Hijazi script

Hijazi script (Arabic: خَطّ ٱَلحِجَازِيّ, romanized: khaṭṭ al-ḥijāzī) is the collective name for several early Arabic scripts that developed in the Hejaz (the northwest of the Arabian Peninsula), a region that includes the cities of Mecca and Medina. This type of script was already in use at the time of the emergence of Islam. A calligraphic Hijazi script is called a Ma'il script (Arabic: مائل, romanized: māʾil, lit. 'sloping'); these are found in a number of the earliest Qur'anic manuscripts. The two terms are often used interchangeably.

Codex Ṣanʿāʾ: An early Qur'anic manuscript in Hijazi script (8th century AD).

Hijazi was one of the earliest scripts, along with Mashq and Kufic. Earlier scripts included Ancient North Arabian and the South Arabian script.

The script is notably angular in comparison with other Arabic scripts and tends to slope to the right. The script does not yet contain any dots or diacritical marks to indicate vowel sounds: but does differentiate consonants by the intermittent use of dashes above the graphic letter forms.

Historicity

Ancient manuscripts are divided into two major types, Hijazi and Kufic. Kufic style also has its own subdivisions.^[1] The term Hijazi was coined in the 19th century by Michele Amari, who distinguished between "Meccan script" and "Medinan script" from a 10th-century manuscript. Today, no element reinforces such a geographical distinction, and there is no clarity as to their certainty of geographic origin. Since the 1980s, the Kufic script has been referred to by François Déroche as a preference, with the definition of an "ancient Abbasid script".^[2]

The concept of Hijazi script has been criticized by Estelle Whelan, who sees this definition as a "scientific artefact" based on the form of a single letter (aleph) and archaic explanations.^[3]

Use in Early Qur'ans

As Hijazi script evolved, it became the primary style writing used in some of the earliests Qur'anic manuscripts, dating back to the 8th to early 13th century. Typically, these manuscripts were written on parchment paper and generally lacked decorative elments or vowel marks, demonstrating its early Arabic writing.^[4] Scribes often used irregular spacing or letter shapes. This refelcted on the process of converting oral recitation into written text.^[5] The Hijazi script is believed to have evolved gradually, with scribes adjusting letter forms and spacing, paving the way for the later, more formal Kufic style.^[6] Hijazi is considered a transitional script between the early forms of writing and later more formal scripts like Kufic. This highlights its role in the development of Arabic writing and the preservations of Qur'an texts. Overall, using Hijazi in early Quran's shows how writing helped turn oral teachings into written form to protect important religious texts.^[7]

See also

• Languages portal

• Thuluth
• Naskh
• Tawqi
• Muhaqqaq
• Rayhan
• Arabic calligraphy