Maghrebi script or Maghribi script refers to a loosely related family of Arabic scripts that developed in the Maghreb, al-Andalus (Iberia), and Bilad as-Sudan. Maghrebi script is directly derived from the Kufic script, and is traditionally written with a pointed tip, producing a line of even thickness.
Maghrebi script from a 13th-century Qur'an in North Africa
Iraqi Kufic script, as seen on this Idrisid dirham, influenced the early development of Maghrebi script.
An Almoravid dinar minted under Ali ibn Yusuf in Seville featuring Almoravid Kufic script.
Different scripts at the Alhambra built in the Emirate of Granada. The exodus of Muslims from Iberia influenced the development of scripts in North Africa.
The Kufic script is a style of Arabic script that gained prominence early on as a preferred script for Quran transcription and architectural decoration, and it has since become a reference and an archetype for a number of other Arabic scripts. It developed from the Arabic alphabet in the city of Kufa, from which its name is derived. Kufic is characterized by angular, rectilinear letterforms and its horizontal orientation. There are many different versions of Kufic, such as square Kufic, floriated Kufic, knotted Kufic, and others. The artistic styling of Kufic led to its use in a non-Arabic context in Europe, as decoration on architecture, known as pseudo-Kufic.
The classical Kufic script of the Blue Quran.
Kufic script, 8th or 9th century (Surah 48: 27–28), Quran
Hafsids with ornamental Kufic, Bougie, Algeria, 1249–1276
Geometric Kufic from the Bou Inania Madrasa (Meknes); the text reads: بركة محمد or barakat muḥammad, i.e. "Muhammad's blessing".
