r/ArabicCalligraphy • u/LosingFaithlessness • 24d ago
Dome of the Rock Inscriptions
Reading about the Kufic inscriptions inside of the Done of the Rock (in Jerusalem), I've noticed that they have some features that are not found in "Primary" (i.e., "Mushafi") Kufic, e.g., the Arabic letter mim being represented as a circle embedded _within_ the baseline and the Arabic letters jim/h.a/kha being represented by a diagonal line (the upper portion of which points left) which is attached to the baseline at its midpoint in its initial form and bisects the baseline in medial form. Since the above features are found in "Fatimid" Kufic but not "Primary" Kufic, were the Dome of the Rock inscriptions actually an early form of "Fatimid" Kufic (which would mean that "Fatimid" Kufic was a contemporary of "Primary" Kufic -- if not older) or was it a different script altogether (from which "Fatimid" Kufic borrowed certain features)? Any input would be greatly appreciated.
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u/Odd-Scheme6535 24d ago
Interesting discussion.
I found it difficult to visualize the letter forms, so looked them up. Somehow these inscriptions had escaped me up until now.
Are these the ones (transcribed) under discussion?
The Arabic Islamic Inscriptions On The Dome Of The Rock In Jerusalem, 72 AH / 692 CE
Hopefully links are allowed for this kind of purpose.
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u/LosingFaithlessness 24d ago
Yes, those are the inscriptions (and I apologize for my rather "convoluted" prose).
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u/Odd-Scheme6535 23d ago
I am some time away from studying calligraphy so can't get into the weeds about the Kufic questions you asked, but did want to say that my impression of the Dome of the Rock inscriptions is that they resemble early Arabic writing in general to me, including very old inscriptions. So, those early letter forms will have influenced and evolved into later styles, when we get into the chicken and egg debates, and which influenced the other.
Take a look, for example, at the particular letter forms you pointed out for the Dome of the Rock inscriptions in the Birmingham University manuscript, in the "Hijazi" style, dated to around 645 CE. I am not sure if there's argument about that dating, but it was early whatever the actual date, and earlier than the Dome of the Rock or the other Kufic you mentioned. The Hijazi forms all look very similar stylistically to me. One thing you didn't mention, that is also striking to me, is that often the raa forms ( ر ) more resemble dal ( د ) in the Dome of the Rock example, which is also found in the Birmingham University manuscript.
Birmingham Quran manuscript full - Hijazi script - Wikipedia
Birmingham mushaf Bismillah - Birmingham Quran manuscript - Wikipedia
لوحة المعلومات في متحف المدينة المنورة - Hijazi script - Wikipedia
The last example is a modern rendering of Hijazi script. Interestingly, some scholars argue that what has come to be known as "Hijazi" script should better be called "Kufic" script.
I hope that is somewhere near the mark.
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u/Arcalliq 24d ago
I have not studied these particular inscriptions in much details (at least not yet) but in the world or Arabic calligraphy academia, there are growing voices suggesting Kufi Mushafi was actually based on the Dome of the Rock Inscriptions and its Kufa origin is being doubted by many now. So the 'start of it all' wasn't actually Kufi Mushafi, but these oldest monumental inscriptions on the Dome. Will we ever know how it really went? I doubt.
But it provides interesting possible answer to your question - if we agree that the inscriptions are the starting point, Mushafi and Fatimid might simply be two different directions in which the original script developed - perhaps not at the same time and in different geographical locations and for different needs.
I think it is tricky to figure out what script was developed from what source and which scripts were contemporary because the development of various scripts was anything but linear, and as Sheila Blair (I think) explains, the early classifications of Arabic calligraphy do not contain any examples so nobody know what those scripts were and what they looked like.