Arabic Calligraphy / Kufic Script

‘Kufa’s strong political and military position helped the kufic style to spread and gave it its name.’

Kufic script originated in Kufa, Iraq, during the first decades of the AH 1st / AD 7th century. It developed from the hijazi script, which was itself influenced by the Syriac. Syriac script, in turn, was born from the meeting of the two cultural types and was attributable to the migration of a number of Iraqi Christian scholars to Kufa in the first half of the 1st / 7th century. Kufa’s strong political and military position helped the kufic style to spread and gave it its name. The presence of a large number of Muslim scholars, reciters of the Qur’an and of the Hadiths helped to spread the kufic style beyond the city, and also aided its development both stylistically and aesthetically.

NameDynastyDetailsJustification
Great Mosque of ZaytunaHegira 248 / AD 863Aghlabid, AbbasidTunis, TunisiaThe kufic inscription that adorns the dome above the mihrab at Zaytuna Mosque commemorates the Abbasid caliph al-Musta'in who ordered its construction in 250 / 865.
NameDynastyDetailsJustification
Great Mosque of ZaytunaHegira 248 / AD 863Aghlabid, AbbasidTunis, TunisiaGeneral view of the Zituna Mosque in Tunis.
Great Mosque of ZaytunaHegira 248 / AD 863Aghlabid, AbbasidTunis, TunisiaDetail of the kufic inscription on the dome above the mihrab at the Zituna Mosque in Tunis.
Inscription stoneHegira, first half of the 2nd century / AD 8th centuryUmayyadJordan Archaeological Museum
Amman, Jordan
The inscription carved on this capital in a recessing fashion is a precursor to relief-carved kufic script.
PlateAround hegira 6th century / AD 12th centuryAtabegNational Museum of Damascus
Damascus, Syria
Decorated in the centre with the word 'mulk' (sovereignty) in foliated kufic script in which each letter ends with decorative flora.