للبحر مدّ وجزر
وللقمر نقص وكمال
وللزمن صيف وشتاء
اما الحقّ فلا يحول ولا يزول ولا يتغيّر
The sea ebbs and floods, and the moon wanes and waxes, and time has summer and winter, but the Real doesn’t alter or pass away or change. (Gibran Khalil Gibran)
My model for this was classic Eastern Kufi, particularly manuscripts featuring these striking patterned margin boxes. This style uses more diacritics than any other, and for the first time they are in the familiar “modern” form. It’s also notable for its use of large gold dots to point the letters.
Eastern Kufi often has a warm background, whether because the paper is dyed or because it has darkened with age (or both). I dyed paper with madder to replicate this feel.
