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The young woman stood transfixed before a painting of an idyllic mountain view and a picturesque waterfall. Upon closer inspection, she noticed the word “Allah” in the water.

“I don’t understand any Arabic,” said Yang Li Mey, a tourist from China. “But I could feel the painter’s awe and admiration for God’s creation projected in this beautiful painting.”

The oil painting, titled “Allah,” by Heri Sumarna is one of 65 works of art by members of Noqtah Art, a group of 15 Indonesian calligraphers who graduated from the Institute of Koranic Calligraphy, which are on show at the Alila Jakarta Hotel in Central Jakarta until Wednesday.

“The Beauty of Calligraphy” is far from your run-of-the-mill exhibition. All of the paintings feature Koranic verses, elaborately embellished with golden leaves, arching tree branches and other elements that emphasize the beauty of nature.

None of the works, however, explicitly portray human or animal figures.

“It’s actually forbidden in Islam to portray any living beings,” said Kurnia Agung Robiansyah, one of the calligraphers. “Therefore, the artists have to be very creative to come up with ornamental designs that represent humans or animals.”

To express his feelings of awe and respect for God, Kurnia painted the sentence “ Allah cahaya langit dan bumi ” (“God is the light of the skies and the earth”) in an ornate Diwani style suspended between billowing clouds on a crimson sky and a calm red sea.

“The Diwani style refers to the dewan [council] of the Ottoman empire in Turkey, in which they used this style to put the emperor’s commands into writing,” Kurnia said.

The Diwani script is characterized by elegant cursive strokes and intertwining letters. “That’s why the style is also called the dancing style,” he said.

According to Didin Sirojuddin, director of the Institute of Koranic Calligraphy, there are more than 400 styles of calligraphy worldwide, and the Islamic styles are classified into seven major substyles: Naskhi, Tsuluth, Farisi, Diwani, Diwani Jaly, Kufi and Riq’ah.

The Naskhi script is mainly used for important manuscripts. The style is usually kept simple without any elaborations, and is easy to read and understand, as in the Koran itself.

The Tsuluth style is more complicated, often interweaving the curved and oblique letters to create a more artistic design.

Zaenal Effendi used this style in his painting “ Bagaimana Gunung Ditegakkan ” (“How the Mountains Were Created”), which features a silhouette of a man scaling a cliff face and a verse inscribed on the green valley below him.

“It took me more than a week to finish this painting,” Zaenal said. “Calligraphy [painting] is actually more difficult than ordinary painting. It requires a deep spiritual contemplation — as well as divine inspiration — to create.”

The Farisi style originates from Persia (now Iran) and is characterized by thick letters that lean to the right.

Farisi was used by Yoesoef Effendie in his painting “ Doa Dunia Akhirat ” (“Prayer of the Hereafter”), which features the gnarl of a tree with a prayer for the afterlife inscribed above it.

“The trees represent our natural surroundings,” Yoesoef said. “They’re our partners in this life. When they’re gone, we won’t be able to survive either. With this painting, I want to remind us to start conserving our natural environment.”

Kufi script was developed in Kufah, a city 170 kilometers south of Baghdad in Iraq.

The city became a modern urban center in AD 641 and its artisans developed a unique style of calligraphy in which the flowing strokes of Arabic characters were written in rigid rectangular patterns.

In the exhibition, an acrylic mirror mosaic artwork called “ Syahadatain ” (“Islamic Confession”) represents the Kufi style of calligraphy.

The Riq’ah style, which was also developed in Turkey during the Ottoman empire, was used for shorthand writing. The style is characterized by small and broken script, and is rarely used today.

Diwani Jaly is a version of the Diwani style that uses dots above the characters, making them appear more artistic.

Aside from the individual elements of the different writing styles, the message behind Arabic calligraphy remains strong.

“Calligraphy is the material construction that houses a spiritual architectural design,” said Didin, the institute director, quoting a famous 13th century Turkish calligrapher, Yaqut Al Musta’simi.

“What we’re seeing here is the material beauty of the paintings, the eloquence of the strokes, the colors and the ornaments,” he said.

“But the most important thing in a calligraphy painting is the message, which is the message of love, peace and ukuwwah [togetherness].”


The Beauty of Calligraphy’  is showing in Space Lounge, 3rd floor, Alila Jakarta Hotel, Jl. Pecenongan Kav. 7–17, Central Jakarta.  Tel: 021 231 6008  The exhibition is open to the public from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. daily until Wednesday