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Concept
Maghrebi script
Summary
Maghrebi script or Maghribi script (الخط المغربي) refers to a loosely related family of Arabic scripts that developed in the Maghreb (North Africa), al-Andalus (Iberia), and Bilad as-Sudan (the West African Sahel). Maghrebi script is directly derived from the Kufic script, and is traditionally written with a pointed tip (القلم المدبَّب), producing a line of even thickness.
The script is characterized by rounded letter forms, extended horizontal features, and final open curves below the baseline. It also differs from Mashreqi scripts in the notation of the letters faa (Maghrebi: ڢ ; Mashreqi: ف) and qoph (Maghrebi: ڧ ; Mashreqi: ق).
For centuries, Maghrebi script was used to write Arabic manuscripts and record Andalusi and Moroccan literature, whether in Classical Arabic, Maghrebi Arabic, or Amazigh languages.
Arabic script first came to the Maghreb with the Islamic conquests (643–709). The conquerors, led by Uqba ibn Nafi, used both Hijazi and Kufic scripts, as demonstrated in coins minted in 711 under Musa ibn Nusayr. Maghrebi script is a direct descendant of the old Kufic script that predated Ibn Muqla's al-khat al-mansub (الخَط المَنْسُوب proportioned line) standardization reforms, which affected Mashreqi scripts. The Arabic script in its Iraqi Kufic form spread from centers such as Fes, Cordoba, and Qairawan throughout the region along with Islam, as the Quran was studied and transcribed. Qayrawani Kufic script developed in al-Qayrawan from the Iraqi Kufic script.
Early on, there were two schools of Maghrebi script: the African script (الخط الإفريقي, al-khaṭṭ al-ʾifrīqiyy) and the Andalusi script (الخط الأندلسي, al-khaṭṭ al-ʾandalusiyy). The African script evolved in Ifriqiya (Tunisia) from Iraqi Kufic by way of the Kufic of Qairawan. The Andalusi script evolved in Iberia from the Damascene Kufic script with the establishment of the second Umayyad state, which would become the Caliphate of Córdoba. The Andalusi script was particular for its rounded letters, as attested to in Al-Maqdisi's geography book The Best Divisions in the Knowledge of the Regions.
Official source
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