Introduction: Islamic calligraphy is one of the distinguished manifestations of Islamic art because of its relationship with the written word, spiritual meaning, and the visual embodiment of order and beauty. Among the scripts developed in the Iranian cultural sphere, Nastaʿlīq acquired a prominent position due to its harmonious proportions, rhythmic movement, delicacy of execution, and relationship with Persian literary and artistic culture. Its visual organization was not limited to technical elegance; rather, it embodied a conception of beauty grounded in proportion, balance, discipline, and inner meaning. From the viewpoint of traditionalist thought, traditional art is rooted in sacred knowledge and becomes meaningful insofar as it reflects transcendent principles through form and practice. Accordingly, Nastaʿlīq’s aesthetic qualities can be examined not merely as formal features, but as visual manifestations of a worldview related to the Sacred.
The Safavid and Qajar periods constituted significant phases in the formation, consolidation, and transformation of Iranian Nastaʿlīq calligraphy. During the Safavid period, this script reached a high level of refinement within traditional artistic institutions. In the Qajar period, although its established principles were preserved, social and cultural transformations affected its visual applications and functions. A comparative examination of these periods, therefore, makes it possible to identify continuities and transformations in the relationship between calligraphic form and the Sacred.
Purposes & Questions: This study aims to explain and compare the role of the Sacred in Nastaʿlīq calligraphy of the Safavid and Qajar periods, using a traditionalist approach. It investigates how its visual principles, particularly proportional organization, compositional order, refinement, and formal harmony, represent a conception of beauty associated with sacred art. The research also seeks to determine whether changes observable in Qajar Nastaʿlīq indicate a transformation in the visual manifestation of the Sacred in comparison with Safavid examples.
The principal question is: What place does the Sacred occupy in the Nastaʿlīq calligraphy of these two periods? A subsidiary question concerns how similarities and differences between their visual structures can be interpreted through the traditionalist concepts of sacred art and sacred knowledge. Attention is paid to the extent to which formal precision, visual richness, compositional integrity, and practical functionality affect the representation of sacred qualities in the selected works.
Methods: The present research is fundamental and theoretical in purpose and employs a descriptive-analytical method. Its data were collected through library and documentary research, including sources on Islamic calligraphy, Nastaʿlīq, the artistic characteristics of the Safavid and Qajar periods, and traditionalist theory. The analytical framework was based on the concepts of the Sacred and sacred knowledge in traditionalist thought. Within this framework, Nastaʿlīq’s visual qualities were considered in relation to an artistic tradition in which beauty, order, proportion, and mastery are connected with a transcendent understanding of art.
For comparative analysis, three prominent styles of Nastaʿlīq—those of Mīr ʿAlī Haravī, Mīr ʿEmād Ḥasanī, and Mīrzā Reżā Kalhor—were selected and examined. The analysis focused on visual literacy principles and, specifically, on the established criteria of ḥusn-i tashkil and ḥusn-i vażʿ. The former refers to the accurate formation, proportion, and aesthetic quality of letters and combinations. At the same time, the latter concerns the proper arrangement, balance, rhythm, and compositional relationship of elements within the written field. Using these criteria, similarities and differences in letters, forms, connections, proportions, spacing, rhythmic movement, and overall composition were evaluated comparatively.
Findings & Results: The findings reveal that Nastaʿlīq calligraphy in the Safavid period and during a substantial part of the Qajar period was strongly grounded in traditional artistic practice. In these works, careful letter formation, line modulation, balanced relationships, rhythmic composition, and established aesthetic rules produced coherent visual order. From a traditionalist perspective, such order was not merely artistic skill or decoration; it indicated an attitude in which beauty approached meaning and disciplined form reflected a sacred conception of art. Accordingly, Nastaʿlīq’s visual richness in this context was associated with harmony, balance, refinement, and transcendental beauty.
The comparative analysis also shows that Nastaʿlīq’s fundamental structure remained continuous from the Safavid to the Qajar period. Its principal characteristics, including letter construction, proportional relationships, movement, and compositional foundations, were preserved. Therefore, Qajar transformations did not reject inherited tradition or fundamentally alter the script. Nevertheless, differences became observable in visual concentration, delicacy, richness, and adherence to traditional aesthetic refinement.
From the middle of the Qajar period onward, alongside the spread of modernist tendencies and the increasing practical functions of calligraphy, Nastaʿlīq moved toward greater functionality and usability. Although its fundamental structure was preserved, part of its visual richness and sacred quality became less pronounced in comparison with Safavid examples. This development did not eliminate its aesthetic identity or relation to sacred art; rather, it reflected a relative weakening of the visual and aesthetic manifestations of the Sacred.