Réflexions sur les formes de l'écrit à l'aube de l'Islam

Abstract

The latest researches in the field of Islamic graffiti in the first two centuries AH in the Middle East are adding to the knowledge we have about Muslim society at the dawn of Islam. Most of this information concerns the Islamic faith, the place of the Qurʾān, and the figure of Prophet Muhammad, but the oldest graffiti also allow us to reflect on the status of writing during the same period. We present an analysis of some original graphic developments such as the stretching of the ligatures of some letters, line justification, and reverse scripts which could be found in a corpus of texts prior to 150 AH. Our intention is not only to record original forms which have been studied as art history, but also to show how archaic Kufic, in all its forms, reflects the attitudes of people who engraved these graffiti, especially with reference to their relationship with the written word but also through the words they used to describe them. Finally, we analyse some palaeographic aspects including our recent discovery of proto-hamzah.