Trouble's a foot

Qur'an scroll, 15th century, Ottoman Turkey

The Qur'an has been written in ghubar script, in such a way that it forms a prayer in the larger thulth script. The Qur'anic text is in black while the surah (chapter) headings are in red. The large text begins with the calling of Allah's blessings on the Prophet Muhammad, followed by the names of the 12 Shi'ite 'Imams and a popular invocation to 'Ali, known as nadi 'aliyyan. This scroll was probably meant for a patron of Shi'a persuasion.

A scholar has proposed a mythical reason for containing text within text - by reading out the larger (also shorter) text, it is as if one has transmitted the entire contents of the Qur'an.

Qur'an Fragment, 12th to 13th centuries, North Africa or Southern Spain

This Qur'an fragment is written in bold maghribi script on parchment and is quite extensively illuminated. The chapter heading is written in a large gold Kufic-Abbasid script and the end of each verse is marked by illuminated roundels.

Nebula, by Kouichi Honda, 2003, Japan

The Qur'anic chapter, Surat an-Nur (The Light) is written to form a composition that looks like a nebula (an interstellar cloud of dust and gases). The choice to use this particular Qur'anic chapter was probably because it contains the verse which states that 'Allah is the Light of the heavens and the earth.' The Light Verse or Ayat an-Nur has been subjected to much scholarship and mystical reflection.

Written by well-known Japanese Muslim calligrapher, Kouichi Honda (b. 1947), in jali diwani script, a total of ten different sized pens was used for the calligraphic composition. Kouichi Honda combines classical calligraphic scripts with his taste on colours.