There are no shortcuts to great calligraphy. To learn the art of Arabic calligraphy, you will need good examples to work from, a master of calligraphy to guide you, an eye for detail and the discipline to practice very regularly.

The best calligraphers achieve the “breath-like flow,” described by the Turkish scholar Mahmud Yazir in his book, Calligraphy in World Civilization and the Beauty of the Pen in Islamic Civilization (translated from the original Turkish by Mohamed Zakariya). This flow gives your pen strokes elegance and life and transforms lines on paper into art.

In Arabic script calligraphy, the individual artistic expression of a specific calligrapher is strongly discouraged. As in many musical forms, the artist’s aim is to closely replicate the work of a master.

This perspective differs from Chinese calligraphy traditions, in which calligraphy is viewed as the personal expression of an individual artist.
Although the principles of calligraphy can be learned with enough time and practice, true mastery requires more than just technical skill. In the final analysis, calligraphy is an art form, and great masters are born to it.

In the Islamic world, Arabic calligraphy is held in very high regard. The esteem accorded to the copying of the Quran, and the aesthetic perfection that was devoted to it raised Arabic calligraphy to the status of an art. Arabic calligraphy, unlike that of most cultures, influenced the style of monumental inscription. It is revered as highly as painting.