This Qur'an is written on gold sprinkled paper, in three different cursive scripts, rayhani, thuluth and naskh. The ruled side panels feature elongated gold medallions with coloured decorations. Thuluth is a more monumental script, used for decorative purposes and headings, while rayhani is a script favoured for large qur’an and also by the Persians. Naskh is predominantly used for writing government documents and for copying the Qur’an. For Muslims, the Qur'an is the visual embodiment of the Word of God and is hence considered sacred. The pious desire to beautify the Word of God was a central factor in the development of calligraphy in the Islamic world. One interesting aspect of Islamic art is that the form of expression can be found in a variety of media - thus you can find calligraphy in manuscripts or as large inscriptions done in stone for buildings.
