, camel bones, and stalks from palm trees. 

As most people had memorized the verses, the written copies served to prompt them. However in 633, a year after the Prophet passed away, many huffaz (memorizers) of the Quran passed away in the Battle of Yamama. This encouraged the caliph Abu Bakr (May God be pleased with him), under the persistence of Umar (May God be pleased with him), to organize a delegation led by Zayd to compile and preserve the transcriptions of the Quran. 

Through intense examination of the authentic written texts, validated by the testimony of the huffaz and at least two witnesses each, and then unanimously approved by thousands of companions, the delegation compiled the verses of the Quran into a single book. This book was passed on to Umar when he became the caliph, who then passed it on to his daughter Hafsa (May God be pleased with her) to safeguard for many years after his death.

Believed to be the oldest Quran manuscript in the world, these pages of the Quran date back to 568-645 AD.

Under the caliphate of Uthman (May God be pleased with him), Islam was spreading rapidly and a concern arose about different Arabic dialects and the pronunciation of the Quranic text. Since the literate companions of the Prophet could read the text without any aids, the first transcriptions of the Quran did not require dots, vowels, or any diacritical marks. However, as Islam spread, the need to codify the text to avoid misinterpretations was increasingly crucial. A new delegation, including Zayd again, brought the original copy from Hafsa, and organized and codified it into a copy that was then spread throughout the Muslim world.

In all of this, careful scrutiny and measures were taken to ensure that it always matched the original transcriptions that were made under the Prophet’s supervision. Therefore the role of the caliphs was to supervise the compilation of the existing text, of which some survive to this day. Allah says in the Holy Quran, “Indeed, it is We who sent down the Quran and indeed, We will be its guardian” (15:9).

Under several empires throughout history, the Muslim world advanced and flourished in many different areas of science, art, and more. Advancements were also made in books, writing, and the pen itself, and with the desire to visually beautify the text of the Quran in its written form, Islamic calligraphy was born — a new story to discuss next time.

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Note: In an effort to share information in a short and easy-to-read manner, the history referred to in this post has been highly condensed.

References:
Al-Azami, Muhammad M. The Scribes of the Prophet. London, Turath Publishing, 2016.
Nöldeke, Theodor, et al. The History of the Quran. Leidin, Brill, 2013.
George, Alain. The Rise of Islamic Calligraphy. London, Saqi Books, 2010.