"Ruq'a" redirects here. For the Palestinian village, see Ruq'a (village).
This article is about the hand for fast writing developed in the 19th century (رقعة). For the older hand of the so-called six proportional scripts (رقاع), see Reqa'.
Ruqʿah (Arabic: رُقعة) or Riqʿah (رِقعة) is a writing style of Arabic script intended for the rapid production of texts. It is a relatively simple and plain style, used for everyday writing and often used for signs.[1] The Ottoman calligraphers Mumtaz Efendi[2] (1810–1872) and Mustafa Izzet Efendi (1801–1876) are credited with standardizing the writing style which has existed in slightly different styles as everyday handwriting.[1]
It is not to be confused with the much older reqāʿ (رِقَاع) style.[3]
Description and usage
Ruqʿah is the most common type of handwriting in the Arabic script. It is known for its clipped letters composed of short, straight lines and simple curves, as well as its straight and even lines of text. It was probably derived from the Thuluth and Naskh styles.
Unlike other types of calligraphy, ruqʿah is not considered as an art form. Instead, it is a functional style of writing that is quick to write and easy to read. Every literate Ottoman was expected to be able to use the ruqʿah.[4][5]
The demonstration underneath is not typical since it uses full vowels, which are rarely used in handwriting:
If one of the ruqʿah style fonts is installed, the following should appear as the above image sample:
^Uğur Derman, M. (1998). "The Art of Turkish Calligraphy". Letters in Gold: Ottoman Calligraphy from the Sakıp Sabancı Collection, Istanbul. New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art. p. 20.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
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