Calligraphy styles

No appropriately licensed Thuluth font or original glyph set is installed yet.

• History & context · Documented reference · high confidence

  Thuluth is one of the six pens, used for headings, inscriptions and monumental compositions.

  Source: Sheila S. Blair, Islamic Calligraphy, Edinburgh University Press, 2006; Yasin Hamid Safadi, Islamic Calligraphy, Thames and Hudson, 1978

• Proportions · Documented reference · medium confidence

  Classical cursive scripts are commonly described as 'proportioned': letters are measured in rhombic dots made with the pen, with the alif as the reference stroke. The system is traditionally credited to the 10th-century vizier Ibn Muqla.

  Historians debate how much of the system Ibn Muqla himself devised.

  Source: Sheila S. Blair, Islamic Calligraphy, Edinburgh University Press, 2006; Annemarie Schimmel, Calligraphy and Islamic Culture, New York University Press, 1984

• Composition · Documented reference · medium confidence

  Thuluth compositions stack and overlap letters across several levels, which an ordinary line-by-line text font does not do.

  Source: Sheila S. Blair, Islamic Calligraphy, Edinburgh University Press, 2006

• Proportions · Teaching heuristic · low confidence

  The Thuluth alif is usually taught taller than the Naskh alif, often around seven to nine dots.

  Figures differ between teachers and between Thuluth and Jali Thuluth.

  No published source — a common teaching rule of thumb.

• Fonts in Qalam Atelier · Verified font/engine property · high confidence

  No suitably licensed Thuluth font is installed, so Qalam Atelier does not offer Thuluth.

  Source: Qalam Atelier, Qalam Atelier font audit (HarfBuzz shaping of the bundled font files), 2026

No openly licensed (SIL OFL) Diwani font exists to install, and a look-alike is never substituted.

• History & context · Documented reference · medium confidence

  Diwani developed in the Ottoman chancery (diwan) for decrees and official documents.

  Source: Yasin Hamid Safadi, Islamic Calligraphy, Thames and Hudson, 1978; Sheila S. Blair, Islamic Calligraphy, Edinburgh University Press, 2006

• Baseline · Documented reference · medium confidence

  Its lines rise towards the end and letters interlock closely, so words do not sit on one flat baseline.

  Source: Yasin Hamid Safadi, Islamic Calligraphy, Thames and Hudson, 1978

• Fonts in Qalam Atelier · Verified font/engine property · high confidence

  No suitably licensed Diwani font is installed, so Qalam Atelier does not offer Diwani.

  Source: Qalam Atelier, Qalam Atelier font audit (HarfBuzz shaping of the bundled font files), 2026

Requires original glyphs, stacking and ligature rules. No openly licensed Jali Diwani font exists to install.

• Composition · Documented reference · medium confidence

  Jali Diwani is a denser, more ornamental form of Diwani in which spaces are filled with dots and small ornaments, so the composition reads as a solid block.

  Source: Yasin Hamid Safadi, Islamic Calligraphy, Thames and Hudson, 1978

• Fonts in Qalam Atelier · Verified font/engine property · high confidence

  Not offered: it needs hand-arranged compositions that no installed font or engine provides.

  Source: Qalam Atelier, Qalam Atelier font audit (HarfBuzz shaping of the bundled font files), 2026

بسم الله

Rendered with Naskh-style OpenType fonts. Typography, not hand-drawn calligraphy.

Fonts: Amiri، Noto Naskh Arabic، Scheherazade New، Lateef، Harmattan، Markazi Text

• History & context · Documented reference · high confidence

  Naskh is one of the 'six pens' (al-aqlam al-sitta) of classical calligraphy and became the usual hand for copying books, including the Qur'an.

  Source: Sheila S. Blair, Islamic Calligraphy, Edinburgh University Press, 2006; Yasin Hamid Safadi, Islamic Calligraphy, Thames and Hudson, 1978

• Proportions · Documented reference · medium confidence

  Classical cursive scripts are commonly described as 'proportioned': letters are measured in rhombic dots made with the pen, with the alif as the reference stroke. The system is traditionally credited to the 10th-century vizier Ibn Muqla.

  Historians debate how much of the system Ibn Muqla himself devised.

  Source: Sheila S. Blair, Islamic Calligraphy, Edinburgh University Press, 2006; Annemarie Schimmel, Calligraphy and Islamic Culture, New York University Press, 1984

• Proportions · Teaching heuristic · low confidence

  Teachers often give the Naskh alif a height of about five dots.

  The number varies between schools, teachers and pen widths; treat it as a starting point, not a rule.

  No published source — a common teaching rule of thumb.

• Fonts in Qalam Atelier · Verified font/engine property · high confidence

  Amiri, Noto Naskh Arabic and Scheherazade New contain all 28 base letters, four contextual forms for the 22 dual-joining letters, dedicated lam-alef glyphs and zero-width diacritics.

  Source: Qalam Atelier, Qalam Atelier font audit (HarfBuzz shaping of the bundled font files), 2026; Khaled Hosny, Amiri typeface; The Noto Project Authors, Noto Naskh Arabic; SIL International, Scheherazade New

• Fonts in Qalam Atelier · Verified font/engine property · high confidence

  Amiri's designer describes it as a revival of the Naskh typeface of the Bulaq (Amiria) Press in Cairo. It is a typeface, not a calligrapher's hand.

  Source: Khaled Hosny, Amiri typeface

بسم الله

Rendered with the Aref Ruqaa typeface. Proportions follow the font, not a master's hand.

Fonts: Aref Ruqaa، Aref Ruqaa Ink

• History & context · Documented reference · medium confidence

  Ruq'ah is a compact, quickly written Ottoman hand that became the everyday handwriting of much of the Arab world.

  Sources give different dates for when it was standardised.

  Source: Yasin Hamid Safadi, Islamic Calligraphy, Thames and Hudson, 1978

• Dots & diacritics · Teaching heuristic · medium confidence

  Ruq'ah is normally written with few or no vowel marks, and dots are often joined into short strokes.

  No published source — a common teaching rule of thumb.

• Fonts in Qalam Atelier · Verified font/engine property · high confidence

  Aref Ruqaa is a typeface inspired by classical Ruq'ah. It contains the base letters and harakat but not most Qur'anic annotation marks.

  Source: Abdullah Aref, Khaled Hosny, Aref Ruqaa typeface; Qalam Atelier, Qalam Atelier font audit (HarfBuzz shaping of the bundled font files), 2026

بسم الله

A modern Kufi-inspired typeface. Not geometric square Kufic.

Fonts: Reem Kufi، Noto Kufi Arabic، El Messiri، Changa، Qahiri

• History & context · Documented reference · high confidence

  Kufic is the family of angular early scripts used in early Qur'an manuscripts and in architecture.

  'Kufic' covers many distinct styles; scholars increasingly prefer more specific names.

  Source: Sheila S. Blair, Islamic Calligraphy, Edinburgh University Press, 2006

• Fonts in Qalam Atelier · Verified font/engine property · high confidence

  Reem Kufi is a modern typeface its designer describes as Fatimid-style decorative Kufic. It is not square Kufic.

  Source: Khaled Hosny, Reem Kufi typeface

Original simplified grid construction: the 28 base letters, editable dots and multi-row layouts. Not validated against traditional construction rules.

• History & context · Documented reference · medium confidence

  Square Kufic is closely tied to architecture, especially glazed-brick decoration (banna'i) in Iran and Central Asia, where letters follow a square grid.

  Source: Sheila S. Blair, Islamic Calligraphy, Edinburgh University Press, 2006

• Fonts in Qalam Atelier · Verified font/engine property · high confidence

  Qalam Atelier's grid letters are original, simplified geometry. They are not copied from or checked against historical buildings.

  Source: Qalam Atelier, Qalam Atelier font audit (HarfBuzz shaping of the bundled font files), 2026

• Composition · Design suggestion · medium confidence

  Square and rotational layouts suit short words and names; long phrases become hard to read on a grid.

  No published source — a common teaching rule of thumb.

بسم الله

Rendered with Noto Nastaliq Urdu, a typeface designed for Urdu. Arabic text renders, but spacing and stacking follow Urdu typesetting conventions, not a calligrapher's hand.

Fonts: Noto Nastaliq Urdu، Gulzar

• History & context · Documented reference · high confidence

  Nasta'liq developed in Iran in the 14th–15th centuries and became the main hand for Persian poetry; it is also the usual script for Urdu.

  Source: Sheila S. Blair, Islamic Calligraphy, Edinburgh University Press, 2006; Annemarie Schimmel, Calligraphy and Islamic Culture, New York University Press, 1984

• Baseline · Documented reference · medium confidence

  Words slope downward from right to left and end on the baseline, which gives Nasta'liq its hanging, cascading look.

  Source: Sheila S. Blair, Islamic Calligraphy, Edinburgh University Press, 2006

• Fonts in Qalam Atelier · Verified font/engine property · high confidence

  Noto Nastaliq Urdu is designed for Urdu. In the audit it contains all 28 Arabic base letters, four contextual forms, lam-alef glyphs and harakat, but not the Qur'anic marks U+06D6–U+06DC.

  Source: The Noto Project Authors, Noto Nastaliq Urdu; Qalam Atelier, Qalam Atelier font audit (HarfBuzz shaping of the bundled font files), 2026

• Composition · Design suggestion · medium confidence

  Use line spacing of about 2× and no letter spacing; the sloping words need vertical room.

  Source: Qalam Atelier, Qalam Atelier font audit (HarfBuzz shaping of the bundled font files), 2026

بسم الله

Modern decorative headline typefaces. Typography, not traditional calligraphy.

Fonts: Lalezar، Rakkas، Jomhuria، Katibeh، Lemonada

• Fonts in Qalam Atelier · Verified font/engine property · high confidence

  Lalezar, Rakkas, Jomhuria, Katibeh and Lemonada are modern headline typefaces. Each contains the 28 base letters and basic harakat; none is a traditional calligraphic hand.

  Source: Google Fonts contributors, Google Fonts repository (SIL OFL fonts); Qalam Atelier, Qalam Atelier font audit (HarfBuzz shaping of the bundled font files), 2026

بسم الله

Typefaces designed for Persian, including پ چ ژ گ. Typography, not hand-drawn calligraphy.

Fonts: Mirza، Vazirmatn

• History & context · Documented reference · high confidence

  Persian is written in the Arabic script with four extra letters: پ چ ژ گ.

  Source: Sheila S. Blair, Islamic Calligraphy, Edinburgh University Press, 2006

• Fonts in Qalam Atelier · Verified font/engine property · high confidence

  Mirza and Vazirmatn contain the Persian letters and Persian digits. They are typefaces, not a calligrapher's hand.

  Source: Google Fonts contributors, Google Fonts repository (SIL OFL fonts); Qalam Atelier, Qalam Atelier font audit (HarfBuzz shaping of the bundled font files), 2026