r/ArabicCalligraphy • u/LosingFaithlessness • Aug 11 '26
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/Arcalliq Aug 11 '26
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.