Cultural Blog on Persian calligraphy

[Laura Major]

Persian calligraphy is absolutely gorgeous and is actually an art in itself. After Iran was conquered after the Islamic conquest, the Arabic script was then the official script for Iran. There are many types of calligraphy but a few aremuhaqqaq, rihani, and thuluth. The pen of a calligrapher was made from reed and there were actually rules for the writing that had to be considered "cypress in the garden of knowledge." The writing came from the calligrapher's spiritual state that is said to be "purity of writing proceeds from purity of heart."In other words, calligraphy as an art wasn't simply to just record notes but rather it was a more religious act and the calligrapher had to be spiritual and be similar to a "holy person."