4 ms·

Not sure which sources you are referring, but the lettering looks like the earliest Islamic calligraphy (Kufic script, which is beautiful) [1]. This is the wor

• mumblemumble 7y ago
  Specifically the square version of Kufic, which is apparently a more recent variant. First, the style of Arabic that Larsson says she has identified—square Kufic—is not known to have been used in the 10th century; it only became common about 500 years later. I imagine it's just like how, with the Latin script, anachronistic letterforms can be used as a line of evidence in identifying less-skillful forgeries.