The history of calligraphy cannot be separated from the history of Islam. Yasin Hamid Safadi in his book, Islamic Calligraphy writes: “Although Arabic is only second to the Roman alphabet in terms of widespread use even today, the Arabic script was developed at a much later date. The reason for this late development was that the Arabs were mainly a nomadic people and mistrustful of the written word. They relied to a very great extent on oral tradition for the retention of information and for communication. In pre-Islamic times, and especially in the sixth century, which was the heroic age of literature for the Arabs only the seven Odes (or Ghasideh) called Al-Muallaqat, which were considered absolute masterpieces, were committed to writing and especially honored by being inscribed in golden letters and hung on the walls of the “Kabah” at [the city of] Mecca.”
Welcome to the new site of Farhad Alavi-Mehr and his work.
