Chapter 2 Word/Image In examining the Qur’an and subsequent traditions of calligraphy, I aim to identify particular Islamic theoretical engagements with word and image. While the Qur’an is certainly not the only, or even the most direct, source of inspiration for the contemporary artists that I will address in Part II, it has been vital in conceptualizing particularly Islamic ways of thinking about word, language, text and speech. Subsequent traditions of calligraphy, such as the calligram, the hilye, and the Qur’anic manuscript, tease out a tension between word and image. While I do not go through the historical development of calligraphy as an art-form, this discussion is focused on the theoretical development of the material medium itself. Using the Qur’an, I identify the particular theoretical problem through which calligraphy must understand itself, a tension between word and image.
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The Qur’an, or the Word We have sent it down as an Arabic Qur’an, in order that ye may learn wisdom. — Q 12:21
Qur’anic inscriptions can be found on any number of objects (including coins, pottery, architecture and clothing), throughout Islamic history and Islamic spaces since the Umayyad Dynasty. Thus, I will insist that before looking at Qur’anic inscriptions in their material form, Qur’anic inscriptions must first be examined in their conceptual form; that is to say, before Qur’anic inscriptions are inscriptions, they are words or verses of the Qur’an. It is the self-awareness of the Qur’an as word of God, as exemplified in Q 12:2 1
All Qur’anic quotations are from Abdullah Yusuf ‘Ali’s translation, unless otherwise stated. See: ‘Ali, Abdullah Y. The Meaning of the Holy Quran. Beltsville, MD: Amana Publications, 1997.