rayḥānī script

Arabic calligraphy

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Last updated

July 23, 2026

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The rayḥānī script is a style of Arabic calligraphy. It was reputedly invented by the calligrapher Ibn al-Bawwāb in the 10th century CE. He was a master calligrapher who refined several existing scripts, including naskhī and tawqī. Ibn al-Bawwāb is said to have produced 64 handwritten copies of the Qurʾān, with one beautiful example of his rayḥānī script housed in the Laleli Mosque in Istanbul. The naskhī script, which is also a popular and legible Islamic style, was developed around the same time and was widely used for copying the Qurʾān from the 11th century onward.12

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Ibn al-Bawwāb
…who reputedly invented the cursive rayḥānī and muḥaqqaq scripts. He refined several of the calligraphic styles invented a century earlier by Ibn Muqlah, including the naskhī and tawqī scripts, and collected and preserved for his students numerous original manuscripts of that master.
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…who reputedly invented the cursive rayḥānī and muḥaqqaq scripts. He refined several of the calligraphic styles invented a century earlier by Ibn Muqlah, including the naskhī and tawqī scripts, and collected and preserved for his students numerous original manuscripts of that master.
Read More