These are considered in terms of their ẓāhir, the ‘apparent’ or exoteric teachings, and their corresponding bāṭin or ‘inner’, esoteric interpretation. I will pay particular attention to experimentation and innovation in the Ottoman calligraphic tradition, especially its symmetrical compositions, mirror-image writing and pictorial calligraphy, that is “figurative scripture or scriptural figuration” (to cite Valérie Gonzales), which evolved in the context of the Sufi communities in the Ottoman realm, and includes letters, words, and phrases shaped into a range of animate and inanimate forms such as animals, humans, ships, swords, ewers, oil lamps etc. My exploration of this theme starts with the symbolism hidden behind physical calligraphers’ tools, storage boxes, tables, reading stands, and pen cases, paper, ink, book bindings, moving on to an examination of the symbolism of the point and the letters as well as different forms of calligraphic creations. In this presentation I will focus on the influence of mystical teachings in the development of the Ottoman calligraphic tradition. Once the calligrapher has received the license (ijāza), he bears the responsibility of transmitting the art to his students. This art form can be apprehended as a pathway involving a disciplined training system that also requires the development of ethical qualities and virtues necessary to increase both the artistic and the spiritual mastery of the practitioner until he attains the authorization to teach the art of calligraphy. In Ottoman Turkish, calligraphy is referred to as ḥüsn-i khaṭṭ or ‘beautiful writing’.
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