Reqa'

This article is about (رقاع), the traditional hand of the six proportional scripts. For the hand for fast writing developed in the 19th century (رقعة), see Ruqʿah script.

Reqāʿ (Arabic: رِقَاع) is one of the six scripts of Arabic calligraphy used primarily for letters, edicts, or manuscripts.^[1] Reqa' was used for private correspondence on small papers or for nonreligious books and texts. Ibn al-Nadim mentioned in his book Al-Fehrest, that the inventor of Reqa' script was Al-Fadl ibn Sahl.^{[citation needed]} The script was one of the most popular scripts in the Ottoman Empire. Reqa' was gradually simplified by other calligraphers and was changed to a new script called Ruqʿah (رُقعة) or Riqʿah (رِقعة), which is now the most common handwritten script in Arab countries.^[2]