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The Basmala, fully vowelled, set large in black within a gold-ruled frame on cream, as on a manuscript page, with illuminated headpiece bands of gold, lapis and red above and below in the taller shapes.
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The Pattern Atlas

Naskh

No. 81 of 100 · free · 300 dpi

What you seeThe Basmala, fully vowelled, set large in black within a gold-ruled frame on cream, as on a manuscript page, with illuminated headpiece bands of gold, lapis and red above and below in the taller shapes.

What it meansNaskh, from a word meaning to copy, became the everyday copying hand of the Islamic world and the model for most Arabic printing. Its rounded letters, short ascenders and clear vowel marks made it the usual script for copying the Qur'an. The text is set in the Amiri Quran typeface, not written by hand.

Where it worksA calm, classic piece for a hallway, a reading corner or a prayer space.

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2:3 · 7200 × 10800 px4×6 · 8×12 · 12×18 · 16×24 · 20×30 · 24×36 in
3:4 · 5400 × 7200 px6×8 · 9×12 · 12×16 · 18×24 in
4:5 · 7200 × 9000 px4×5 · 8×10 · 16×20 · 24×30 in
11:14 · 3300 × 4200 px11×14 in
A-series · 7023 × 9933 pxA5 · A4 · A3 · A2 · A1

Everything is one ZIP: every shape and size, the phone wallpaper, the SVGs and a printing guide.

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More from The Pattern Atlas

All 100 prints
A Persian couplet in cream Nastaliq on deep aubergine, the two lines staggered as in a calligrapher's panel, with gold rules, gold corner pieces and a gold medallion between the lines in the taller shapes.NastaliqNo. 82
A note card with ruled lines and a red margin on the right, where Arabic writing begins, carrying good morning, how are you, and in the tallest shapes I hope you are well, in blue Ruq'a lettering.Ruq‘aNo. 83
A square panel of square Kufic on a fine grid: subhan Allah, glory be to God, in cream letters turned four times round the square, a mint ring inside, and Allah turned four times in gold at the centre. Taller shapes add a band of the Name above and below.Square KuficNo. 84
A table of Arabic letters in four columns, isolated, initial, medial and final, read from right to left, with each row a different letter in blue, teal or terracotta on paper. The number of letters grows with the height of the shape.Letter PositionsNo. 85
A diagram in gold and bone on ink: a column of five rhombic dots, a naskh alif of the same height standing as the diameter of a circle, and a reed pen whose cut nib rests on the top dot.ProportionNo. 86
The twenty-eight Arabic letters in the abjad order on lapis, each with its number value in gold, arranged as units, tens, hundreds and a thousand, under the traditional memory words abjad hawwaz hutti kalaman sa'fas qurishat thakhadh dazagh.AbjadNo. 87
The twenty-eight Arabic letters in their usual order on cream tiles against rose, read from right to left and numbered. Letters that share a shape, such as ba, ta and tha, share a colour.The AlphabetNo. 88
Two panels on sage. Above, bare letter shapes beside their dotted forms, the dots in brown. Below, the letter ba with the short-vowel and reading marks: fatha, kasra, damma, sukun, shadda and tanwin, each named.Dots and VowelsNo. 89

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