Preface to kufi calligraphy

I am going to articulate my ideas about kufi scripture because I wish to expose my kufi calligraphy compositions published all together; so that, it would be registrated in a book format. Besides, being a  history professor -my doctoral dissertation was “Arab invasions to Anatolia (640-750 A.D.)- I am 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 I was working as a high school teacher, In 1973, I have designed my kufi composition  of Allah, Muhammed and four caliphs names for a book cover (Hadislerle Müslümanlık),

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.

I have made a new kufi composition ın april 2024 because of a demand and this new composition motivated me to make some revisions on my older kufi sketches.

For now, I am a retired history professor and right now,  I have decided to expose all of my kufi calligraphy  compositions in a book format and write about the history of kufi 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 kufi scripture. 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 interpret the history of kufi 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 sacred scripture Qur’an 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, Kufi script is used primarily for writing Qur’an for centuries, but nevertheless, kufi 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 had been the most prominent aspect of the cultural identity of the Muslim World and it appeared as a civilization of kufi scripture; and so, Quranic verses were visible  everywhere from the buildings to the ‘tiraz’ called clothes. The word of God, as if embodied by the Kufic calligraphy, as if it was the incarnation of the sacred “Kelam”(likewise ‘Logos’ concept of Heraclit or incarnation of the word of God in flash by Jesus); embodied and represented by the  solemn character of the kufi scripture of Qur’an. It appeared within every aspect of Islamic culture, everywhere. This reminds me a verse from the Qur’an: ‘Ve lillâhi’l-maşrıku ve’l-mağrib. Fe’eynemâ tuvellû fe-semme vechullah”: ‘to God belong the East and the West; whithersoever you turn, there is the Face of God…