Muhammad Shafi' Haravi (Shafi'a)

Tarikh-i Khatt o Khattatin says that shikasta arose in the Safavid period and that it was invented by Murtaza Quli Khan Shamlu, governor of Herat and son of Hasan Khan, attached to the court of Shah Sulayman, who died in 1100/1689. Muhammad Shafi' Haravi belonged to a well-known Sayyid family of Herat and was a master of ta'liq, nasta'liq and shikasta, which he learned from Shamlu. ¹

He refined and polished the script, fixed its principles and rules, and devoted himself to it so fully that some called it "Shafi'a script". Historians differ on the year of his death. The book lists the general features of shikasta: separate letters are joined, the bowls are drawn out, there are many chances of confusion so that one shape can be read as several words, and there is little flat surface; it cites Sa'ib's famous verse that a letter of repentance should be written in broken script. ¹

The book says shikasta reached India under Shah Jahan, that Kifayat Khan made it popular there, and that some Lucknow calligraphers excelled in naskh, nasta'liq and "Shafi'a". ^{1 2}