TYPES OF SCRIPTS

1) KUFI

Kufi was the dominant priestly script in early times. It was created after the establishment of the two Muslim cities of Basrah and Kufah in the second decade of the Islamic era. The script has specific proportional measurements, along with pronounced angularity and squareness

2) FARSI

Farsi Script, also called Ta'liq or hanging script, is believed to have been developed by the Persians from an early and little known Arabic script called Firamuz. Farsi is an unpretentious, cursive script which was apparently in use until the early 9th century AD

3) REQ'AA

This script, also called Ruqah (small sheet), is rounded and densely structured with short horizontal stems. Req'aa has a close affinity with Thuluth. But Req'aa developed in a different direction from Thuluth -- Req'aa became simplified

Today, Req'aa is the preferred script for handwriting throughout the Arab world
4) NASKH

Naskh was one of the earliest scripts to evolve. It gained popularity only after being redesigned by Ibn Muqlah in the 10th century AD. Naskh later was reformed by Ibn al-Bawaab and others into an elegant script worthy of the Qur'an -- and more Qur'ans have been written in Naskh than in all the other scripts together. Naskh appealed particularly to the ordinary person because the script was relatively easy to read and write. It is usually written with short horizontal stems and with almost equal vertical depth above and below the medial line. The curves are full and deep, the uprights straight and vertical, and the words generally well spaced.

5) THULUTH

Thuluth Script was first formulated in the 7th century AD during the Umayyad caliphate, but it did not develop fully until the late 9th century AD. The name means 'a third' -- perhaps because of the proportion of straight lines to curves, or perhaps because the script was a third the size of another popular contemporary script. Though rarely used for writing the Holy Qur'an, Thuluth has enjoyed enormous popularity as an ornamental script for calligraphic inscriptions, titles, headings and colophons. It is still the most important of all the ornamental scripts.
6) DEEWANI

Deewani Script is an Ottoman development parallel to Shikasteh (broken style). The script was largely developed in the late 15th century AD from the Turkish/Persian Ta'liq by Ibrahim Munif. Deewani later was defined by the famous calligrapher Shaykh Hamdullah, primarily for use in chancelleries. The script is excessively cursive and highly structured with its letters undotted and unconventionally joined together. It uses no vowel marks. Deewani also developed an ornamental variety called Deewani Jali which also was known as Humayuni (Imperial).