A new Vision for Enriching Islamic Manuscripts of the Arab School In the Age of Digital Arts

Abstract

Islamic manuscripts represent the plethora of Islamic Cultural heritage, written by hand, that have reached us, and constitute a part of world art.Muslims down the ages took great care to preserve such legacy in an endeavor to perpetuate the intellectual property of Arab, and Muslim minds in various disciplines.Manuscripts of the Glorious Quran – the word of Allah – have been a top priority for artists to embellish as masterpieces of Arabic Calligraphy with decorations, and eye pleasing colours. Thus creating an artistic legacy of great importance to add to world art, and craftsmanship.The magnitude of this Islamic legacy is quite striking being preserved in libraries and museums across the world. The city of Istanbul alone hosts one hundred and twenty four thousand rare manuscripts.Egypt, Morocco, Tunisia, India, Iran, as well as other hubs of civilization around the world host such incredible manuscripts in museums, and libraries.The art of creating Islamic manuscripts evolved, and progressed in an unparalleled manner compared to other arts from the pre-Islamic era. Muslim artists enjoyed such skilled craftsmanship that produced gilded, and colourful decorations to integrate with elegant Arabic calligraphy in a harmonious blend of distinctive minute mosaic – like units.Elegant calligraphy raked high in Islamic culture, as calligraphers enjoyed a respectable social status, especially in Iraq, Iran, Egypt, and Turkey, because they took as a profession writing by hand the Quran - the Word of The Creator – in magnificent manuscripts. They also wrote popular Manuscripts of literature, and poetry.As such, the art of calligraphy, and manuscripts embellishment started to take shape, and evolve into an art form.

Keywords

• a new vision; enriching islamic; digital arts