A Systematic Review on Arabic Calligraphy within Islamic Architecture

Islamic architecture is distinguished by the formulation in various forms and artistic models of the Arabic calligraphy style. Arabic inscriptions are found in several areas of Islamic architecture both in the external elements as well as in the building's internal elements. The art of calligraphy as describing the building has many impacts to improve the different roles that this art offers. This art often has a symbolic significance according to structure. This study aims to explore existing research into the use of the art of calligraphy as an important component of Islamic architecture. Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) as lead to direct this systematic review and 14 related studies have recognized and selected from databases Web of Science, Scopus, and Dimensions. This paper helps to provide some sources of information that can be used by people who would like to understand and study the Islamic calligraphy and Islamic art. Two research questions applied in this review to obtain themes within the data, and two significant themes arose, namely art in Ulum Islamiyyah Journal | Vol.33 No.1 April 2021 2 Islam and forms of art. From the analysis of two main themes further presented a result of five sub-themes emerged from forms of art and six sub-themes developed from the types of khat themes.


Introduction
Calligraphy has special uses in its writing and differences in the way it is written. In this study, the researcher narrowed the scope of his study by focusing on the aspects of calligraphy making and the equipment used as well as the aesthetic value found in the art of calligraphy making. In terms of calligraphy, it is divided into 7 types that are interesting and attract many from the types that exist, such as Kufi, Thuluth, Nasakh, calligraphy Ta'liq / khat Farsi, Khat Riq' ah, Khat Diwani, Khat Degree. The scope of this study is on the making of the art of calligraphy itself in relation to the use and the value in the art itself.
A systematic review is a realistic and detailed method for investigating, analyzing data based on the basic criteria and presenting articles of the studies directly. Despite a large amount of study on Arabic calligraphy and Islamic art, attempts to review calligraphy, the current practice of art calligraphy in the systematic review is still needed. Prior to this study, review articles on Arabic calligraphy handwriting are considered as general and does not manifest the detail analysis on how the review articles procedures perform, therefore, it is challenging for future researchers to follow on the study. The systematic review in this study will enable researchers to identify the Arabic calligraphy practices towards Islamic architecture. At the same time, this review will give an advance explanation of Arabic calligraphy on Islamic art based on themes and sub-themes determined.

Methodology and Materials
This systematic study used the tool called PRISMA to retrieve studies related to Arabic Calligraphy from the resources of the database, namely Web of Science, Scopus, and Dimension, inside Islamic Architecture. PRISMA, as guidelines used to guide the method of systematic review based on a four-step flow diagram, through phase identification, screening, eligibility, data extraction and phase analyzes.

PRISMA
This systematic analysis is led by PRISMA and consisted of a four-phase flow diagram (Moher, Liberati, Tetzlaff and Altman 2009). PRISMA systematically handles the process of systematic evaluation in medical science and health disciplines. Nevertheless, PRISMA is also popular in other research diciplines including Social Sciences in terms of collecting and evaluating papers with a quality evaluation. The benefits of using PRISMA is that it allows for a detailed search of words within Islamic Architecture and associated with Arabic Calligraphy. PRISMA assists researchers and reviewers in making, presenting and publishing enhancements to their analysis report.

Resources (search strategy)
A search strategy to classify appropriate literature for the systematic search is developed. This search approach was applied to three sites, Scopus, Web of Science and Dimension, with the following search words being used: "calligraphy" OR "Islamic art" OR "Arabic." All searches spanned from the 2015 of the database until 2020 and included article in the journal, review papers, research reports and published only in English. WoS is the leading source used in this analysis with over 33,000 authoritative publications covering 256 fields of study. Any WoSindexed publication has gone through a thorough evaluation process. Many WoS papers are published in English and are highly influential. Scopus is the following site used in this study. Scopus is the most searchable and abstract citation with more than 22,000 journal titles from more than 5,000 global publishers. The Scopus database contains some type of field code function. TITLE-ABS-KEY is one of the essential field code functions and it points to the title, abstract, and keywords. This code works to the advantage of producing further publications relevant to the research of the author. Scopus includes life-science journals from high-level disciplines. Every year Scopus reviewed journals in their lists to ensure the consistency of well-maintained publication of papers.

2.3
The selection criteria are based on a declaration from PRISMA (Mohd et al., 2009). The research focused primarily on the mapping of established literature on "Arabic calligraphy" in the social sciences and education sector. The scope then narrowed up to environmental science and engineering area. The period of searching was from 2015-2020 year. A total of 283 research papers were omitted and 123 records have been retrieved at this stage. Few eligibility and exclusion requirements were determined in order to pick studies for this systematic review. Only scientific papers with analytical evidence which are published in the academic journal are eligible for the first criterion. This analysis omitted all forms of literature published in a book as summary papers, novels, and chapters. All searches spanned from database inception until 2020 and included journal articles, review papers, articles in conference proceedings, research reports that are only published in English. Finally, in line with the objective of this systematic review, to examine Arabic calligraphy, articles focusing on other calligraphy are rejected (see Table 1).

2.4
Systematic review process In August 2020, a review process begins, and four stages engage in the systematic evaluation.
In the first stage the keywords used in the search process were identified. Main words related to Arabic calligraphy and Islamic Art as well as Arabic and Islamic art (see Table 2) based on the preceding studies and glossaries. 123 papers can be accessed from selected databases, Web of science (44 papers), Scopus (26 articles), and Dimension (53 articles). After extensive review, 20 repeated studies have been removed.
Only original research articles, review papers and conference papers are included in the study. Both duplications were extensively tested to ensure the measurement was correct. It was thoroughly examined for the analysis and purification of the articles to ensure the quality and relevance of the academic literature included during the review process. Subsequently, each analysis was extensively examined. The next criteria for exclusion was that only published papers in the language should be restricted. In addition, 20 more papers are omitted from the study following the filtration of duplicate documents. After reviewing each article on the inclusion and exclusion criteria listed above, 123 articles were chosen. The screening was the second phase of this study. A total of 103 areas for review at this level. 22 studies had been omitted because the inclusion requirements were not reached. 78 full papers in the third process have been reviewed for eligibility. These 78 complete papers have been closely reviewed and analyzed. 64 papers have been removed because of studies not based on Arabic calligraphy and Islamic art. In the final moment, 14 studies accepted for in-depth analysis have concluded this review procedure (see Fig. 1).

2.5
Data extraction and analysis efforts 14 papers were chosen during the data extraction process and the characteristics extracted were: article must be original document. The article must be in English, and from the arts and humanities, social sciences, and engineering. From 2015 until 2020, extracted papers were published. The papers collected were solely from various countries.

Results and Findings
The systematic review efforts produced two significant themes based on the research question that linked to Arabic calligraphy within Islamic Architecture. The two main themes are the Arabic calligraphy as art in Islam and forms of art. Five sub-themes emerged from forms of art themes, namely, Sound or Song Art, The Art of Carving, Khat Art, The Art of Islamic Literature and Architecture. Six sub-themes developed from the types of khat themes, namely, Khat Nasakh, Khat Thuluth, Khat Riq'ah, Khat Diwani, Khat Kufi dan Khat Farisy or also referred to as Khat Nasta'liq.

3.1
What are the important of the Arabic calligraphy as art in Islam?
Islamic teachings have spread beyond the geographical boundaries of various cultures. The spread of Islamic art indirectly contributes to the life of the community. This can be explained through the production of various art forms such as architecture, performing arts, calligraphy, clothing and others. These forms of arts are different from one another, but they still apply the rules set in Islamic art. The principles and functions of Islamic art still show a strong unity.

3.2
What are the art forms?
The area's form of art in Islamic arhitecture can be categorized into six sub-themes emerged from forms of art themes, namely, the art of voice and melodies, the art of carving, the art of calligraphy, architecture, the art of clothing, the art of Islamic literature.

The art of voice and melodies
The voice art is an art that produces beautiful words or languages that are pleasant to hearing. Voice art is synonymous with 'kerawitan', music, singing, and the art of melodies and rhythms (Riza Budiarto, 2017). Voice art is divided into two namely good voice art and bad voice art (Engku Ibrahim et.al, 1992in Nor Adina Abdul Kadir et al., 2018. The good voice art includes the recitation of the Qur'an with a melodious, calming and soft voice, singing the call to prayer and singing jihad songs, singing Eid songs, singing goodbye and safe return for the pilgrims and others (Nor Adina Abdul Kadir et al., 2018;Rohmad, 2020). The bad voice art is obscene or lustful singing, dancing music that encourages the mixing between non-mahram men and women, songs that can damage the character of teenagers (Nor Adina Abdul Kadir et al., 2018). Apart from voice, Islamic art instruments such as 'terbang' or 'rebana' are often used in orchestras or musical bands in art performances that show the influence of Islam (Sutiyono, 2015). Music is result of the eruption of the human mind and thinking, while Islam is a gift from Allah (Yusof & Awerman Bidin, 2008). Based on the views of scholars who allowed the art of music with conditions, Muslims need to take advantage of the art of music because it is not only for entertainment but also for other purposes such as strengthening the relationship with the Creator, conveying the message of humanity, advice, identity, divinity, civilization, patriotism, nationalism, family, current issues and others (Mohamad Kamil Hj Ab Majid & Muhammed Yusof, 2008). On the other hand, music is a part of art, whereas art is an inclusion of culture. This shows that culture is related to art.

The Art of Carving
Carving art consists of various branches such as calligraphy, painting and so on. The development of carving art is in line with the development of other arts, especially Islamic architecture. This is because the buildings and constructs are usually decorated with carvings that aim to beautify and show its elegance. Emphasis is placed on the diversity of sculptural features as a comparison of historical, cultural and environmental backgrounds (Hashim et al., 2018). Carving requires intricate skillset because it is not just a decoration in the forms of God's and man's creation, but also shows the embedded meaning behind the symbolic carving elements (Akchurina-Muftieva, 2018;Lah et al., 2015). Usually, the sculptures are sculpted in several forms, depicting living beings, nature and others. Carving art is often seen beautifully engraved on mosque buildings and residences of government or Islamic dignitaries (Abdullahi Hanifi & Maleki, 2016;Redondo Buitrago & Huylebrouck, 2015;Saberi et al., 2016). It is decorated with carvings from the verses of the Qur'an and certain motives from the elements of nature.

The art of Calligraphy
Calligraphy from the Arabic language's etymological point of view means beautiful lines or writing (tahsin al-khutut). Arabic calligraphy is one of the most famous arts starting from the revolution of the Quran and has an extensive history (Duaa Mohammed Alashari et al., 2019). Islamic calligraphy's origin theories can be seen from two points of view, namely from the religious point of view and historical point of view (Kurfi, 2017;Nor Adina Abdul Kadir et al., 2018;Zidan, 2020

Architecture
Five studies focus on architecture. Islamic architecture is an art that has its own uniqueness and grows rapidly along with carving art and calligraphy (Kurfi, 2017). The History of Islamic art, especially in architecture as the art of regulating space is an indication of a type of specific and special view of Muslim engineers, architects and artists into geometry and its application in sacred art. Geometry in Islamic art is a dominant and outstanding ornamenting form that has always governed on other ornamenting traceries and images (Sarand et al., 2016). Architectural knowledge possessed by Muslims such as mosques can be seen as a form of architecture that potentially serves as a communication symbol with the environment and its users. Studies on mosques as a form of 'sign' to symbolise the Islamic faith and as a message of da'wah have been widely done by many scholars of the past (Baharudin & Ismail, 2016). Islamic architecture especially in Iran places special emphasis on lights, where windows can be viewed as the illumination of light preserving the hierarchy in the presence of light. Moreover, in symbolic and mystical concepts such as excellence, ascending tendencies and creating spiritual space in architecture, each has been manifested in several ways or others (Kateb, 2018).

The Art of Clothing
Islam is very rich in cultural traditions that utilise various patterns to decorate houses, tools and clothing (Kurfi, 2017;Sutiyono, 2015). Clothing is one of the crucial basic needs to all ages of humankind. Without clothing, humans cannot protect their dignity and are exposed to various dangers. The garments stipulated by Islam is a garment that is polite and does not go beyond the line set by Islam (Muhammad Khairul Hafiz Noor Hissham et al., 2019). Clothes act as a cover for 'aurat' and are intended to adorn oneself, protect individuals from the weather and defend themselves in a battle. For example, armors were created to protect the wounded Muslim army. Islam allows clothing made from goat hair, silk, halal animal skins, clothes from burlap thread and so on. However, Islam forbids Muslim men to wear silk and gold jewelries.

The Art of Islamic Literature
Six studies focus on Islamic literature. Muhammad Uthman el-Muhammady defines Islamic literature as sacred art which glorifies Allah swt, pure from worldly influences, materialism, lust and others (Nor Adina Abdul Kadir et al., 2018). Azemati et al. (2017) defined Islamic literature as writing based on divinity and spiritual concepts. According to the initial principles of Iranian and Islamic architecture, it is always observed that the establishment of different bodies, for example, mosques, inns, schools and residential buildings, has been regularly for providing the spiritual welfare of users (Azemati et al., 2017). According to (Lah et al., 2015). the findings of a study on metaphysical approaches to building design on three major Asian cultures, the Chinese-Buddhist, Indian-Hindu, and Malay-Islam, are reviewed.
The study found that there are three areas of architectural principles in a subsequent order -the function of space, the esthetics of the senses, and the firmness of form. From a common viewpoint among the architects, they have almost briefly focused on the influences of the architectures of the Islamic era and the architecture of the modernism era (Mahmoudi et al., 2020). Islam encourages its laureate writers to produce work that contain religious advices, the spirit of struggle to uphold the truth, justice and eradicating poverty in society. In fact, it is undeniable that most of the existing branches of art today are the early contributions from Islamic scholars (Zulkifli Hasan & Hanani Harun, 2013). This fact is reinforced by historical scriptures that record Islamic intellectuals who have produced works of art of exceptional quality and even remain to this day such as calligraphy, architecture, music, and even literary art.

3.3
What are the calligraphy in Islamic Art?
The development of calligraphy has managed to carry a great Islamic civilization in the Middle East and in Nusantara. Arabic calligraphy handwriting is an innovative way to write a letter, as it includes many types and each with its own characteristics (Zineb Kaoudja et al., 2019;Razali et al., 2019). Arabic calligraphy reached its glory moment during the Abbasid era, when it was influenced by a climate of modernisation and multiculturalism (Alkadi, 2019

Khat Kufi
Khat Kufi is the oldest type of calligraphy and has many branches (Khajavi, 2018). Some calligraphy writers state that Khat Kufi is derived from the writings of Nabati, Hirah and Anbari. It was named Khat Kufi because it was famous in Kufah, Iraq (Duaa Mohammed Alashari et al., 2019). In the early days of the rise of Islam, the Companions used this calligraphy to copy mushaf, write letters to be sent to great empires such as Kisra in Persia, Hercules in Rome and the king of Egypt. Iranian Muslims have increasingly introduced the Kufic script. By applying Kufic script which highlighted the beauty of each letter, strength and integrity of this language, they have produced beautiful metal work presenting art innovation that has profited Iranians tremendously (ErfanManesh et al., 2016). In the reform of calligraphy, attributed to Ibn Muqla (886-940) in (George, 2003) by later Muslim historians, the height of the Alif was determined by the thickness of the ink, and all the other letters followed. Thus, the geometric rules of the cursive script were set, which mostly replaced Kufic within a few centuries. However, in this era, this calligraphy is not only an artistic writing, but also a decoration for residential houses, mosques and business logos. As per (Abdullahi Hanifi & Maleki, 2016), the calligraphy in the Great Mosque is usually situated on the eastern and western sides of the building, on the inscriptions in the second-floor rooms. Typically, it contains a mixture of many illustrations of the implementation of the Kufi script in various colors such as white, yellow and black decorative frames decorated with arabesques, quarter geometric, and background bricks in different colors.

Khat Nasakh
Khat Nasakh is an intricate calligraphy art that eventually becomes the easiest style to read and understand. This is because Khat Nasakh is the main writing used for the mushaf al-Quran as other khat styles are quite difficult to understand unless one delves into it. Khat Nasakh is widely used for printing Holy Quran, books, newspapers, and other Arabic publications (Abuhaiba, 2003). As mentioned by (Al-Helali & Mahmoud, 2017), the middle shapes of certain letters (eg, " ‫ح‬ ") are difficult to write without raising a pen while using the Nasakh style. Saberi et al. (2016) reported that Islam came to Peninsular Malaysia in the early 14th century. The evidence came from inscriptions found on the banks of the River Tarsat in Kuala Brang, Terengganu on the east coast of the Malaysia Peninsula in 1887. The inscription was written in Nasakh, which is the most suitable type of calligraphy in terms of readability. Study by Hamzah & Bayomi (2020) mentioned a new technique was proposed to use Arabic calligraphy to record knowledge by using Arabic poetry and proverbs as datasets, with one type of Arabic letter (Nasakh font) and the modified Aho-Corasick algorithm.

Khat Thuluth
Khat Thuluth is a beautiful calligraphy style that has not been used only for the purpose of documentation, but also as decorations on the walls of mosques, Ka'abah's nets and government buildings. The simplest style of writing used is called Nasakh. If the craftsman softens and engulfs it, it becomes a different style, named Kufic. If the shape becomes complex, extended, thickened, overlapping and prolonged, it forms the Arabic script known as Thuluth (Saberi et al., 2016). According to (Khalifa, 2020), the fourth lantern is held in Islamic Art Museum, Cairo-Egypt. The lantern is shaped like a vase. It has a low base and a flat, bloated body with a funnel, but almost missed. The base is decoration-free, but the spherical, bloated body is decorated and divided into two parts; the lower section contains three decorated cup-ranked medallions, colored in white on a reddish background. This rank is a plain, functional bearer. The body is painted with inscriptions on a blue enamel floor written in Thuluth Mamluk calligraphy; thin red lines form the outer frame of letters. Besides growing space spirituality, thuluth calligraphy provides a picture of dominant religion (Shia or Sunni) supremacy (Abdullahi Hanifi & Maleki, 2016). Additionally, the thuluth calligraphy is used in Yazd 's Great Mosque on the back, entrance, roof, and others. Thuluth calligraphy is used in this mosque has an elongation and height, which creates difficulty in reading it. The Thuluth style of calligraphy is the most popular style that has been used to embellish the internal and external surface of Islamic buildings.

Khat Riqa'ah
While various other types of calligraphy are used in the Middle East (ie Diwani, Riqa 'and Nasta'liq) (Saberi et al., 2016). Khat Riqa'ah is a quick-written styled calligraphy and is written above from a straight line except for a few characters of letters that are written from the top of the line down from the line that are the letters ‫خ‬ ، ‫ع‬ ، ‫غ‬ ، ‫م‬ ، ‫ح‬ ، ‫ج‬ (Musa et al., 2017

Khat Diwani
Khat Diwani is also known as Khat al-Sultan because this calligraphy was also studied by the sultans of the Turkish Ottoman government by Housam Roumi (1520-1566) (Saberi et al., 2016). The writing became the secret writing of the government to convey information to their governors in order to prevent government secrets from leaking into the hands of enemies who may have malicious intent to the Islamic government. Khat Diwani is divided into two types: regular Diwani and Diwani Jaliy. Khat Diwani was first introduced by Ibrahim Munif, a calligraphy writer after the opening of the Constantinople, then compiled by Mumtaz Bik (1280 H) until it became a writing that is easy to read. Diwani 's letter curvature is also more pronounced than Nastaliq's.

Khat Ta'liq Farisi
Khat Ta'liq or also known as Khat Farisi is a calligraphic style that is quite different in writing style and inclination compared to other calligraphies. Khat Farisi tends to be more to the left vertically, making the art quite unique (Mahdi Syed Mahmud 2005). According to Afif al-Bahnasiy (1979), Khat Ta'liq was first written by Hasan al-Farisi around the 4th Hijri's century and became the main text for those who were Farsi and also influenced the Hindi nation (Alashari et al., 2019). Some opinions stated that Khat Farisi is also known as Khat Urdhu. This calligraphy is popular in Pakistan, India, Afghanistan and in Turkey.

Conclusion
Islam has brought various art forms to life in line with the advancement of current knowledge. Among them are singing and melodies, carving, calligraphy, architecture, clothing art, Islamic literary art and others. Calligraphy in Jawi scriptures is very connected to the community in the Islamic world. The art of calligraphy displays the prosperous image of an Islamic civilization from its beginning to its heyday. Islamic art has been a very important element in the past and is increasingly emphasized in the modern world. This review has used three databases, namely WoS, Scopus and Dimensions. These three databases have resulted in 14 articles relating to the Arabic calligraphy and Islamic Art. Two themes are developed based on the research questions and in-depth readings of the research articles. For the forms of art theme, there are six sub-themes which is the art of voice and melodies, the art of carving, the art of calligraphy, architecture, the art of clothing, the art of Islamic literature. For the types of khat theme, there are also six sub-themes related to the khat themes which are Khat Nasakh, Khat Thuluth, Khat Riq'ah, Khat Diwani, Khat Kufi dan Khat Farisy or also referred to as Khat Nasta'liq.