Abstract
Until the advent of Islam, the Arab society considered writing as a weakness of
manhood; therefore all the famous poets of the Jahiliyya1 had produced their divans2
verbally and remembered their poetry throughout their life. Towards the end of their life
they transmitted their collection of poetry to the next generation orally. The holy Quran,
having been revealed upon the holy Prophet Muhammad over a period of twenty-three
years in Arabic3
, thereby brought the Arabic script into writing and then elevated it to an
art form to the highest standard of calligraphy, which over a period of time has become
the primary art form of the Islamic world. The evolution of Arabic script and its use in
calligraphy is linked to the evolution of the Arabic language for the script transposes the
phonetic sounds before being elevated into an art form. The variations of the form of
calligraphy reflect both the evolution of the language and also various roots through
which the script reached Arabia. Thus it will be necessary to consider the Arabic script
before and after the advent of Islam in order to assess the developments in Arabic
writing. All the important points shall be discussed with relevant figures as solid
evidence of this paper for creating better understanding on the role of Quran as the only
source towards the development of Arabic script and its elevation to an art form not only
meeting the standards of calligraphy but giving many new dimensions to calligraphy
itself
SHAHID AHMAD RAJPUT. (2014) The principal source of Arabic calligraphy and its Development in the Muslim World, Pakistan Heritage, Volume 6, Issue 1.
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