This was all the more important considering that Islam does not allow iconography, to protect people from worshipping images instead of God Calligraphy "beautiful writing” The Muslims respected calligraphy as the highest art form because the Qur'an was written in Arabic and it represented the word of God Writing was not only an artistic but a religious expression as well Calligraphy decorated the mosques and holy books of Islam

Over the centuries Arabic calligraphy expanded to include different styles of writing. Just like in English where there are many kinds of handwriting (printing, cursive, "graffiti style"), many writing styles in Arabic developed. Styles 12 th century Quranic manuscript 21 st century aerosol Arabic