Analyzing the Structural Characteristics of the Pre-Nasta'liq in the Emad Faqih Kermani's Poetry Collection Manuscript (Islamic Consultative Assembly Library, IR.1584)

Nasta'liq is the second specific Persian script. Due to its aesthetic features, this script has been nicknamed "the bride of the Islamic scripts" and in Arab countries it is called "al-Khat al-Farsi". Its initial foundation was from changing Naskh and Ta'liq scripts in the manuscripts of the second half of the eighth century AH. In this regard, there are several manuscripts in which the initial movements of the Nasta'liq script had been introduced and presented. According to the date of calligraphy and its features, it seems that the Emad collection of Faqih Kermani's poetry manuscript in the Islamic consultative assembly library (IR. 1584) is one of these manuscripts that can be observed for the initial signs of pre-Nasta'liq. Therefore, the aim was to investigate the pre-Nasta'liq in this manuscript. It seeks to answer the question, what kind of calligraphy was used in the manuscript of Emad Faqih Kermani, and what was its characteristic? Also, considering that no independent study has been done on it, the study of this manuscript was serious. This study was carried out through a descriptive-analytical method, and the information has been collected through the library method and by studying visual documents (the manuscript). The examples are selected and magnified from the original manuscript of Emad Faqih Kermani. The criteria for selecting samples are based on the classification of Habibullah Fadaeli in the book Ta'alim Khat (2009), which divides the entire Persian alphabet into three categories: singulars, stretched, and circles. Therefore, it has been tried to compare the script used in the Emad Kermani’s manuscript and the Nasta'liq and Ta'liq scripts.
Based on the page of ‘Tatameh’ (the last page of the manuscript) and ‘Anjameh’, it was determined that this manuscript had been written in 783 AH / 1381 AD, and historical assessments showed that it was probably sponsored by Shah Shoja in Shiraz or Sultan Hussein Jalayer in Baghdad. Since Nastaliq first flourished in Shiraz, it was quickly noticed and became prevalent in Baghdad; another center of literature and art in that period. Shah Shoja supported art workshops in Shiraz during this period. Also, it preceded the calligraphy of the poem of Emad Faqih Kermani in Shah Shuja’s library in Shiraz, like the manuscript calligraphy by Mansour bin Ali bin Muhammad bin Hossein Tusi Kashani in 786 AH/ 1394 AD which is preserved in the National Library of Paris. So, it was possible that this manuscript was prepared under his auspices. On the other hand, in 783 AH / 1381 AD, it was a contemporary of Shah Sultan Hussein Jalayeri in Baghdad. The support of the Jalayari kings for the Nasta'liq led to its development during these years. Based on the analysis of calligraphy, the script of this manuscript can be recognized between Naskh and Ta'liq script or Naskh leaned to Ta'liq which underlies the emergence of the Nasta'liq script. Some letters were still written like in the Naskh script, such as (ا), (آ), (ط), and (ب); several letters were written softer and more curved due to the effects of the Nasta'liq script, such as (د), (م), (و), (ک), (س), (ق), (ل), (ن) and (ی); and some letters were similar to both scripts, such as (ر), (ه), (ف), (ح) and (ع). Many letters are connected due to shorthand or are influenced by the Ta'liq script such as (و), (ر), and (د). Probably, the addition of the dot was based on the common orthography in the 8th century and also followed the writing tradition of earlier periods; because in the orthography of the early centuries -unlike the new orthography- a dot or dots are placed under some letters, in order to distinguish them from similar letters. Accordingly, the scribes from the early to the eighth century of Hijri have acted like this. In general, there are three types of Pashani (extensive writing) in this manuscript; Space between letters, Space between words, and Space between lines. Due to the use of Mastar (kind of ruler), and attention to tabulation, the distance between lines is entirely regular, but the distance between letters and words does not follow the same rule. The calligrapher of Emad Faqih Kermani's manuscript has paid attention to written elongations. Due to the type of calligraphy used in this manuscript, in addition to elongation letters (ب, ف and ک), some circles such as (ق, ص, ص, ل, ن) and elongation (س) and the inverted letter (ی) have also been written as elongations. These elongations were located in different positions of the line (hemistich), and in order of priority, they are positioned in (2), and (4) jointly, position (2), position (4), and position (3).