View source for Muhaqqaq

{{Short description|Script variety of Arabic calligraphy}}
'''Muhaqqaq''' is one of the main six types of [[Islamic calligraphy|calligraphic]] script in [[Arabic]].<ref>John F. A. Sawyer, J. M. Y. Simpson, R. E. Asher (eds.), ''Concise Encyclopedia of Language and Religion'', Elsevier, New York 2001, {{ISBN|0-08-043167-4}}, p. 253.</ref> The [[Arabic language|Arabic]] word ''muḥaqqaq'' ({{lang|ar|محقَّق}}) means "consummate" or "clear", and originally was used to denote any accomplished piece of calligraphy.<ref name=Mansour139>Mansour, 139–140.</ref>

Often used to copy ''maṣāḥif'' (singular ''muṣḥaf'', i.e. loose sheets of [[Quran]] texts), this intricate type of script was considered one of the most beautiful, as well as one of the most difficult to execute well.<ref name=Mansour30>Mansour, 30.</ref> The script saw its greatest use in the [[Mameluk]] era (1250–1516/1517).<ref name=Mansour278>Mansour, 278</ref> 

In the [[Ottoman Empire]], it was gradually displaced by ''[[Thuluth]]'' and ''[[Naskh (script)|Naskh]]''; from the 18th century onward, its use was largely restricted to the ''[[Basmala]]'' in ''[[Hilya]]s''.<ref name="Mansour187">Mansour, 187.</ref>

== History ==
The earliest reference to ''muḥaqqaq'' writing is found in the ''[[Kitab al-Fihrist]]'' by [[Ibn al-Nadim]], and the term was probably in use since the beginning of the [[Abbasid]] era to denote a specific writing style.<ref name=Mansour91>Mansour, 91.</ref> Master calligraphers like [[Ibn Muqla]] and [[Ibn al-Bawwab]] contributed to the development of this and other scripts, and defined its rules and standards within Islamic calligraphy.<ref name=Mansour20>Mansour, 20.</ref>

== Gallery ==
<gallery mode="packed" heights="160px" perrow="6">
Khalili Collection Islamic Art qur 0087 fol 26b-27a.jpg|Double-page from the Qur'an in muhaqqaq dedicated to Abu’l-Qasim Harun ibn ‘Ali ibn Zafar, the vizier of [[Muzaffar al-Din Uzbek|Özbeg]] (r 1210–1225), the last [[Eldiguzids|atabak of Azerbaijan]]. [[Khalili Collection of Islamic Art]]
Folios 1b-2a from Part 15 of a 30-part Qur’an copied by Ya'qut al-Musta'simi in Baghdad 1282-1283 AD (681 AH).jpg|Double-page from the Qur'an in muhaqqaq copied by [[Yaqut al-Musta'simi]]. [[Baghdad]], 1282/1283. Khalili Collection of Islamic Art
Double-page from the Ilkhanid Qur'an (TIEM 538, ff. 151b-152a).jpg|Double-page from the Qur'an in muhaqqaq copied by [[Ahmad al-Suhrawardi]]. Baghdad, 1307/1308. [[Turkish and Islamic Arts Museum]]
Opening double page from the Sultan Shaban's Qur'an (DK Masahif Rasid 10, ff. 2b-3a).jpg|Opening pages from the Qur'an in muhaqqaq copied by [[Ali ibn Muhammad al-Mukattib al-Ashrafi]]. [[Cairo]], 1372. [[Egyptian National Library and Archives|Egyptian National Library]]
Unknown, Central Asia, 15th Century - Page from Colossal Qur'an - Google Art Project.jpg|Page from the Qur'an in muhaqqaq copied for [[Timur]] by [[Umar Aqta]]. [[Samarkand]], {{circa|1400}}. [[Museum of Islamic Art, Doha]]
Album leaf from a Murakka by Hafiz Osman (MIK I.1985.11.1).jpg|Album Leaf from a [[Muraqqa]] by [[Hâfiz Osman]] with ''[[basmala]]'' in muhaqqaq (upper panel). [[Istanbul]], 1693/1694. [[Museum of Islamic Art, Berlin]]
</gallery>

== See also ==

* [[Arabic calligraphy]]
* [[Islamic calligraphy]]

== Notes ==
<references />

== References ==
* Nassar Mansour (author), Mark Allen (ed.): ''Sacred Script: Muhaqqaq in Islamic Calligraphy'', I.B.Tauris & Co Ltd, New York 2011, {{ISBN|978-1-84885-439-0}}

{{Commons category|Muhaqqaq style}}
{{Arabic language}}
{{Islamic calligraphy}}
[[Category:Arabic calligraphy]]


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