From Kufa to your wall: a short history of the scripts · تاريخ الخطوط

Every script in Mashq Studio carries a millennium of decisions. Choosing between them is choosing a lineage.

The family tree, briefly

Kufic — the oldest formal hand, born in Kufa; angular, monumental, architectural. The script of early Qur'ans and of modern logos alike.
Naskh — Ibn Muqla's proportional revolution made "the copyist's hand" the everyday script of the Arabic world. If you can read this, you learned on Naskh.
Thuluth — "one third": the majestic display script of mosque friezes. The hardest to master, the first to impress.
Ruq'ah — the fast Ottoman office hand. Friendly, compact, unpretentious.
Diwani — the Ottoman chancery secret script, all curves and pride. Our TE Aldwawin cut is the studio's signature.
Farsi Nastaliq — the "bride of scripts", hanging like poetry. Persian ghazals live here.
Maghribi — the round, deep-bowled hand of Andalusia and North Africa, newly added via the Kano tradition.

Deeper histories live in our Learn pages — each script has its own chapter.

Write your word in each and see which one answers back.