File:Arabic prayer - Thuluth script.jpg

English: Dimensions of Written Surface: 12.6 (w) x 4.7 (h) cm

Script: thuluth

This calligraphic panel includes a single line of Arabic text executed in black thuluth script. A simple prayer towards God, it reads:

Yakad yumasikuhu 'irfan rahatihi rukn al-hatim / The grasping of God (al-hatim) brings the knowledge of His comfort.

The line of text is executed on beige paper and outlined in a cloud band on a gold background. It also is provided with a number of colored frames and is pasted to a larger sheet of orange paper backed by cardboard. The lower left corner of the line of text contains a square seal impression with the barely legible names: 'abduhu (his servant) Muhsin (or Muhyi) al-Musavi and the date 1154/1741-2. Above the line of text and in the center of the green frame appears a minute a posteriori inscription, which reads: khatt-i marhum 'Ala' al-Din Tabrizi, shahir bi-Mawlana 'Alabeg ast ("the handwriting of the deceased 'Ala' al-Din Tabrizi, who is known as Mawlana 'Alabeg").

'Ala al-Din Tabrizi was a calligrapher active during the reign of the Safavid ruler Shah Tahmasp (r. 1524-76), for whom he executed royal decrees (firmans). He executed a number of inscriptions placed on buildings in the cities Tabriz, Karbalah, and Qazvin (Safwat 1996: 84-88 and cat. no. 43, and 134-5, cat. no. 65; Huart 1972, 103; and Qadi Ahmad 1959, 79).

Although the later inscription attributes the specimen to 'Ala' al-Din, it is unclear whether this Arabic prayer indeed was written by the great Safavid master calligrapher.