Maghrebi script
[4] The script is characterized by rounded letter forms, extended horizontal features, and final open curves below the baseline.
[4] The Arabic script in its Iraqi Kufic form spread from centers such as Fes, Cordoba, and Qayrawan throughout the region along with Islam, as the Quran was studied and transcribed.
[8][9] In al-Maghreb al-Aqsa (المغرب الأڧصى, 'the Far West', modern-day Morocco), the script developed independently from the Kufic of the Maghrawa and Bani Ifran under the Idrisid dynasty (788–974);[8] it gained Mashreqi features under the Imam aIdris I, who came from Arabia.
[8][16] The Maghrebi thuluth script was appropriated and adopted as an official "dynastic brand" used in different media, from manuscripts to coinage to fabrics.
[8] There were three forms of Maghrebi script in use: one in urban centers such as those previously mentioned, one in rural areas used to write in both Arabic and Amazigh, and one that preserved Andalusi features.
[8] The Saadis founded centers for learning calligraphy, including the madrasa of the Mouassine Mosque, which was directed by a dedicated calligrapher as was the custom in the Mashreq.
[8] He authored Stringing the Pearls of the Thread (نظم لآلئ السمط في حسن تقويم بديع الخط), a book in the form of an urjuza on the rules of Maghrebi script.
[8] In 1949, Muhammad bin al-Hussein as-Sūsī and Antonio García Jaén published Ta'līm al-Khatt al-Maghrebi (تعليم الخط المغربي) a series of five booklets teaching Maghrebi script printed in Spain.
[27][28][29] Additionally, books from the Mashreq printed in naskh scripts were imported for use in schools and universities, and handwriting began to be taught with mashreqi letter forms.
[30] In 2007, Muḥammad al-Maghrāwī and Omar Afa [ar] cowrote Maghrebi Script: History, Present, and Horizons (الخط المغربي: تاريخ وواقع وآفاق).
[31][32] The following year, the Muhammad VI Prize for the Art of Maghrebi Script, organized by the Moroccan Ministry of Islamic Affairs [ar], was announced.
[33][34] In early 2020, the President of Tunisia, Kais Saied, garnered significant media attention for his handwritten official letters in the Maghrebi script.
[42] Among the publications of Octave Houdas [fr], a 19th-century French orientalist, dealing with the subject of Maghrebi script, there are Essai sur l'Ecriture Maghrebine (1886)[2] and Recueil de Lettres Arabes Manuscrites (1891).
[5] In fact, concerns over the preservation of Maghrebi writing traditions played a part in the reservations of the Moroccan ulama against importing the printing press.
