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Conclusion:
The glory of the Qur'an, the book arts of the Qur'an, and the surface arts of the mosque have maintained a harmonic relationship throughout Islamic history The sacredness of the Qur'an is a supreme concept for the Muslim. The powers of its language, knowledge, and guidance sought out and engaged triumphantly the intellectual and emotional capacities of the Muslims. To signify the veneration in which the book is held and the believers' gratitude to God, the Muslim community mobilized for producing what amounts to a visually compatible book masterpiece.
The revered words of the revelation had to be written in a permanent and clear manner. This need prompted the Rightly Guided Caliphs, especially 'Uthmaµn, to compile the revelation in a single volume and make copies of it available to the expanding provinces of the state. This assured the Qur'an's integrity and propagation during the early and crucial period of Islam. To enhance the clarity of the Qur'anic text, early Muslims introduced a series of reforms into the Arabic script that laid out rules for its correct writing and reading. These reforms guarded against diversification in exercising these cherished activities and, at the same time, gave non-Arab converts access to accurate and correct copies of the Qur'an from the outset.
The beautiful word had to be written in a beautiful fashion. The Muslim genius unleased to bring about, at a highly accelerated rate, a range of approaches on how to write and adorn artistically the sacred word. These approaches became known as the fine arts of calligraphy and illumination or, in sum, the sacred arts of the Qur'an. From the outset, the art of calligraphy defined two families of script: the Kuµfic and the cursive. The angularity and majesty of Kuµfic scripts explain their use in suµrah headings and frontispieces of the Qur'an, while the flowing characteristics and adaptability of the cursive scripts were perfect vehicles for writing the main body of the text. In both Kuµfic and cursive, inventive calligraphers continued to add new styles over the centuries. Illumination enhanced aesthetically the message and the elegance of calligraphy. The organizational structure of the Qur'an offered opportunities for illumination, such as that of the suµrah heading. Illuminators put forth superb illumination schemes by the judicious use of geometric shapes, arabesque motifs, and colors.
As a center for worship and communal camaraderie, the mosque assumes a distinctively revered status among Islamic institutions. Departing from the necessity-driven designs of the early Islamic period and beginning with the Umayyad caliphate in 661, the design of the mosque as a building type witnessed drastic transformations in planning and surface finish. In keeping with the holy stature of the mosque, the search focussed on finding a suitable way to celebrate the edifice. The already considerable body of Qur'anic works in calligraphy and illumination served as artistic models for adorning the surfaces of the mosque in the form of calligraphic inscriptions and architectural ornamentation. Inscription themes were derived from the Qur'an or subjects of religious nature. Inscription types imitated the variety of Qur'anic Kuµfic and cursive scripts. Similarly, building ornamentation schemes borrowed freely from the illumination repertoire of the Qur'an. Thus, the visual design schemes that appeared on the building surfaces included Qur'anic motifs and patterns.
The spatial content of the mosque differentiated, in outcome, the surface arts of the building from the sacred arts of the Qur'an. The results appear in the way inscriptions and ornamentation schemes were spatially integrated and in the fact that building surfaces afforded plastic and three-dimensional treatments. However, the glorification of the word of God remains a common pursuit of both arts.
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