No 7.

NASKHI CHARACTER FROM A GOOD EGYPTIAN MANUSCRIPT.

قال يا آدم انبئهم باسمائهم فلما انباهم باسمائهم قال الم اقل لكم‎

انى اعلم غيب السموات والارض واعلم ما تبدون‎

وما كنتم تكتمون * واذ قلنا للملائكت اسجدوا‎

Qāla yā Ādamu ʾnbiʾ-him bi-asmāʾi-him fa­lammā anbaʾa-hum bi-ʾasmāʾi-him qāla alam aqul la-kum

Annī aʿlamu g͟haiba ʾs-samawāti wa ʾl-arẓi wa aʿlamu mā tabdūna

Wa mā kuntum taktumūna. Wa iẕ qulnā li-ʾl-malāʾi-kati ʾsjudū.

“He said: ‘O Adam, inform them of their names,’ and when he had informed them of their names, He said: ‘Did I not say to you, That I know the hidden things of the heavens and of the earth, and know what ye bring to light, And what ye hide?’ And when we said to the angels: ‘Bow down’.…”

([Sūrah ii. 31, 32].)

From this ordinary Nask͟hī several more ornate manuscript styles are derived, as the Rīḥānī, Yāqūtī, and S̤ulus̤. They are distinguished principally by the relative proportions of the characters; and in the S̤ulus̤ in particular, of which we give a specimen under No. 8, the letters are three times the size of the ordinary Nask͟hī, while the Rīḥānī and Yāqūtī show intermediate proportions between the two.

No. 8.

SULUS STYLE.

كنت نبيا والادم بين الماء والطين‎

Kuntu nabīyan wa ʾl-adamu baina ʾl-māʾi wa ʾt̤-t̤īni.

“I was a prophet, when man was yet a mixture of water and clay.”