Preface to kufi calligraphy
I am going to articulate my ideas about kufic scripture because I wish to expose my kufi calligraphy compositions published all together; so that, it would be registrated in a book format. I am an islamic history professor and my doctoral dissertation was titled as “Arab invasions to Anatolia (640-750 A.D.). I had been also known as a kufi calligrapher, professionally taking orders and composing kufi calligraphy since 1970. My first design “nokta-i suğra” had been published on the cover of a book, Peyami Safa “(Sanat,Edebiyat Tenkit,” Ötüken publishing, Istanbul, 1970.
This nokta design is quoted and published in the article of Nokta-i Suğrâ, in the Encyclopedia of Literature (Edebiyat Ansiklopedisi) published by Dergah.yy. İstanbul, 1991.
While ı was workıing as a high school teacher, In 1973, I have designed my kufi composition of allah, muhammed and four caliphs names for a book cover and my kufi besmele design for Aydın Bolak in 1974. And because of that besmele design which had been seen by chance in Enderun Sahafiye by Prof. Dr. Kaya Bilgegil; I had been appointed as a calligraphy artist, a specialist of paleography and epigraphy; that is, my university career also began as a calligraphy artist in the department of Turkish Literature in 1976 and after only one year later I had been employed in the history department of Ataturk University.
For now, I am a retired history professor and right now, when I decided to expose my kufi calligraphy and write about the history of kufic scripture in general, I thought this could be a new opportunity to convey all of my ideas once more, here again, perhaps more clearer than my preceding writings, within this illuminating light of the kufic scrupture. This is why I am going to write some short critics about language and human knowledge in general before going to delve into the history of Kufi calligraphy. I will try to interprete the history of kufic scripture, within the framework of my own philosophy of history; within the holistic understanding of a multidisciplinary approach, that is, taking into consideration all of the differing angles of different perspectives employed by diverse disciplines. Let me say here that ‘all meaning is an angle’, and there cannot be understanding without a perspective.
On the other hand, because of the special importance of the language and scripture in Islam, kufi scripture could be disputed from the standpoint of theology and also from a semantical viewpoint because some linguists believe that language is god-given, it is not created by humans.
Indeed, Kufic script is used primarily for writing Qur’an for centuries, but nevertheless, kufic script is seen everywhere from buildings to the instruments and even on the clothes. So the writing calligraphy had been the most formative element of islamic culture, so much so that, it is the most marked and apparent aspect of islamic civilization. From the 7th to 11th for five centuries Kufic calligraphy have been the most prominent aspect of the cultural identity of the Muslim world and it appeared as a civilization of kufic scrupture; and so, quranic verses were visible everyhere from the buildings to the ‘tiraz’ called clothes. The word of God, as if embodied by the Kufic calligraphy, as if it was a visible incarnation of “Kelam”. Kufi calligraphy considered as the embodiment of sacred word revealed by Qur`an, represented by the solemn, geometrical characters of a majestic looking mystical letters and appeared within every aspect of islamic culture, everywhere .