Raqq — Early manuscript Kufic typeface

Raqq (رَقّ) is a manuscript Kufic typeface that intends to revive (as faithfully as possible) the style of Kufic script used in writing the Qur’an in the third century AH. Raqq is Arabic for parchment, on which early Qur’ans were written.

Raqq design is based mostly on the Quran that was endowed to a mosque in Tire in 262 AH by Amajor al-Turki, then Damascus governor for the Abbasid caliph al-Mu’tamid, and specifically Cambridge University Library manuscript MS Add.1116.

Raqq Raqq is a free, open-source project, and anyone is welcome to use and modify it under the terms of version 3 of GNU Affero General Public License.

Raqq is designed and developed by Khaled Hosny, founder of Alif Type.

Typeface Features

Kufic is one of the oldest forms of Arabic writing, and all early Qur’ans we have access to have been written in some form of it. Kufic has many characteristic features that Raqq tries to capture.

Spacing

One of the very prominent characteristics of Kufic is the wide spacing between unconnected letters and the fact that the calligraphic syllable (any sequence of connected letters that in itself does not connect with proceeds that follow it) is the smallest unit and not the word and as such spacing between unconnected letter inside the word is the same as the spacing between words, and Raqq replicates this. For example, in the basmala here, the space between the meem of the first word and the alef of the second is the same between the alef and lam of the second word, despite the first being the spacing between two words and the second is the spacing inside a word:

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

In Raqq, the spacing can be decreased using the custom font variation axis Spacing (SPAC). The basmala at minimum spacing becomes:

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

Similarly, line breaks frequently happen inside the word as long as calligraphic syllables are not broken (in other words, lines can be broken inside a word after alef, dal, thal, reh, and zain, as they don’t connect to the left, and not after any other letter). Unfortunately, line break opportunities are outside of font control, so if such line braking is desired, the text should be spelled with spaces between the syllables, for example:

قُل هوَ ا للهُ أ حد۝١ا للهُ ا لصمد۝٢لَم يلد وَ لم يُو لد۝٣وَ لَم يكن لهُ كفو اً أحد۝٤

قُل هوَ ا للهُ أ حد۝١ا للهُ ا لصمد۝٢لَم يلد وَ لـم يُو لد۝٣وَ لَم يكن لهُ كفو اً أحد۝٤

Elongation

Another prominent Kufic feature is mashq, which is the elongation of some letters. Raqq provides another custom font variation axis, Mashq (MSHQ), for this.

In Kufic, letters that can be elongated are the mostly horizontal ones, namely dal, tah, kaf, sad, beh, and feh. These letters can expand or shrink as needed, though expansion is usually preferred:

د د د
ط ط ط
ك ك ك
ص ص ص
ٮ ٮ ٮ
ڡ ڡ ڡ

Isolated ain and isolated or final hah can also expand slightly:

ع ع
ح ح

Also, final alef can shrink a little:

ا ا

The rest of the letters do not elongate but can be elongated by inserting tatweel (kashida) after them when needed:

سائِلون سائـِلون

Diacritical Dots

Kufi Qur’an are often written with or without diacritical dots or I‘jam. Raqq supports both. By default the letters are dotted:

قل ا عو ذ بر ب ا لفـلق۝١من شر ما خلـق۝٢و من شر غا سق ا ذ ا و قب۝٣ و من شر ا لنفا ثا ت في ا لعقد۝٤و من شر حا سد ا ذ ا حسد۝٥

Using Stylistic Set 1 (ss01) feature, the dots can be turned off:

قل ا عو ذ بر ب ا لفـلق۝١من شر ما خلـق۝٢و من شر غا سق ا ذ ا و قب۝٣ و من شر ا لنفا ثا ت في ا لعقد۝٤و من شر حا سد ا ذ ا حسد۝٥

Vowel Dots

Kufic Qur’ans use an early system of vowel marks, different from the later system in use today. In the old system, fatha is a dot above the letter, kasra is a dot below it, damma is a dot in front (left) of it, and tanwīn is two dots of each. To distinguish these dots from the diacritical dots (like the dots of beh and teh), they were written using a different ink than the rest of the text, usually red (but sometimes also green, yellow, and blue, for other reasons).

Raqq utilizes color fonts to automatically represent the color of vowel dots, so regular vowel marks are used, and they will appear with the right color in the right positions:

◌َ ◌ً ◌ِ ◌ٍ ◌ُ ◌ٌ

◌َ ◌ً ◌ِ ◌ٍ ◌ُ ◌ٌ

Some letters have slightly different vowel dot positioning. For example, letters with ascenders have fatha at the top left so that it does not get mistaken for a dot belonging to the line above:

طَ كَ لَ لَا

طَ كَ لَ لَا

However, alef gets it on the right:

اَ اً

اَ اً

Similarly, kasra below letters with descenders go to their lower right:

لِ ںِ ىِ لٍ ںٍ ىٍ

لِ ںِ ىِ لٍ ںٍ ىٍ

Hmaza

Early Arabic writing didn’t write the hamza (glottal stop) explicitly, so in Kufic, the same system of vowel dots was also used for the hamza, and it was written as a red or yellow dot. In Raqq, hamza is always a red dot, and its position depends on its vowel:

أ إ آ ؤ

أ إ آ ؤ

Lam-alef

In early Arabic writing, the alef was the right leg, and the lam was the left leg of the lam-alef, as alef was originally 6-like and got the lam attached to its left side, unlike later Arabic orthographies where the order is reversed to follow the order of writing.

So the hamza and vowels of the alef get above the right side but below the left side, which Raqq will do automatically:

لأ لَا لإ لِأ لأُ

لأ لَا لإ لِأ لأُ

Ayah Symbol

Colors are used in ayah symbol as well, and there are different symbols for every fifth and tenth ayah.

There are many variants of the ayah symbol in Kufic Qur’ans, from as simple as three dots or lines in the same text color to elaborate multi-color variants. Raqq uses for regular ayah a three yellow dots in a triangular formation with three smaller red dots in between, and it is used when it is not a fifth or tenth ayah:

۝١

۝١

For every fifth ayah, the ayah symbol looks like a yellow isolated heh (since heh is the number 5 in abjad numbers):

۝٥

۝٥

For every tenth ayah, the ayah symbol takes the form of a decorated circle with the number spelled inside it in yellow ink:

۝١٠ ۝٢٠ ۝٣٠

۝١٠ ۝٢٠ ۝٣٠

In some Qur’ans, every fifth ayah is written like the tenth, and Raqq provides an optional variant using the Stylistic Alternates (salt) feature:

۝٥

۝٥

Teeth Variation

One of the features of Arabic writing is that when three or more toothed letters (like beh and its family) come next to each other, some of the teeth get raised to differentiate these toothed letters from seen (which has three teeth of its own). This feature probably originated in Kufic or an even earlier form because it was often written dotless, so this variation was a very important factor in differentiating these letters. Raqq handles tooth variation automatically:

تثبتها ؞ سبها ؞ سن ؞ ينتن ؞ متثبتتان

تثبتها ؞ سبها ؞ سن ؞ ينتن ؞ متثبتتان

Consecutive Ascenders

One of the stylistic features of Kufic is that when two ascenders come nearby, the second of them gets shorter, which also happens automatically in Raqq:

لله ؞ علل ؞ ظل ؞ ظاهر

لله ؞ علل ؞ ظل ؞ ظاهر

Hah

In Kufic, letters preceding hah attach to it from the top, not at baseline, raising them and the letters they connect to above the baseline, and at the same time, ascenders don’t exceed the height of the alef, so they get shorter as they raise higher and higher. Both happens automatically in Raqq:

الحج ؞ المتلجلج ؞ يضحكون

الحج ؞ المتـلجـلج ؞ يضحكون

Yeh

Isolated and final yeh take several forms in Kufic; some are contextual, and some are stylistic.

For example, after a lam, beh, or seen, the final yeh takes a special form unless there is a diacritic that clashes with this form. Raqq handles this automatically:

سيء ؞ سِيء ؞ علي ؞ علِي ؞ حتى ؞ حبى

سيء ؞ سِيء ؞ علي ؞ علِي ؞ حتى ؞ حبى

Sometimes, it takes a form with a deeper descender for stylistic purposes (like filling a void in the line below). This can be activated manually when needed using option 1 of the Stylistic Alternates (salt) feature:

ي ؞ لي ؞ في ؞ حي

ي ؞ لي ؞ في ؞ حي

The font also supports returning yeh (bari ye in Urdu). It can be activated manually when needed using option 2 of the Stylistic Alternates feature:

أي ؞ على ؞ يا بني ؞ إلي

أي ؞ على ؞ يا بني ؞ إلي

Or by typing the relevant Unicode character:

أے ؞ علے ؞ يا بنے ؞ إلے

أے ؞ علے ؞ يا بنے ؞ إلے

Meem

Sometimes, meem in Kufic connects to specific letters by merely touching them instead of a full baseline stroke. Raqq will choose the right form of connection from the context:

من ؞ مما ؞ علما

من ؞ مما ؞ علما

Letter Relations

Kufic gives a great deal of attention to the relationship between black and white. Spacing between unconnected letters is evenly distributed in the line and the page in general, and so is the spacing between connected letters. But unlike the very wide spacing between unconnected letters, connected letters are very tightly spaced, and any space is filled except for a minimum hair space that is usually to the space between the two horizontal strokes of the dal and the sad.

See how the space between the feh and next letters is meticulously filled:

ڡا ڡٮ ڡح ڡد ڡه ڡو ڡر ڡط ڡی ڡك ڡل ڡم ڡں ڡس ڡع ڡڡ ڡص ڡٯ ڡں

Similarly, between hah and next letters:

حا حٮ حح حد حه حو حر حط حی حك حل حم حں حس حع حڡ حص حق حں

And so on for the rest of the letters:

علما ؞ بد ؞ سببا ؞ منها ؞ للسمع

Feedback

We are happy to see Raqq put to use. We welcome any questions, comments, or suggestions about the typeface or ways to improve it, either by mail on the GitHub project.

۝