The artistic composition of Arabic calligraphy in the Kiswah of the Holy Kaaba: a descriptive and analytical study

• Main Authors: Alashari, Duaa, Abdelaziz, Berghout
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: IIUM Press 2024
• Subjects: BH Aesthetics; BP137 Qur'anic and other Islamic legends; N6260 Islamic calligraphy; NK1674 Islamic art
• Online Access: http://irep.iium.edu.my/116266/1/116266_The%20artistic%20composition%20of%20Arabic%20calligraphy.pdf; http://irep.iium.edu.my/116266/; https://journals.iium.edu.my/shajarah/index.php/shaj/article/view/1932

The Kaaba's Kiswah carries inherited aesthetics with an ancient historical and cultural character. The Kiswah of the Kaaba is one of the earth's holiest and most precious fabrics, as it covers the Sacred House of Allah and carries sublime sanctity meanings. It embodies Qur'anic verses, expressions of monotheism, and some of the most beautiful names of God, which have added to the honourable covering more solemnity, beauty, and Majesty. Therefore, this study aims to provide an accurate and detailed descriptive study of the totality of Arabic calligraphy and calligraphic formations in form and textual content during the reign of King Salman Al Saud. The study also aims to provide a complete analytical description of the written contents of the lines and calligraphic formations, the type of compositions, and the general structure of the compositions on all four sides of the Holy Kaaba. The approach followed in the study is the content analysis approach. The current study will be based on observation. The study found that the covering of the Holy Kaaba is based in its design on a group of Qur'anic verses selected by scholars. These lines were written intertwined within various calligraphic formations, woven in the clear Thuluth script, and combined with prominent letters to show the splendour of Arabic calligraphy and its aesthetics and the manifestation of the elements of Islamic securitization.