Thuluth: the advanced path
16 lessons after the 43 of the path, in two levels: from long sentences on one line to a whole page of several lines. They open with a Mashq Learn plan. See the plans
Levels 7 and 8 are written in the practice face, with the four steps you know. A long line is written a word at a time.
Level 7 · The line
Complex sentences on one line: longer sayings, a line of poetry, stretching, stacking and the spacing of words.
- 44Even spaces✓
عند الصباح يحمد القوم السرى
At daybreak the travellers are glad they marched through the night: the worth of hard work shows when it is done.
Leave the same gap between every two words, so the five words read as one line and not as five pieces.
- 45The stretch✓
سبق السيف العذل
The sword struck before the reproach: it is too late to object to what is already done.
Stretch the one letter the model stretches, the long stroke of the seen, to its full length, and keep the line's height steady across it.
- 46Letters that change shape✓
الخيل والليل والبيداء تعرفني
The horses, the night and the desert know me. (First half of a verse.)
The same letter takes a different shape in each place (the lam, the ya, the alif): write each one as the model shapes it there, not as you learnt it alone.
- 47A full verse✓
الخيل والليل والبيداء تعرفني
والسيف والرمح والقرطاس والقلمThe horses, the night and the desert know me, and the sword and the spear, the paper and the pen.
Write the two halves of the verse at the same size and on the same line, with one clear gap between them.
- 48Letters above letters✓
إذا غامرت في شرف مروم
فلا تقنع بما دون النجومWhen you venture for an honour you long for, do not settle for anything below the stars.
Where the model sets one letter on top of the next (the noon over the jeem in النجوم), keep that order: the upper letter starts higher and the lower one sits on the line.
- 49One long line✓
ولم أر في عيوب الناس شيئا كنقص القادرين على التمام
Of all the faults in people I have seen none like the failure of those who could finish and do not.
Hold one height and one baseline from the first word to the last, with the gap between the two halves of the verse kept inside one line.
- 50A fully vowelled line✓
أَعَزُّ مَكَانٍ فِي الدُّنَى سَرْجُ سَابِحٍ
وَخَيْرُ جَلِيسٍ فِي الزَّمَانِ كِتَابُThe most honoured seat in the world is the saddle of a swift horse, and the best companion in any age is a book.
Add every vowel mark after the letters, with a finer stroke, each above or below its own letter, filling the spaces without touching the letters.
- 51The whole verse✓
وإذا كانت النفوس كبارا
تعبت في مرادها الأجسامWhen souls are great, the bodies tire in reaching for what they want.
A whole verse on one line: spacing, stretch, changing shapes and stacking together.
Level 8 · The page
Several lines as one page: the space between lines, lines that end together, the margins.
- 52Two lines✓
ومهما تكن عند امرئ من خليقة
وإن خالها تخفى على الناس تعلمWhatever nature a man has, even if he thinks it is hidden from people, it becomes known.
Set the second line under the first at an even distance, so the tall letters of the lower line never meet the tails of the upper one.
- 53Lines that end together✓
لسان الفتى نصف ونصف فؤاده
فلم يبق إلا صورة اللحم والدمA man is half his tongue and half his heart; what is left is only a shape of flesh and blood.
Make both lines start and end at the same edges, by lengthening a stretch in the shorter line, never by spreading the words apart.
- 54Four lines and a margin✓
سئمت تكاليف الحياة ومن يعش
ثمانين حولا لا أبا لك يسأم
وأعلم ما في اليوم والأمس قبله
ولكنني عن علم ما في غد عمI am weary of life's burdens; whoever lives eighty years grows weary. I know what today holds, and yesterday before it, but I am blind to what tomorrow holds.
Write four lines as one block with the same margin on every side, the empty paper as even as the lines.
- 55Two pens✓
أعز مكان في الدنى سرج سابح
وخير جليس في الزمان كتابThe most honoured seat in the world is the saddle of a swift horse, and the best companion in any age is a book.
The first half in Thuluth, the second half under it in Naskh with a pen about a third as wide, as the Ottoman masters continue a Thuluth line in Naskh (see Hamdullah, Walters W.672.4B).
- 56One Thuluth line, two Naskh lines✓
السيف أصدق إنباء من الكتب
في حده الحد بين الجد واللعب
بيض الصفائح لا سود الصحائف في متونهن جلاء الشك والريبThe sword tells truer news than books: in its edge lies the line between earnest and play. White blades, not black pages, hold in their faces the clearing of doubt.
Make the two Naskh lines exactly as wide as each other and as the Thuluth line above them.
- 57The corner panels✓
الخيل والليل والبيداء تعرفني
والسيف والرمح والقرطاس والقلم
أنا الذي نظر الأعمى إلى أدبي
وأسمعت كلماتي من به صممThe horses, the night and the desert know me, and the sword and the spear, the paper and the pen. I am the one whose writing the blind have seen, and whose words have reached the deaf.
Set the three Naskh lines narrower than the Thuluth line and leave an empty panel (koltuk) on each side, the shape of the Ottoman kıt'a.
- 58The whole page✓
على قدر أهل العزم تأتي العزائم
وتأتي على قدر الكرام المكارم
وتعظم في عين الصغير صغارها
وتصغر في عين العظيم العظائمResolve comes in the measure of the resolute, and noble deeds in the measure of the noble. Small things look great to the small, and great things look small to the great.
Plan the whole kıt'a on a blank sheet before writing: the Thuluth line, the Naskh block, the two panels and the margins, then write it without a guide.
- 59The page in one sitting✓
إذا أنت أكرمت الكريم ملكته
وإن أنت أكرمت اللئيم تمرداIf you honour the noble, you win him; if you honour the base, he rebels.
Two lines as one page, with their margins, written in one sitting.