Somenotes on Maghribi script @ ^*I. adn denBoogert In writing the presentstudy, I wanted it to servea Apart from this generalcharacteristic, the distinctive doublepurpose. featuresof Maghribi script are the following: In the first place,it is intendedas a concisemanual l. the final aliJ is drawn from top to bottom; for the reading of Maghribi manuscriptmaterial, 2. the stems of alif, lam, lam-alif and ta'lza' have which often posesproblems, even for nativespeakers club-like extensionsto the left of their top point; of Arabic.The cursivestyle of Maghribiscript as well 3. the ioop of ;adlQad is identical with that of n'l 'tooth'; as the calligraphicstyle contain many letterforms and za', i.e. it has no ligatureswith which the averagereader of Arabic is 4. the stemof la'lZA'is drawn diagonally; unfamiliar. 5. qa/ andfA'have unconventionaldiacritical points; Secondly,this article, and especiallythe list of 6. final and separate dalldhAl are very similar to letterformswhich constitutesthe largestpart of it, is initial and medial kaf, especiallyin the earlier mss; meant as a possiblestarting-point of further, more more differentiated forms developed later; thorough researchinto the paleographyof Maghribi These are the features that distinguish Maghribi script. Attention is focusedon the individual letter- script from the Mashriqi scripts(.naskh c.s.). 'la forms which makeup the script. Houdas (p. 95) states that différenceque I'on The manuscriptmaterial on which the notes on constate entre les formes du maghrébin et celles du diacriticpoints and vocalisationand the list of letter- neskhy n'est pas très profonde'. The differencesde- forms are basedhas beenlimited to specimenspro- scribed above however, though they are indeed not duceddurins the l9th and 20thcenturies. very profound, give valuable indications about the origin of the script: it is preciselythese featuresthat are found in a certain angular formal bookhand THE ORIGIN OF MAGHRIBI SCRIPT ('Kufic') which was usedin the Middle East in the Sth- lOth centuriesAD. This bookhand is exemplifiedby The origin of Maghribi script has been investigated Yajda2 plates 4 and 53. In Arabic it is sometimes by O. Houdasl. In his essayhe examinesthe historical referred Í"oas kufi murabba'. The most formal form of circumstancesunder which the introduction of the this hand is representedby the Quranic script which is 'Eastern 'Qarmatian', Arabic script in the Maghrib took place, and he usually called Kufic' or see compares a few 9th-century Maghribi manuscripts Lingsa,plates ll-21. This angular bookhand, to which written on vellum. He comes to the conclusion that Maghribi script is apparently closely related, should 'Kufic'. Maghribi script is a direct descendantof He be distinguishedfrom a more rounded bookhand (kld 'une even goes so far as to call Maghribi script légère mudawwar) which existed in the same period, and transformationdu coufique' (p. 96). which was primarily used for copiesof the (see 'Kufic' Quran The term is somewhatambiguous. In gene- Vajda, plates1,2 and 6ab, and Lings platesl-9). 'formal ral. it should be taken to mean the bookhand At the time Arabic script was introduced into the 'cou- of the 1th - 10th century AD'. Houdas uses Maghrib (8th/9th century AD), it had already split 'neskhy', fique'in opposition to which term he usesas into two different styles in the Mashriq: a formal a genericname for the cursive scripts of the Mashriq style used for copies of the Quran, works of law and (naskh, thuluth, etc.). jurisprudenceand the like, and a cursivestyle, used in That Houdas' conclusionabout the origin of Magh- correspondenceand administration. Both these styles ribi script is correct, though perhaps stated a little were developmentsof one original style, the archaic imprecisely,becomes clear when one takes a closer Arabic script of the 6th and early 7th centuriesAD. In look at the distinctivefeatures of this script.A generai the 7th and 8th centuriesdifferent stylesdeveloped for characteristicof Maghribi script is what Houdas calls the various applications of the script. The formal, 'la nature du trait': Maghribi is written with a sharp calligraphic style ('Kufic') soon becamemore or less pointed pen which producesa line of even thickness, standardisedand hardly changed during the time it while in the Mashriq the point of the pen is cut in the remainedin use.The cursivestyle on the contrary was form of a chisel,producing a line of varying thickness. not standardiseduntil the 10th centurv AD. when. Manuscriptsof the Middle East4 ( 1989) Q Ter Lugt Press,Donkerstee g 19,2312 HA Leiden.Netherlands, 1989 ISSN0920-0401 a1 N. VAN DEN BOOGERT.NOTES ON MAGHR]BI SCRIPT il under the pressureof the exigenciesof more speedier Secondly,the scribesof the Maghrib had the habit ways of writing, severalcursive styleshad developed, of imitating the specimensthey were copying, which all quite different from the formal style. It was Ibn could have beenwritten in another region or country; Muqla (d. 940 AD) who elevatedthe cursivestyles to this is, of course,to a large extent a result of the lack the calligraphic level by devising a system which he of a calligraphicstandard. called al-khatt al-mansub.With this systemthe letter- Thirdly, the massiveremigration of Muslims from forms of the cursivestyles could be standardised.This Spain definitely muddled up the different styles,as far made their use for non-casual applications such as as they existed. Qurans and lawbooks possible, and the old formal Finally, the number of dated manuscriptsfrom the style or Kufic soon went out of use(l lth century AD), Maghrib is relativelysmall. exceptfor ornamentalapplications. After describingthe four calligraphic styles which Houdas arguesthat only the old formal style of the he distinguishes,and naming each of them after its Arabic script ('Kufic'), was introduced into the possibleplace of origin, Houdas says (p. 110): ,... Maghrib. From the centresof Islamic learningsuch as mais il faut bien remarquer,que le nom de cesécritu- Kairouan and Fes, the use of the script spread over res n'implique nullement la nécessitéqu'elles aient été the Maghrib, and after a time it beganto be applied to tracéesdans I'une ou I'autre des deux villes auxquelles purposesfor which in the Mashriq the cursive scripts ellesdoivent leurs appellations'. were used. Around the beginning of the llth century Houdas also tries to give a classificationof the AD the formal bookhand as a whole had changedinto cursive Maghribi scripts. These he divides into four a more cursiveform, which could be written fasterand geographicaltypes:'tunisienne','algérienne','maro- 'soudanienne'. easierthan the old form and which has remained in caine' and Bearing in mind the prob- useuntil the present. lems already encountered in trying to classify the calligraphicalstyles, these names could at best be used to roughly indicate the area where a particular ms. DIFFERENT STYLES was produced; they do not tell us anything about the featuresof its script. Houdas also tries to describethe characteristicsof The possibilitiesof making a more definitie classifi- the various stylesof Maghribi script. He first makes a cation of the different stylesof Maghribi script seem difference between two levels: the calligraphic level to be small. ('l'écriture soigné')and the non-calligraphicor cursive The best prospectsare perhaps offered by a close level.He then dividesthe calligraphicscript into three examination of the script used in legal documents, styles.Each of these styleshad as its place of origin especiallythe more luxurious ones. These documents one of the cultural and intellectual centres of the usually bear a place and date, and it is improbable Maghrib. These are: Qayrawànr (from Kairouan), that they have been copied from specimensfrom an Fàsi (from Fès) and Andalusr (from Cordoba). entirely different region. From the list of letter forms Houdas also distinguishesa fourth style, Sldáni, (see below) it becomes clear that Maghribi script which originated in the Timbuktu area, and is nowa- containsa wealth of peculiarletter forms and ligatures days usedin the entire sub-Saharanzone lrom Senegal (see for instance the lam-alif and the atif + tam-alif to northern Nigeria. This styleis treatedby Houdas as ligatures).If these forms could be dated, they might cognatewith the other three stylesof Maghribi script. give a clue as to the place and date of origin of But judging by the very distinct characterof Sfidánr, undated MSS. which is easily recognisable,this style probably de- velopedparallel to, but independentfrom the script of THULUTH MAGHRIBI the Maghrib, and should be treated as cognate with Maghribi script as a wholes. Sldáni is therefore not In many Maghribi MSS a script different from present dealt with in the arricle. Maghribi script proper is usedfor the writing of titles, For each of these styles Houdas mentions a few chapter headingsand the like. This is often done in characteristics(pp. 108-112),about which he himself red, green or blue ink. This script is characterisedby says, 'Toutes however: ces indications sont un peu the very looseform of its letters,which makesit easily vagues,mais il est impossiblede leur donner une plus distinguishablefrom Maghribi proper. grande précision.' Houdas gives various reasonsfor Also, severalof its individual letter forms are dif- this difficulty in establishingthe features of each of ferent,e.g.: thesestyles in a more definite way. 1. the alíf and the lam have a top-serif to the right Firstly, a standardisedform or a calligraphicideal, insteadof to the left: such as existedfor the stylesused in the Mashriq, has (tA never come into being in the Maghrib. According to l| lt Houdas, this is a result of the aversion against regu- I tï larity and symmetry prevalent among the artisans of ( )))) the Maghrib. v/ J./. MANUSCRIPTSOF THE MIDDLE EAST4 íI989) 2. the final alif is drawnfrom bottom to top: A clusterof three points written above the line or a cluster of two or three points written under the line may be replacedby a flourish similar to an inverted comma: c gf*o shahr 3.