THULUTH

'Thuluth' (Arabic: ثلث "one-third") is a script variety of Arabic calligraphy, which made its first appearance in the fourth century of the Hegira (11th century AD). The straight angular forms of Kufic were replaced in the new script by curved and oblique lines. In Thuluth, one-third of each letter slopes, from which the name (meaning "a third" in Arabic) comes. It is a large and elegant, cursive script, used in medieval times on mosque decorations. Various calligraphic styles evolved from Thuluth through slight changes of form.
Thuluth was used to write heading of surahs, Qur'anic chapters. Some of the oldest copies of the Qur'an were written in Thuluth. Later copies were written in a combination of Thuluth and either Naskhi or Muhakkak, while after the 15th century Naskhi came to be used exclusively.
An important aspect of Thuluth script is the use of Harakat for representing vowel sounds, and other marks for making the script more beautiful. The grammatical Harakat follow the normal rules for any Arabic script, but the 'Art' markings follow their own rules relating to placement and grouping. One common grouping technique would be to separate marks written below letters from those written above. The stylistic rules allow for great creativity as to shape and orientation.

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See also

★ Islamic calligraphy

★ Ibn Muqlah

External links

★ Thuluth Script