Sini calligraphy

Calligraphy has always been a revered art form in China, which concurs with the ideal of Islam. Qur’ans from China follow a universal pattern, albeit with a sinicized effect. This point is demonstrated by the opening folio of a seventeenth-century Chinese Qur’an in the British Library wherein the calligraphers used a variation of muhaqqaq script, but the pen strokes show hints of Chinese calligraphic techniques. It was also decorated with a Chinese lantern with pendulous tassels attached to the hooks on the outer side of the structure. Chinese artistic style is also visible in the swirling lettering of the basmala inscription in a shamsa (sunburst) medallion appearing in a folio and the binding of an eighteenth-century Qur’an.Ursula Sims-Williams, ‘Illumination and decoration on Chinese Qur’ans’, in Asian and African studies blog (2017),(accessed 11/08/2021) And in an eighteenth-century illuminated Qur’an anthology, the right folio is boldly calligraphed with the verse subhan Allah (God is glorious). The sweeping letter forms, particularly the thin uprights, seem to derive from thuluth script adapted to a Chinese visual aesthetic in its sini form. The left folio is emblazoned with the Chinese symbol of good fortune.Aga Khan Museum, Qur’an Anthology. (accessed 12/08/2021) Chinese calligraphers developed a form of calligraphy greatly influenced by the Chinese aesthetic, which allowed the creation of pictorial images composed from religious verses.IAMM, _Six Centuries of Islamic Art in China, p. 18.

​​When considering the Arabic script’s extraordinary flexibility which allowed the calligraphers to adjust its shapes to different aesthetic principles, it seems a natural progression that Chinese Muslims would incorporate some characteristics of Chinese calligraphy into Arabic calligraphy.Six Centuries of Islamic Art in China, p. 18. More distinctive are the calligraphic scrolls that take a Chinese-style approach. These wall hangings feature the bold sweep of the brush, rather than the precision of the Islamic reed pen.IAMM, China Gallery, (accessed 10/08/2021)

To the untrained eye, it may not be easy to recognize what makes Arabic script Chinese in style. Shandong-born Master calligrapher, Haji Noor Deen, explained that in Chinese style, the Arabic script is not only written from right to left, but is also written from top to bottom, or from the middle and into different directions. The rules of proportion and ratios between letter height and width in writing the different types of Arabic scripts are not necessarily followed when writing in the Chinese style. For example, in writing the name of God (Allah) the letter (‘ lef) can be written and elongated in various ways (see images above). The Muslim calligraphers who write in the Chinese style follow whatever is most beautiful.Haji Noor Deen, ‘Arabic Islamic Calligraphy in the Chinese Tradition Demonstration by Master Haji Noor Deen on Vimeo’. Produced by Harvard University, 2012. (accessed 10/08/2021)

According to Haji Noor Deen, Chinese-Arabic calligraphy borrows elements from certain techniques of Chinese art, for instance, the technique of curving, of juxtaposing positive form and negative space, and the mode of the thin and the thick. In terms of shape, it incorporates the rectangle, square, circle, rhombus, fan, triangle, polygon, flower fruit and medallion into its visual vocabulary.Haji Noor Deen, ‘Arabic Calligraphy in the Chinese Tradition’, Haji Noor Deen Studio -, (accessed 10/08/2021).

Examples of the types of brushes used in sini calligraphy include: a broad brush made of bamboo or wood (usually wrapped in cloth), a flax brush (with the shape of broom), and a straw brush.Haji Noor Deen, ‘[The Art of Making Islamic Calligraphy](The Art of Making Sini Calligraphy — Haji Noor Deen Studio)', (accessed 12/08/2021).