Editing Naskh (script)

{{Short description|Small, round script of Islamic calligraphy}}
[[File:FirstSurahKoran.jpg|thumb|[[Al-Fatihah]] {{lang|ar-Latn|[[surah]]}} written in Naskh script]]

'''Naskh'''{{efn|{{langx|ar|{{Script|Arab|قلم النسخ}}|qalam an-naskh}}, from the verb {{lang|ar|نَسَخَ}}, {{lang|ar-Latn|nasakha}}, 'to copy', from the root n-s-kh (ن-س-خ)}} is a small, round script of [[Islamic calligraphy]]. Naskh is one of the first scripts of Islamic [[calligraphy]] to develop, commonly used in writing administrative documents and for transcribing books, including the [[Quran|Qur’an]], because of its easy legibility.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |title=Islamic calligraphy |last=Blair |first=Sheila |date=2006 |publisher=Edinburgh University Press |isbn=9780748612123 }}</ref>

== Origin ==
[[File:PERF No. 732.jpg|alt=Manuscript of Malik's Muwatta in soft, flowing Naskh script|thumb|PERF No. 731, the earliest manuscript of Mālik's Muwaṭṭaʾ, dated to his own time. Recto (left) has the contents of Bāb al-Targib fī-Sadaqah, Manuscript of Malik's Muwatta in soft, flowing Naskh scriptIn the second century AH]]
The Naskh style of writing can be found as early as within the first century of the [[Islamic calendar]].<ref>{{citation|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8ORgAAAAMAAJ&q=%22But+there+are+specimens+of%C2%A0Naskh%C2%A0style%22|title=بىاض|year=1977|publisher=Anjuman-e-Farsi|page=77}}</ref> The Naskh script was established in the first century of the Hijri calendar by order of Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan due to the presence of defects in the Kufic script.<ref name=":0" /> Two centuries before<ref>{{Cite web |title=PERF No. 731: The Earliest Manuscript Of Malik's Muwatta' Dated To His Own Time |url=https://www.islamic-awareness.org/hadith/perf731 |access-date=2025-03-18 |website=www.islamic-awareness.org}}</ref> it was recorded by Ibn Muqla Like [[Al-Muwatta]] written by Malik ibn Anas in a soft, rounded script 

[[Ibn Muqla]] is credited with standardizing the "Six Pens" of Islamic calligraphy, also including {{lang|ar-Latn|italic=no|[[thuluth]]}}, {{lang|ar-Latn|italic=no|[[tawqi|tawqi’]]}}, {{lang|ar-Latn|italic=no|[[Reqa|riqaaʿ]]}}, {{lang|ar-Latn|italic=no|[[muhaqqaq]]}}, and {{lang|ar-Latn|italic=no|[[rayhani script|rayhani]]}}.<ref name=":0" /> These are known as "the proportioned scripts" ({{lang|ar-Latn|al-khatt al-mansub}}) or "the six scripts" ({{lang|ar-Latn|al-aqlam al-sitta}}).<ref>{{Cite book|title=Writing the word of God: calligraphy and the Qur'an|last=Roxburgh|first=David J.|date=2007|publisher=Museum of Fine Arts, Houston|isbn=9780300142006|location=Houston|oclc=180190749}}</ref>

[[Kufic]] is commonly believed to predate naskh, but historians have traced the two scripts as coexisting long before their codification by Ibn Muqla,<ref>{{Cite web |date=2017-01-24 |title=Naskh Script- Arabic calligraphy |url=https://www.arabic-calligraphy.com/arabic-calligraphy-styles/naskh/ |access-date=2024-10-08 |language=en-US}}</ref> as the two served different purposes.<ref name="MuslimCalligraphy">{{cite journal | last = Ali | first = A. K. M. Yaqub | journal = Islamic Studies | volume = 23 | issue = 4 | year = 1984 | pages = 373–379 | jstor = 20847281| title = Muslim Calligraphy: ITS Beginning and Major Styles }}</ref> Kufi was used primarily in decoration, while Naskh served for everyday scribal use.<ref name=":2">{{Cite book|title=The splendor of Islamic Abdelkebir|date=1996|publisher=Thames and Hudson|others=Sijelmassi, Mohamed|isbn=0500016755|location=New York|oclc=34275017}}</ref>.The Naskh script is believed to have existed since the first century of the Islamic calendar.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Naskhī script {{!}} Arabic, Islamic, Writing {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/naskhi-script |access-date=2024-09-26 |website=www.britannica.com |language=en}}</ref>

== Description ==
The ''[[Aleph|alif]]'' is written as a straight stroke, bending to the lower left.<ref name=":0" /> Naskh differentiates various sounds through the use of diacritical points, in the form of 1–3 dots above or below the letter, which makes the script more easily legible.<ref name="MuslimCalligraphy"/> Naskh uses a horizontal base line; in situations where one character starts within the tail of the preceding letter, the base line is broken and raised.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Ory|first=Solange|date=2000-11-30|title=Calligraphy|url=http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/CX2686400107/GVRL?sid=GVRL&xid=bda4e644|journal=Encyclopaedia of the Qurʾān|language=English|volume=1}}</ref> In sixteenth-century [[Istanbul|Constantinople]], [[Sheikh Hamdullah|Şeyh Hamdullah]] (1429–1520) redesigned the structure of naskh, along with the other "Six Pens", in order to make the script appear more precise and less heavy.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Zakariya|first=Muhammad|date=2003-11-30|title=Calligraphy|url=http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/CX3424600634/GVRL?sid=GVRL&xid=c1da65f5|journal=Encyclopedia of the Modern Middle East and North Africa|language=English|volume=1}}</ref>

== Use ==
The script is what is normally used electronically and as the default typeface. Examples on typefaces in naskh on [[Windows OS|Windows]] (W), [[iOS]] (M), [[Linux]] (L), and [[Google Fonts]] (G):
* [[Arial]]<sup>(<span title="Windows">W</span>/<span title="iOS">M</span>)</sup> (Arabic Transparent,<sup>(<span title="Windows">W</span>)</sup> [[Times New Roman]])<sup>(<span title="Windows">W</span>/<span title="iOS">M</span>)</sup>
* Simplified Arabic<sup>(<span title="Windows">W</span>)</sup>
* [[Courier New]]<sup>(<span title="Windows">W</span>/<span title="iOS">M</span>)</sup> (monospace)
* Damascus<sup>(<span title="iOS">M</span>)</sup>
* [[Noto Naskh Arabic]]<sup>(<span title="Google Fonts">G</span>)</sup>
* SF Arabic<sup>(<span title="iOS">M</span>)</sup><ref>{{cite web |title=Fonts for Apple Platforms |url=//developer.apple.com/fonts/ |access-date=14 February 2022}}</ref>

Naskh was historically used heavily in the transcription of books and in administrative courtly documents.<ref name=":2" />

Naskh allowed for the development of decorative elements into more supple, rounded designs, away from the common use of squared kufic in decoration. Naskh's use in architecture first began in the tenth century and had been adopted in many Muslim countries by the eleventh century.<ref name=":2" />

=== Mixed use with Ruqʿah style ===
* KacstOne<sup>(<span title="Linux">L</span>)</sup>
* Arabic Typesetting<sup>(<span title="Windows">W</span>)</sup>
* Al Bayan<sup>(<span title="iOS">M</span>)</sup>
* DecoType Naskh<sup>(<span title="iOS">M</span>)</sup>
* Baghdad<sup>(<span title="iOS">M</span>)</sup>
* Geeza Pro<sup>(<span title="iOS">M</span>)</sup>
* Nadeem<sup>(<span title="iOS">M</span>)</sup>
* Sakkal Majalla<sup>(<span title="Windows">W</span>)</sup>
* Traditional Arabic<sup>(<span title="Windows">W</span>)</sup>
* Amiri<sup>(<span title="Google Fonts">G</span>)</sup>

More recently, fonts, such as the [[Amiri Press|Bulaq Press]]-inspired [[Amiri (typeface)|Amiri]] typeface or [[Monotype Imaging]]'s Bustani font, have created user-friendly digital manifestations of naskh for use in graphic design and digital typography, mixed with [[Ruqʿah script|Ruqʿah]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.amirifont.org/|title=مشروع الخط الأميري :: Amiri Font Project|website=www.amirifont.org|access-date=2020-01-29}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|title=By the Pen and what They Write: Writing in Islamic Art and Culture |editor-last1=Blair |editor-first1=Sheila |editor-last2=Bloom |editor-first2=Jonathan M. |isbn=9780300228243|location=New Haven|oclc=971615736|year = 2017 |publisher=Yale University Press}}</ref>

== Gallery ==
<gallery widths="220" heights="200">
File:Al Fatihah - naskh script.jpg|14th- or 15th-century Quran with body text in ''naskh''
File:Khalili Collection Islamic Art pot 0491.1 CROP.jpg|Stonepaste dish from 13th-century Iran with a poem in ''naskh'' around the rim.
File:Basmala.svg|[[Basmala]] in ''naskh''.
File:Prayer in Naskh, 1252 AH, Vesal-i Shirazi, National Library of Iran.jpeg|Prayer in ''naskh'', 1252 AH, [[Vesal Shirazi|Vesal-i Shirazi]], [[National Library and Archives of Iran|National Library of Iran]].
File:15th-century Timurid Quran.jpg|The [[Timurid Quran manuscript]], {{Circa|15th-century}}, written in ''naskh''.
</gallery>

== See also ==
*[[Ruqʿah script|Ruqʿah]] (the [[cursive]] Arabic handwriting)
*[[Nastaliq]]
*[[Arabic keyboard|Arabic]], [[Urdu keyboard|Urdu]], other [[Arabic alphabet#Keyboards|Arabic]] [[keyboard layout]]s
*[[National Language Authority]]
*[[Taʿlīq script]]

==Notes==
{{notelist}}

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
{{Commons category|Naskh (script)}}

{{Arabic language}}
{{Islamic calligraphy}}

[[Category:Arabic calligraphy]]
[[Category:Islamic calligraphy]]
[[Category:Pashto]]