The Kufic script (Arabic: الْخط الْكوُفِي; Romanized: ‘Al-khat ‘al-Kūfī) is a style of Arabic script that gained prominence early on as a preferred script for Quran transcription and architectural decoration, and it has since become a reference and an archetype for a number of other Arabic scripts. It developed from the Arabic alphabet in the city of Kufa, from which its name is derived.[3] Kufic is characterized by angular, rectilinear letterforms and its horizontal orientation.[4] There are many different versions of Kufic, such as square Kufic, floriated Kufic, knotted Kufic, and others.[4] The artistic styling of Kufic led to its use in a non-Arabic context in Europe, as decoration on architecture, known as pseudo-Kufic.
Calligraphers in the early Islamic period used a variety of methods to transcribe Quran manuscripts. Arabic calligraphy became one of the most important branches of Islamic Art. Calligraphers came out with the new style of writing called Kufic. Kufic is the oldest calligraphic form of the various Arabic scripts. The name of the script derives from Kufa, a city in southern Iraq which was considered as an intellectual center within the early Islamic period. Kufic is defined as a highly angular form of the Arabic alphabet originally used in early copies of the Quran. Sheila S. Blair suggests that "the name Kufic was introduced to Western scholarship by Jacob George Christian Adler (1756–1834)".[5] Furthermore, the Kufic script plays an important role in the development of Islamic calligraphy. In fact, "it is the first style of Islamic period writings in which the manifestation of art, delicacy and beauty are explicitly evident", says Salwa Ibraheem Tawfeeq Al-Amin.[6] The rule set for this writing was about the angular, linear shapes of the characters. In fact, "the rules that were defined at the outset of the Kufic tradition essentially remained the same throughout its lifespan", says Alain George.[7]
The Quran was first written in a plain, slanted, and uniform script but, when its content was formalized, a script that denoted authority emerged.[8] This coalesced into what is now known as Primary Kufic script.[8] Kufic was prevalent in manuscripts from the 7th to 10th centuries. Around the 8th century, it was the most important of several variants of Arabic scripts with its austere and fairly low vertical profile and a horizontal emphasis.[9] Until about the 11th century it was the main script used to copy the Quran.[10] Professional copyists employed a particular form of Kufic for reproducing the earliest surviving copies of the Quran, which were written on parchment and date from the 8th to 10th centuries.[11] It is distinguished from Thuluth script in its use of decorative elements whereas the latter was designed to avoid decorative motifs.[12] In place of the decorations in Kufic scripts, Thuluth used vowels.[12]