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Thuluth


Thuluth (Persian: ثلث‎‎ sols, Turkish: Sülüs, from Arabic: ثلث‎‎ ṯuluṯ "one-third") is a script variety of Islamic calligraphy invented by Ibn Muqlah Shirazi. The straight angular forms of Kufic were replaced in the new script by curved and lines. In Thuluth, one-third of each letter slopes, from which the name (meaning "a third" in Arabic) comes. An alternative theory to the meaning is that the smallest width of the letter is one third of the widest part. It is an elegant, cursive script, used in medieval times on mosque decorations. Various calligraphic styles evolved from Thuluth through slight changes of form.

The greatest contributions to the evolution of the Thuluth script, occurred during Ottoman Empire in three successive steps that Ottoman Art Historians call "calligraphical revolutions":

The best known artist to write the Thuluth script at its zenith is said to be Mustafa Râkım Efendi (1757–1826), a painter who set a standard in Ottoman calligraphy which many believe has not been surpassed to this day.

Thuluth was used to write the headings of surahs, Qur'anic chapters. Some of the oldest copies of the Qur'an were written in Thuluth. Later copies were written in a combination of Thuluth and either Naskh or Muhaqqaq. After the 15th century Naskh came to be used exclusively.

The script is used in the Flag of Saudi Arabia where its text, Shahada al Tawhid, is written in Thuluth.


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