Baseline & Descenders
خط الأساس والنازلات
Where Arabic letters sit, rise, and drop
The baseline in Arabic is the invisible line on which most letters rest and along which the connecting stroke travels. Unlike Latin, where the baseline is relatively stable, Arabic baselines can shift — especially in calligraphic scripts like Nastaʿliq, where words cascade diagonally and the baseline "hangs" rather than sitting flat.
Descenders and Depth
Many Arabic letters extend well below the baseline with loops, tails, and bowls — letters like ر، و، ن (final), ي (final), and ع create descending strokes that define the vertical rhythm of a line. The depth and character of these descenders vary dramatically between scripts: compact and shallow in Ruqʿah, deep and sweeping in Thuluth and Diwani. Managing descender space is critical for setting line spacing and avoiding collisions in multi-line Arabic text.