# Maghrebi Script (Maghribi Calligraphy of al-Andalus and North Africa)

> The family of Arabic scripts of al-Andalus and North Africa, descended from early Kufic bookhands. A pointed reed pen keeps the stroke almost even, so the letters read through round bowls, long horizontals and wide final curves that open below the line, not through thick-thin contrast. Fa takes its dot below and qaf a single dot above. Qur'ans pair black mabsut text with red vowels, ochre hamza and green wasla dots, gold verse knots and titles in a looser Maghribi thuluth. From 1865 Fes lithographed its books in Maghribi script, mostly in the cursive mujawhar.

- Period: c. 900–present
- Where: Middle East & North Africa, Southern Europe, Sub-Saharan Africa
- Origin: Al-Andalus and North Africa. The round hands grew out of early Kufic bookhands in the ninth and tenth centuries (start date approximate). According to Bongianino, Umayyad Cordoba codified them and carried them to provincial centres such as Toledo; under the Almoravids and then the Almohads, who drew Andalusi calligraphers to Marrakesh, they became a shared style from al-Andalus to the north-west Maghrib (Fes, Marrakesh). Qayrawan developed its own Ifriqi scripts, such as the Western Kufic of the 'Nurse's Qur'an' (1019–20); Houdas's older scheme (1886) named Qayrawani, Fasi and Andalusi styles. The Almohads (twelfth century) devised Maghribi thuluth as a display script; Van den Boogert (1989) had dated its import from the East to the thirteenth century or later. Lithographed books in Maghribi script were printed in Fes from 1865 (some accounts say the very first was finished that year in Meknes, before the press moved to Fes). Houdas also counted a Sudani hand from the Timbuktu region, used from Senegal to northern Nigeria; Van den Boogert treats it as a related script that probably developed separately.
- Branch: Traditions & vernacular
- Also known as: Maghribi, al-khatt al-maghribi, Maghribi round scripts, Andalusi script, Qayrawani, Fasi and Andalusi hands (after Houdas), Mabsut, Mujawhar and Maghribi thuluth, Sudani scripts of West Africa (a related family)
- Page: https://stylogeny.com/styles/maghrebi-script/

## Use it with care

Most surviving Maghribi calligraphy is Qur'anic, and the script is still written and taught across the Maghreb and the Sahel, so never crop, mirror or distort Qur'anic text or the names of God and the Prophet, never fill a layout with invented pseudo-Maghribi texture, and keep such text off floors, footwear and throwaway packaging. Western pointing differs from eastern (a Maghribi qaf looks like an eastern fa), and image models and many Arabic fonts get it wrong, so have every word checked by a reader who knows Maghribi conventions, ideally a Maghribi calligrapher, and commission or credit living calligraphers rather than tracing museum folios. The script is also a mark of Andalusi and Moroccan identity, and it has been used to write Amazigh languages such as Tashelhiyt; it lost ground to Latin script under the French Protectorate and to eastern naskh in schools, so do not use it as generic 'Moorish' or 'Arabian' exotica, and never present a generated page as a historical manuscript.

## How it works

- Write with a reed pen cut to a point, not a chisel, so the stroke keeps an almost even weight; let round bowls, stretched horizontals and wide final curves that open below the baseline carry the character instead of thick-thin contrast.
- In mabsut and the other round book hands, point and shape the letters the western way: fa with one dot below, qaf with one dot above, sad and dad without a tooth, club-like heads on alif and lam, and final alif drawn from top to bottom. Never mix eastern pointing into a western text block, because a Maghribi qaf reads as an eastern fa.
- Keep the lines level in one block of mabsut on parchment or paper, and let each scribe's hand vary: the Maghrib never fixed a proportional canon like the eastern Six Pens.
- Layer the reading in colour: consonants in black or brown iron-gall ink, vowels in red, hamza in ochre or yellow, wasla as a green dot, and verse ends marked by small gold knots, with drop-shaped and round medallions in the margin for every fifth and tenth verse.
- Write titles and chapter headings in Maghribi thuluth, larger and looser, in gold, red, green or blue ink. It has its own rules: final alif drawn upward, serifs on alif and lam turned to the right, and fa and qaf often pointed the eastern way, so keep each hand consistent within itself. When one authority needs one voice, carry that display hand to coins, decrees and building inscriptions, as the Almohads did.
- For print, lithograph the scribe's handwritten page, as Fes did from 1865, rather than forcing the script into movable type; in digital type choose a family drawn from Maghribi forms, such as Qandus, over an eastern naskh.

## Its design choices

Defining choices make the style, characteristic ones are usual, occasional ones turn up now and then.

### Layout & composition
- [Classical text block](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/classical-text-block/) (defining)
- [Central symmetry](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/central-symmetry/) (characteristic)
- [Framed panels](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/framed-panels/) (occasional)

### Space & hierarchy
- [Measured density](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/measured-density/) (characteristic)
- [Layered information](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/layered-information/) (characteristic)
- [Repetition & rhythm](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/repetition-and-rhythm/) (occasional)
- [Extreme scale contrast](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/extreme-scale-contrast/) (occasional)
- [Horror vacui](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/horror-vacui/) (occasional)

### Typography
- [Brush & pen calligraphy](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/brush-and-pen-calligraphy/) (defining)
- [Hand-lettering](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/hand-lettering/) (defining)
- [Script](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/script/) (characteristic)
- [Type as image](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/type-as-image/) (occasional)

### Colour
- [Light ground](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/light-ground/) (defining)
- [Limited spot colours](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/limited-spot-colours/) (characteristic)
- [Jewel & metallic](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/jewel-and-metallic/) (characteristic)
- [Earth & mineral](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/earth-and-mineral/) (characteristic)
- [Flat fields](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/flat-fields/) (occasional)
- [Monochrome](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/monochrome/) (occasional)

### Form & shape
- [Rounded & pill](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/rounded-and-pill/) (characteristic)
- [Biomorphic curves](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/biomorphic-curves/) (characteristic)
- [Whiplash line](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/whiplash-line/) (occasional)
- [Non-representational](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/non-representational/) (occasional)

### Surface & texture
- [Paper & letterpress bite](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/paper-and-letterpress-bite/) (characteristic)
- [Flat](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/flat/) (characteristic)

### Ornament
- [Restrained accents](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/restrained-accents/) (characteristic)
- [Emblems & badges](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/emblems-and-badges/) (occasional)
- [Floral & vegetal](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/floral-and-vegetal/) (occasional)
- [Geometric tessellation](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/geometric-tessellation/) (occasional)
- [Borders & frames](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/borders-and-frames/) (occasional)

### Imagery
- [Typography only](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/typography-only/) (defining)

### Medium & production
- [Pen, brush & ink](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/pen-brush-and-ink/) (defining)
- [Lithography](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/lithography/) (characteristic)
- [Architecture & signage](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/architecture-and-signage/) (characteristic)

### Tone & intent
- [Spiritual & sacred](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/spiritual-and-sacred/) (defining)
- [Authoritative & institutional](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/authoritative-and-institutional/) (characteristic)
- [Calm & contemplative](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/calm-and-contemplative/) (occasional)
- [Communal & popular](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/communal-and-popular/) (occasional)

Avoids: Diagonal axis, Modular grid, Angular & zigzag, Grotesque & neo-grotesque, Illusion of depth, Naturalistic depiction, Gradients, Straight photography

Palette: #efe3c8, #2a1f17, #b3362b, #c9a043, #3f7d4e, #2c4f93

Typefaces: Maghribi mabsut, the round book hand for Qur'ans and running text, written with a pointed reed pen in an almost even stroke, Maghribi thuluth, the looser display hand for titles and chapter headings in gold, red, green or blue ink, with its own letter forms (serifs on alif and lam to the right, final alif drawn upward, fa and qaf often pointed the eastern way), devised under the Almohads and also used on coins, decrees and inscriptions (for instance in the Alhambra), Mujawhar, the cursive chancery hand of royal decrees, which became the usual text hand of the Fes lithographed books (after Wikipedia); Van den Boogert notes that the name maghribi mujawhar is also used for Maghribi thuluth, so the term is not fixed, Musnad or zimami, the notarial cursive of court records and marriage contracts (after Wikipedia), Sudani hands of West Africa, a related family, among them the Kano style, set today in SIL's Ruwudu (a Rubutun Kano font for Ajami, SIL Open Font License), Qandus (Khatt Foundation, 2015–17; Arabic by Kristyan Sarkis), a restrained text weight and a darker, flamboyant display weight in the Maghribi calligraphic style, inspired by al-Qundusi's work

Known for: Folio from the 'Blue Qur'an', gold and silver Kufic on indigo-dyed parchment, Tunisia, possibly Qayrawan, second half of the 9th to mid-10th century (Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2004.88): a Kufic ancestor of the western hands; Bifolium from the 'Nurse's Qur'an' (Mushaf al-Hadina), probably Qayrawan, ca. 1019–20 (Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2007.191), a manuscript in Western Kufic with red, blue and green vocalisation marks (as the Museum of Islamic Art, Doha, describes its own bifolium): an Ifriqi neighbour of the round hands, not a round hand itself; Qur'an copied at Ceuta in 1191 by Muhammad ibn Muhammad ibn 'Ali ibn Shu'ayb al-Ansari, in Maghribi mabsut in iron-gall ink with red vowels, ochre hamza and green wasla dots (Istanbul, Topkapı Palace Library, R. 27); Almohad luxury copies of Ibn Tumart's A'azz ma yutlab and Muhadhi al-Muwatta, the works in which, as Umberto Bongianino shows, the new Maghribi thuluth appeared, also used on Almohad coins, buildings and chancery decrees; Page from a Qur'an in maghribi script, North Africa or Spain, 13th century, with gold-knot verse divisions and marginal medallions (Ashmolean Museum, EA1993.395); Bifolium from the Andalusian Pink Qur'an, Spain, ca. 13th century, ink, gold, silver and opaque watercolour on paper (Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2017.232); Manuscript in gold Maghribi thuluth on parchment, Fes (?), 1310–11 (Rabat, National Library of the Kingdom of Morocco, ms. K 2949); Inscription bands of the Nasrid palaces of the Alhambra, Granada, 14th century (under Yusuf I and Muhammad V), mostly in a cursive 'Nasrid' naskhi-thuluth carved in stucco, wood and marble or glazed on tiles, carrying court poems by Ibn al-Jayyab, Ibn al-Khatib and Ibn Zamrak; Van den Boogert names the Alhambra as an example of Maghribi thuluth used for inscriptions

## Where it comes from, and what it’s close to

- Grew out of: [Islamic Geometric & Calligraphic Tradition](https://stylogeny.com/styles/islamic-geometric.md) (c. 690–present)
- Alike in its design choices: [Madinah Mushaf (King Fahd Complex Qur'an Page)](https://stylogeny.com/styles/madinah-mushaf.md) (1985–present), 76% alike
- Alike in its design choices: [Urdu Katib Lithography](https://stylogeny.com/styles/urdu-katib-lithography.md) (1837–present), 69% alike
- Alike in its design choices: [Vyaz (Ornamental Slavonic Lettering)](https://stylogeny.com/styles/vyaz-lettering.md) (c. 1230–present), 68% alike
- Alike in its design choices: [Bulaq (Amiriyya) Naskh Book Printing](https://stylogeny.com/styles/bulaq-naskh-printing.md) (1822–1956), 66% alike
- Alike in its design choices: [Persian Nastaʿlīq Calligraphy (Qiṭʿa, Chalipa and Siyāh-mashq)](https://stylogeny.com/styles/persian-nastaliq.md) (c. 1400–present), 64% alike
- Alike in its design choices: [Hebrew Micrography](https://stylogeny.com/styles/hebrew-micrography.md) (c. 895–present), 63% alike

## Sources

- N. van den Boogert, 'Some notes on Maghribi script', Manuscripts of the Middle East 4 (Leiden: Ter Lugt Press, 1989): the pointed pen and even stroke against the eastern chisel nib, the six distinctive letter features including the pointing of fa and qaf, Houdas's Qayrawani, Fasi, Andalusi and Sudani styles, the absence of a fixed calligraphic canon, Maghribi thuluth for titles in red, green or blue and for inscriptions such as the Alhambra, the letter forms of Maghribi thuluth (serifs to the right, final alif drawn from bottom to top, fa and qaf often pointed in the conventional way), its other name maghribi mujawhar and its import probably around the 13th century or later, green wasla and red or yellow hamza dots, and Berber texts written in the script (https://web.archive.org/web/20161118135527/http://www.islamicmanuscripts.info/reference/articles/boogert_notes_maghribi_script.PDF)
- O. Houdas, 'Essai sur l'écriture maghrébine', Nouveaux mélanges orientaux (Paris: École des Langues Orientales Vivantes, 1886), as cited by Van den Boogert
- Umberto Bongianino, The Manuscript Tradition of the Islamic West: Maghribi Round Scripts and Andalusi Identity (Edinburgh University Press, 2022), chapter 1, 'Maghribī Round Scripts: A New Definition' (https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/manuscript-tradition-of-the-islamic-west/maghribi-round-scripts-a-new-definition/FF0BFF9A1FD339FDD4C2E5308D73255B)
- Matteo Pimpinelli, review of Bongianino, The Manuscript Tradition of the Islamic West, Al-Qanṭara 44:1 (2023), e09: the round scripts told apart from the ancient Ifriqi scripts of Kairouan, Cordoba's role in codifying them and passing them to provincial centres such as Toledo (Bongianino, pp. 88–89, as the review quotes them), and the Almoravid and Almohad 'stylistic koiné' from al-Andalus to the north-west Maghrib (https://doi.org/10.3989/alqantara.2023.009, https://al-qantara.revistas.csic.es/index.php/al-qantara/article/view/714/797)
- N. van den Boogert, The Berber Literary Tradition of the Sous (Publications of the De Goeje Fund 27, Rüdiger Köppe Verlag, 1997), publisher's description: Tashelhit manuscripts from the Sous written in fully vocalised Maghribi-Arabic script, the oldest around 1580 (https://www.koeppe.de/titel_the-berber-literary-tradition-of-the-sous)
- Umberto Bongianino, 'The Ideological Power of Some Almohad Illuminated Manuscripts', lecture at Bard College, 14 October 2016, on the Ibn Tumart manuscripts and Maghribi thuluth on coinage, architecture and chancery decrees (https://www.medievalists.net/2018/02/ideological-power-almohad-illuminated-manuscripts/)
- CallFront (INHA), records by Umberto Bongianino: Qur'an, Ceuta 1191, Topkapı R. 27, Maghribi mabsut with red vowels, ochre hamza and green wasla (https://callfront.inha.fr/s/callfront/item/4045); Fes (?) 1310–11, BNRM K 2949, gold Maghribi thuluth (https://callfront.inha.fr/s/callfront/item/4054); Marrakesh (?) 1652–53, MIA Doha MS.1999.11 (https://callfront.inha.fr/s/callfront/item/4059)
- Ashmolean Museum, Page from a Qur'an in maghribi script, EA1993.395 (https://jameelcentre.ashmolean.org/collection/921/object/11061)
- Metropolitan Museum of Art, collection records 2004.88 ('Blue Qur'an'), 2007.191 ('Nurse's Qur'an'), 2017.232 (Andalusian Pink Qur'an) and 1982.120.2 (Five Sections of a Qur'an) (https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/454662, https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/456074, https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/751641, https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/453165)
- Museum of Islamic Art, Doha (Qatar Museums), 'A Bifolio from the Mushaf al-Hadinah, the "Nurse's Qur'an"', Kairouan, 1020: Western Kufic script, brown ink with red, blue and green vocalisation marks (https://collections.qm.org.qa/en/objects/a-bifolio-from-the-mushaf-al-hadinah-the-nurses-quran-ms7802011)
- University of Pennsylvania Libraries, Fez Lithographs Collection (1865–1936; lithography chosen over movable type to keep a link with manuscript production) and catalogue records describing the texts as 'in Maghribi script' (https://www.library.upenn.edu/collections/notable/fez-lithographs-collection, https://almanac.upenn.edu/archive/volumes/v60/n12/moroccanlithographic.html, https://colenda.library.upenn.edu/catalog/81431-p31j97j5q)
- Khatt Foundation, 'The Qandus multiscript typeface family wins TCD2 2017 award' (https://www.khtt.net/en/page/28249/the-qandus-multiscript-typeface-family-wins-tcd2-2017-award)
- SIL International, Ruwudu, a Rubutun Kano font for Ajami (https://software.sil.org/ruwudu/)
- Wikipedia, 'Maghrebi script' (sub-styles, mujawhar in Fes lithography, the French Protectorate, Amazigh languages and Tashelhit written in the script), 'Muhammad bin Al-Qasim al-Qundusi', 'Moroccan manuscripts' (Morocco's first printed book completed in Meknes in 1865 before the press moved to Fes) and 'Alhambra' (Nasrid epigraphy: most poetry in Nasrid cursive script, many inscriptions in a mixed naskhi-thuluth, carved in stucco, wood and marble and glazed on tiles) (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maghrebi_script, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muhammad_bin_Al-Qasim_al-Qundusi, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moroccan_manuscripts, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alhambra)

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