Editing Almoravid dynasty (section)

==== Calligraphy and manuscript illumination ====
[[File:مصحف_مرابطي_أو_موحدي_03.jpg|thumb|An illuminated Quran manuscript in florid [[Kufic]] and [[Maghrebi script]].]]
In early Islamic manuscripts, Kufic was the main script used for religious texts. Western or Maghrebi Kufic evolved from the standard (or eastern) Kufic style and was marked by the transformation of the low swooping sections of letters from rectangular forms to long semi-circular forms. It is found in 10th century [[Quran]]s before the Almoravid period.<ref name=":44">{{Cite book|last=Khemir|first=Sabiha|url=https://www.metmuseum.org/art/metpublications/Al_Andalus_The_Art_of_Islamic_Spain|title=Al-Andalus: The Art of Islamic Spain|publisher=The Metropolitan Museum of Art|year=1992|isbn=0870996371|editor-last=Dodds|editor-first=Jerrilynn D.|location=New York|pages=|chapter=The Arts of the Book}}</ref> Almoravid Kufic is the variety of Maghrebi Kufic script that was used as an official display script during the Almoravid period.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0cIJAQAAIAAJ&q=%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%83%D9%88%D9%81%D9%8A%20%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%85%D8%B1%D8%A7%D8%A8%D8%B7%D9%8A|title=معلمة المغرب: قاموس مرتب على حروف الهجاء يحيط بالمعارف المتعلقة بمختلف الجوانب التاريخية و الجغرافية و البشرية و الحضارية للمغرب الاقصى|publisher=مطابع سلا،|year=1989|page=6740}}</ref>

Eventually, Maghrebi Kufic gave rise to a distinctive cursive script known as "[[Maghrebi script|Maghrebi]]", the only cursive script of [[Arabic]] derived from Kufic, which was fully formed by the early 12th century under the Almoravids.<ref name=":44" /> This style was commonly used in Qurans and other religious works from this period onward, but it was rarely ever used in architectural inscriptions.{{Sfn|Lintz|Déléry|Tuil Leonetti|2014|pp=195–197}}<ref name=":44" /> One version of this script during this early period is the Andalusi script, which was associated with Al-Andalus. It was usually finer and denser, and while the loops of letters below the line are semi-circular, the extensions of letters above the line continue to use straight lines that recall its Kufic origins. Another version of the script is rounder and larger, and is more associated with the Maghreb, although it is nonetheless found in Andalusi volumes too.<ref name=":44" />

{{Multiple image
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| image1 = 1190 Quran from Uppsala University Library 1 v.jpg
| alt1 = Qur'an page frontispiece with grid of lozenges filled with golden motifs and gold inscriptions on blue and red backgrounds
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| image2 = 1190 Quran from Uppsala University Library 2 v.jpg
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| alt2 = Qur'an page with Arabic text, including a header in gold on a decorated background
| footer = Part of the frontispiece (left) and a page from the text (right) of a Maghrebi or Andalusi Qur'an dated to 1090, the oldest known illuminated Qur'an from this region
}}
The oldest known illuminated Quran from the western Islamic world (i.e. the Maghreb and Al-Andalus) dates from 1090, towards the end of the [[Taifa#First period (11th century)|first Taifas period]] and the beginning of the Almoravid domination in Al-Andalus.<ref name=":43">{{Cite book|last=|first=|url=https://www.metmuseum.org/art/metpublications/Al_Andalus_The_Art_of_Islamic_Spain|title=Al-Andalus: The Art of Islamic Spain|publisher=The Metropolitan Museum of Art|year=1992|isbn=0870996371|editor-last=Dodds|editor-first=Jerrilynn D.|location=New York|pages=|chapter=}}</ref>{{Rp|304}}{{Sfn|Lintz|Déléry|Tuil Leonetti|2014|p=224}} It was produced either in the Maghreb or Al-Andalus and is now kept at the [[Uppsala University Library]]. Its decoration is still in the earliest phases of artistic development, lacking the sophistication of later volumes, but many of the features that were standard in later manuscripts<ref name=":134">{{Cite book|last=Blair|first=Sheila S.|title=Islamic Calligraphy|publisher=Edinburgh University Press|year=2006|isbn=978-0748635405|pages=566–569}}</ref> are present: the script is written in the Maghrebi style in black ink, but the diacritics (vowels and other orthographic signs) are in red or blue, simple gold and black roundels mark the end of verses, and headings are written in gold Kufic inside a decorated frame and background.<ref name=":43" />{{Rp|304}} It also contains a frontispiece, of relatively simple design, consisting of a grid of lozenges variously filled with gold vegetal motifs, gold netting, or gold Kufic inscriptions on red or blue backgrounds.{{Sfn|Lintz|Déléry|Tuil Leonetti|2014|p=224}}

More sophisticated illumination is already evident in a copy of a ''[[Hadith terminology#Ṣaḥīḥ|sahih]]'' dated to 1120 (during the reign of Ali ibn Yusuf), also produced in either the Maghreb or Al-Andalus, with a rich frontispiece centered around a large medallion formed by an interlacing geometric motif, filled with gold backgrounds and vegetal motifs.{{Sfn|Lintz|Déléry|Tuil Leonetti|2014|p=225}} A similarly sophisticated Quran, dated to 1143 (at the end of Ali ibn Yusuf's reign) and produced in [[Córdoba, Spain|Córdoba]], contains a frontispiece with an interlacing geometric motif forming a panel filled with gold and a knotted blue roundel at the middle.<ref name=":43" />{{Rp|304}}