Arabic Calligraphy
Calligraphic Schools
‘Some civic officials became famous calligraphers, for instance Ibn Muqlah, who was an Abbasid vizier.’
Calligraphers were formally trained under distinguished masters of the profession. Many of them were enrolled in the service of the court and at the civic offices of the government. Some civic officials became famous calligraphers, for instance Ibn Muqlah, who was an Abbasid vizier. He defined the rules of perfect script in a manual, which became the main work of reference for subsequent calligraphers.
Section from a Qur'an

Hegira 731 / AD 1330
Mamluk
Museum of Islamic Art
Cairo, Egypt
This Qur'an was copied by Zaynab bint [daughter of] Ahmad al-Maqdisiyya, a female calligrapher from Jerusalem.