Islam Museum Islam Museum islam.museum
Search ⌕ ARENUR
Accessibility
Text size 100%

Saved on this device only — nothing is sent anywhere.

Riqa' script

Made Objects Words

خط الرقاع

One of the six proportional pens, the small partner of tawqi', joining letters that normally stay apart, such as alif with lam or ra with ra, and used for documents, colophons and illuminated pages 1 2.

Depth

At a glance

Region
Global / Diaspora

Arts of the book

Summary

Riqa' is one of the six pens, the small partner of tawqi'. 3 Maryam Ekhtiar notes that, like tawqi', it joins letters that are not linked in other scripts, and that it was preferred for chancery documents, colophons, book covers and carpet pages. 1

Example

The Met holds two carpet pages from a prayer book written by Ahmad Nayrizi and illuminated, it is thought, by Muhammad Hadi, probably at Isfahan, 1132 AH/1719–20 CE. Each page has a central medallion with two pendants bearing Arabic prayers in riqa', in gold on crimson, amid gold vines and scrolls on pistachio green. They are among four pages in the manuscript that show the decorative use of riqa' within illumination, including the unorthodox joining of alif and lam, or of ra with another ra. 2 See illumination.

People and things also explored

Abbasid tin-glazed ware· Ahmadnagar painting· Proportional script and the six pens (al-aqlam al-sitta)· Arabesque· Bijapur painting· Broken cursive (New Style)· Deccani painting· Divani script

Sources

  1. Maryam D. Ekhtiar, How to Read Islamic Calligraphy (New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2018) , p. 26
  2. Maryam D. Ekhtiar, How to Read Islamic Calligraphy (New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2018) , p. 41
  3. Maryam D. Ekhtiar, How to Read Islamic Calligraphy (New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2018) , p. 25
Cite this page

islam.museum contributors. “Riqa' script”. islam.museum, https://islam.museum/en/concept/riqa-script/. CC BY-SA 4.0. Last updated 2026-11-04.

Improve this page on GitHub · Report an error · Help complete it · JSON

Wing

Made

What Muslims make and own today: bookshops, publishers, apps, studios, brands and charities. Related

Abbasid tin-glazed ware

Ninth-century Iraqi pottery covered with an opaque white glaze made with tin oxide to resemble white Chinese ware, then painted in blue, green and purple or in lustre.