Superphysics
Ibn al-Bawwab
5 minutes • 958 words
Professor Abu 1-Hasan Ali b. Hilal al-Katib alBaghdadi, who is known as Ibn al-Bawwab wrote a poem in the basit meter with the rhyme on r, in which he mentions the craft of writing and the matters with which it has to do.
The poem belongs among the best things ever written on (the subject). I considered it proper to insert it in this chapter, so that those who want to learn the craft of (writing) may profit from it.
It begins:
O you who want to write a calligraphic hand And desire to write and draw (the letters) well: If you are truly desirous of mastering the art of writing, Pray that your Master make it easy (for you)! Prepare a calamus that is straight And strong, capable of fashioning elegant writing with craft. If you propose to nib the calamus, aim At applying to it the greatest symmetry.Look at both ends of it, and then nib it At the end where it is thin and narrow. Give the part of the calamus that is nibbed a moderate size, Neither too long nor too short, And make the split precisely in the middle of the calamus so that the space nibbed On both sides of it will be exactly equal. Eventually, when you have done all this as carefully As the careful craftsman who knows what is wanted, Then, turn all your attention toward cutting the point, For cutting the point is the crux of the procedure. Do not beg me to reveal its secret. I am chary of its secret, a thing concealed. But the sum total of what I want to say is that The (point) should be something between oblique and round. Stir the (ink in the) inkstand with soot that is treated With vinegar or verjuice. Add to it red pigment that has been diluted With orpiment and camphor. Eventually, when (the ink) has fermented, Go to the clean, pleasant, tested paper. After cutting it, press it with a press, so as To remove all trace of crumpling and soiling. Then, make patient imitation your habit. Only a patient person achieves what he desires. Begin by writing on a wooden slate, wearing it out 196 With a resolution kept free from haste. Do not be ashamed of your bad writing When you begin to imitate (the letters) and draw lines. The matter is difficult (at the beginning), and then becomes easy. Many a thing that is difficult (at the beginning) turns out later on to be easy. Eventually, when you have achieved what you have hoped for, You will be filled with 197 joy and gladness. Then, thank your God and do His pleasure! God loves all those who are grateful. Furthermore, pray that the fingers of your hand will write Only what is good for you to leave behind in the house of deception.
Everything a man does, he will be confronted with on the morrow, When he is confronted with the written decree (on the Day of Resurrection).
It should be known that writing shows the things that are spoken, just as the things that are spoken show the ideas that are in the soul and the mind. Both writing and speech must express clearly (what they want to express). God said= “He created man, taught him clarity.”
This includes clarity in all the things one expresses. The perfection of good handwriting consists in the fact that it is clear. This is achieved by indicating clearly the conventional 200 letters of (the script), arranging and drawing them well. Each letter by itself is distinct from the others, except where connection between the letters within a word is an accepted technicality.
This does not apply to letters that have been accepted as letters that should remain unconnected, such as ’ when it precedes (another letter) in the word, nor to r, z, d, dh, and others. It is different when (these letters) follow (another letter in a word). It is this way with all (letters).Later scribes then agreed to connect words with each other and omit letters were known to them but not to others who did not know the code, which, thus, remained unclear to others.
These (scribes) are the officials who write government documents and keep court records. It seems that they use such a special code, from which others are excluded, because they have to write a great deal, and they are famous for their writing, and many people connected with them 202 know their code. When they write to others who do not know their code, they cannot use it and have to try to write as clearly as possible.
Otherwise, their writing would be like non-Arabic writing. It would be in the same category with it in as much as both (types of writing, the code and nonArabic writing) are not (generally) agreed upon (by conventional usage).
There is no excuse for writing in code, like a puzzle, except in the case of officials of the government’s tax and army. They are required to keep government secrets.
Their code uses the names of perfumes, fruits, birds, or flowers to indicate the letters, or it makes use of forms different from the accepted forms of the letters. Such a code is agreed upon by the correspondents between themselves, in order to be able to convey their thoughts in writing.
Occasionally, skillful secretaries, though not the first to invent a certain code (and with no previous knowledge of it), nonetheless find rules (for deciphering it) through combinations which they evolve for the purpose with the help of their intelligence, and which they call “solving the puzzle (decoding).” Well-known writings on the subject are in the possession of the people.
