Qalam — A Visual Guide to Arabic Typography

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A guide to Arabic typography, built for designers who want to work with Arabic text thoughtfully.

Slide me out of the pocket!Meet your guides!

Qalam GuideQLM-001

Salem

سالم

Mechanics Guide

Curious and practical. Always asks “how does it work?” and grounds ideas in real design situations.

Qalam GuideQLM-002

Hala

هلا

Anatomy Observer

Clear and observant. Notices details and patterns — helps you see what you missed.

Qalam GuideQLM-003

Simsim

سمسم

Script Spotter

Light and sharp. Gives you memorable cues to tell script styles apart — no lectures.

Category 01

How Arabic Works

كيف يعمل الخط العربي

Direction, numbers, diacritics, and spacing. The fundamental mechanics of Arabic text.

Category 02

Anatomy

التشريح

Teeth, bowls, connections, and proportions. The structural components of Arabic letterforms.

Category 03

Script Styles

أنماط الخطوط

From Naskh to Diwani. The major Arabic script traditions, each with its own rules and character.

How Arabic Works

RTL

من اليمين إلى اليسار

Right-to-left text direction

Right-to-left (RTL) is the writing direction used by Arabic, meaning text flows from the right side of the page to the left. This isn't just a visual flip, it shapes how Arabic typography behaves in layout, reading order, and composition.

Numbers in Arabic Text

الأرقام في النص العربي

How numerals behave in RTL context

Numbers inside Arabic text can behave differently than designers expect, because Arabic is written right-to-left while numerals are typically read left-to-right. This creates a mixed-direction situation where the surrounding sentence flows one way, but the number itself follows its own internal order.

Diacritics

التشكيل

Vocalization marks above and below letters

Diacritics in Arabic (التشكيل) are small marks placed above or below letters to clarify pronunciation, grammar, or meaning. They can indicate vowels, emphasis, and other linguistic information that is not always written in everyday text, but becomes essential in contexts like the Qur'an, education, poetry, and formal writing.

Contextual Letterforms

الأشكال السياقية

Letters change shape based on position

Arabic letters change shape depending on where they appear in a word. A single letter can have different forms when it is isolated, at the beginning, in the middle, or at the end of a word. These are called contextual letterforms, and they are a core reason Arabic typography behaves differently than Latin.

Dot Placement

مواضع النقاط

How dots distinguish letters that share a base shape

Arabic has 28 letters, but only about 18 distinct base shapes. What distinguishes many letters from each other is the number and position of dots (نقط) placed above or below the skeleton of the letter. For example, ب (bāʾ), ت (tāʾ), and ث (thāʾ) share the same base form but are differentiated by one dot below, two dots above, and three dots above, respectively.

Ligatures

المركبات

When letters merge into a single combined form

A ligature is a combined glyph formed when two or more letters merge into a single shape. In Arabic, some ligatures are mandatory. The most notable is لا (lam-alef), which must always be rendered as a single form, never as two separate letters. Other ligatures are optional and stylistic, appearing more frequently in calligraphic or display typefaces.

Bidirectional Text

النص ثنائي الاتجاه

When RTL and LTR scripts share a line

Bidirectional (bidi) text occurs whenever Arabic (right-to-left) and Latin (left-to-right) appear in the same line. This is common in modern digital interfaces, academic writing, branding, and any context where Arabic text includes English terms, URLs, code, or product names. The Unicode Bidirectional Algorithm (UBA) automatically determines the visual order of mixed-direction text.

Kashida

الكشيدة

Horizontal elongation for justification

Kashida (ـ), also known as Tatweel, is a horizontal elongation used in Arabic script to extend the connection between letters. It is part of the script's natural flexibility, allowing a word to expand without changing its spelling or meaning.

Anatomy

Arabic Anatomy Guide

دليل تشريح الخط العربي

How Arabic letterforms are built, piece by piece

Anatomy entries name the parts of Arabic letters the way designers and calligraphers talk about them: teeth, bowls, baselines, ascenders, tails, loops, and the skeleton shapes underneath the dots. Each entry isolates one idea so you can recognize it in type and in handwriting across different script styles.

Tooth

السِّن

The vertical stroke in Arabic letters

A tooth (سن) is a small pointed peak in an Arabic stroke that rises and drops back to the baseline. It's one of the building blocks that creates Arabic "rhythm" across a word, because repeating teeth form a visible beat the eye can follow.

Tarwees (Serif)

الترويس

Serif-like finishing strokes in Arabic letterforms

Tarwees (ترويس) is an Arabic term often used to describe serif-like finishing strokes in letterforms, similar in role to serifs in Latin type. It refers to small structural "caps" or terminal treatments that can make a stroke feel anchored, directional, or more calligraphic.

Bowl / Eye (ʿAyn)

العين

Enclosed and semi-enclosed counter spaces

A bowl in Arabic letterforms refers to the enclosed or semi-enclosed space created by a curved stroke, the Arabic equivalent of what Latin typography calls a "counter." Letters like ع (ʿayn), ص (ṣād), and ق (qāf) contain distinct bowl shapes that define their identity and help readers distinguish them at speed.

Rasm (Skeleton)

الرسم

The base letter shapes before dots and marks

Rasm (رسم) refers to the skeletal structure of Arabic letters, the base shapes before any dots or diacritical marks are added. Arabic has approximately 18 distinct rasm shapes that generate all 28 letters through the addition of dots. This means the script is built on a smaller set of core forms than it might first appear, and understanding rasm reveals the deeper logic of the alphabet.

Nuqta (Dot Unit)

النقطة

The rhombic dot as a unit of calligraphic proportion

In Arabic calligraphy, the nuqta (نقطة) is more than just a dot that distinguishes letters. It is the fundamental unit of measurement that governs proportion. A nuqta is created by pressing the reed pen (qalam) at a specific angle to produce a rhombic (diamond-shaped) mark. The size of this mark depends on the pen's width, and all letter proportions are expressed as multiples of nuqta.

Script Styles

Naskh

النسخ

The script of book culture and clarity

Naskh (نسخ) is one of the most widely used Arabic scripts, developed and refined as Arabic writing became more systematized during the Abbasid era. It became closely associated with book culture because it balanced beauty with clarity, making it well suited for continuous reading and careful copying.

Ruqʿah

الرقعة

The practical everyday script

Ruqʿah (رقعة) is a practical Arabic script that became widely standardized in the Ottoman period, shaped by the need for fast, consistent everyday writing. In that sense, it plays a role similar to cursive handwriting in Latin: a script built for speed, ease, and daily use rather than display.

Thuluth

الثُّلث

Classical script of monumentality and rhythm

Thuluth (ثلث) is a classical Arabic script developed during the Abbasid era, when Arabic calligraphy became more systematized and governed by proportion. It is closely associated with the calligraphic tradition of the "six scripts," and is often linked to Ibn Muqla's proportional approach, later refined by masters such as Yaqut al-Mustaʿsimi.

Nastaʿliq

النستعليق

The lyrical script of Persian literary culture

Nastaʿliq (نستعليق) is a classical script that emerged in Persia, shaped by blending qualities associated with Naskh and Taʿliq. It became closely tied to Persian literary culture and was widely used for poetry and manuscripts, where the script's form could carry tone and mood alongside meaning.

Diwani

الديواني

The ornate script of Ottoman authority

Diwani (ديواني) is an Ottoman-era script developed for the imperial court and administrative writing. It became known as a script of formality and prestige, used in official documents where the writing itself signaled authority.

Kufi

الكوفي

The angular geometric script

Kufi (كوفي) is one of the earliest major styles of Arabic script, strongly associated with early Qur'anic manuscripts and monumental inscriptions. It represents a more constructed approach to writing, and it became foundational in the visual language of early Islamic art, especially where text needed to work as both reading and form.

Maghrebi

المغربي

The North African script tradition

Maghrebi (مغربي) refers to a family of Arabic script styles that developed in North and West Africa, shaped through regional manuscript traditions and local calligraphic practice. It became closely associated with Qur'anic copying, scholarly writing, and book culture across the Maghreb and al-Andalus, where the script formed its own recognizable typographic identity.