Definition of Islamic calligraphy - The word calligraphy comes from the Greek language calligraphia, which is a combination of 2 words, namely kalios which means beautiful and grafein which means writing. While in Arabic calligraphy is known as khat which has the original meaning; writing, scratching, drawing and outlining.
So in simple terms, calligraphy or khat can be interpreted with hand scratches that have received an aesthetic touch. In addition, the term is also known as tahsin alkhat, alkhat al-jamil, and al-kitabah al-jamilah, which all mean beautiful writing.
There are several calligraphy experts who provide definitions of calligraphy, such as;
Yaqut al-Musta'shimi: "Calligraphy is spiritual geometry and is expressed with physical devices".
Ali bin Abi Talib: "Khat is the tongue of the hand and the ambassador of the mind".
Muhammad Thahir al-Kurdi: "Khat is an instinct that causes a movement to be precise".
Character and Nature of Islamic Calligraphy
Correctness or wrongness in calligraphic writing is judged by the standard rules that are universally recognised by the khattats of the world. The khattats must make every effort to reach the ideal level of standard calligraphy formulas.
Some calligraphy experts provide pointers for those studying calligraphy:
Maintain the constancy of the hurus over its predetermined forms (based on the standard rules of each type of khat).
Distinguish letters that are similar with dots and different shapes. In addition, it also pays attention to the direction of scratching letters and is able to display perfect tarkib.
Abu Bakr Muhammad bin Yahya al-Shouly (a Sufi and calligraphy expert) stated that the characteristics of khat that deserve to be called beautiful writing are "When the parts are proportional, proportional to the length of the Alif and Lam, constant lines, harmonious horizontally and vertically, the letter 'ain is open, The letter 'ain is open, not similar to Ra' and Nun, the paper is pure white, the ink is sensitive black, similar letters do not differ much, the visual that is captured by the eye quickly changes in the heart, the small and large letters are harmonious, the curved letters are curved, the teeth are small and the links are open".
