CALLIGRAPHY has always been praised by Europeans and other Westerners. It is a genuine Islamic and Arab art. It is a veryimportant element of the Arab legacy, part of its eternal heritage. This is why the Hungarian Cultural Centre in Cairo is hosting an exhibition of Arabic calligraphy. "I was in Budapest, Hungary's capital, at an exhibition of Islamic art last July, where I met István Zimonyi, the director of the Hungarian Cultural Centre in Cairo. He suggested holding a calligraphy exhibition in Cairo and that's how the idea came about," says Salah Abdel-Khaleq, the exhibition's organiser. Calligraphy is a highly venerated form of Islamic art, because the Arabic script was the means of transmission of the Holy Qur'an. The holy book of Islam has played an important role in the development and evolution of the Arabic language, while proverbs and complete passages from the Qur'an are still active sources for Islamic calligraphy. Islamic calligraphy, of handwriting, or calligraphy, and, by extension, of bookmaking, in the lands sharing a common Islamic cultural heritage. This art form is based on the Arabic script, which for a long time was used by all Muslims in their respective languages. "Although calligraphy is part of the Arab culture, Westerners are more concerned about it than Arabs. There are many exhibitions of calligraphy worldwide, but, unfortunately, very few in Egypt," adds Abdel- Khaleq, himself a calligrapher and an advertising designer in el-Tahrir Publishing and Printing House, which Publishes The Egyptian Gazette. "Europeans love calligraphy more than we do," he says, describingcalligraphy as a very important art, which has been neglected and ignored. "Calligraphy must be taught in schools. The Ministry of Higher Educations must take care of this art, while the Ministry of Culture should show more interest in holding exhibitions as well as competitions and festivals for Arabic calligraphy," he told The Gazette in an interview. Abdel-Khaleq is also participating in this group exhibition of calligraphy at the Hungarian Cultural Centre, with two works featuring verses from the Qur'an. In one of them he has written the phrase, ‘Bismillah el-Rahman el-Rahim. Meaning ‘In the name of God, most Gracious, most Compassionate', it is the most common phrase found in mosques. By interweaving written words, such as ‘Allah', a ‘Mohamed', a ‘Bismillah' or other Islamic words, or using micrography, calligraphers produce anthropomorphic figures. "I learned calligraphy with the help of a Moroccan sheikh called Belaeed. I worked on a style called Riqa', a miniature version of tawqi', that appeared in the Abbasid caliphate when it was used to sign official acts. "It was used for a long time. Then I started writing in other styles," says Mona Saleh, an Egyptian artist participating in the exhibition. The different writing styles of the Arabic alphabet are generally divided between geometric scripts (basically Kufic and its variations) and cursive scripts (such as Naskh, Riqa', Thuluth and others). "It started as a hobby and developed with care and learning," adds Mona, 31, whose two works in the exhibition are written in the Diwani style, which is a cursive style of Arabic calligraphy developed during the reign of the early Ottoman Turks (16th and early 17th centuries). It was invented by Housam Roumi and reached its height of popularity under Soleyman I the Magnificent (1520��"66AD). As decorative as it was communicative, Diwani was distinguished by the complexity of the line within the letter and the close juxtaposition of the letters within the word. The backgrounds of her two works are in colours like crimson, red and black. "The paper is what forces me to choose the colour. There is some kind of a relationship between me and the paper," Mona explains. The traditional instrument of the Arabic calligrapher is the qalam, a pen made of dried reed or bamboo; the ink is often coloured and chosen such that its intensity can vary greatly, so that the greater strokes of the compositions can be very dynamic in their effect. "I do my calligraphy using the dried reed, because I like the traditional way of writing the calligraphy," adds the artist, whose works also feature verses from the Qur'an. The exhibition is being held at the office of the Hungarian Cultural Coumseller in Cairo, 13 Gawad Hosny St., second Ploor, downtown (02/2392- 6692). The exhibition runs until April 22.
