Jean-Louis Michon

Recitation, the art which manifests the sound and modulations in Arabic of the verses of the Koran in time; calligraphy, the art which transcribes visually the vocables and fixes them in space… with these two modes of expression we find ourselves at the very source of the art of the Muslims, the source from which the artists of Islam have never ceased over the centuries to draw their inspiration.

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Originally published in Introduction to Traditional Islam: Foundations, Art and Spirituality, World Wisdom, Inc., 2008. Republished here with thanks.