Indeed, the result was such a felicitous combination that the technique was used for centuries in Iranian mosques and religious buildings of all descriptions.

There is an enormous variety in the texts chosen for mosques, and the texts are almost always appropriate to the locations in which they occur. A comparison of the bismillah In the name of Allah, the Merciful, the Compassionate written in a variety of Arabic scripts and in Talig, a Persian script. Mashq A2a ace Al pom Il of SL os os sll pos dl alll possus l: + ahh de 2 COL AYO FY Square Kufic Eastern Kufic Thuluth a a Ne o: \ ve \ \ 8 j a Pre i) a) Naskhi oe AI re . y Muhaggag =~

There seems, however, to have been little marked preference for a particular text for a particular location. Yet the combination of texts chosen for any one building may well represent a programmatic selection to convey a specific agenda on the part of the patron, designer or builder. A good example of agenda in the selection of Quranic inscriptions is found on the Buland Darwaza, the huge ceremonial gateway into the mosque complex at Fatehpur Sikri built by the Mughal Emperor Akbar c. 1575. Carved in very low relief, the thuluth inscription consists of Suras 39:73-75, 41:53-$4 and 41:30-31. The first section includes the phrases And the gates thereof shall be ready set open and Praise be unto God, who hath ... made us to inherit the earth; and across the top of the gateway is Hereafter we will show them our signs in the regions of the earth (41:53) all particularly appropriate for a monumental gateway that was most likely built in celebration of a major military victory.

The selection of epigraphic texts may also represent a sectarian agenda. The inclusion of sayings by Ali in stucco on Oljaytiis mihrab (1310) in the Friday Mosque, Isfahan not to mention the list of the Twelve Imams of the Shia also incorporated into the milirab marks the mosque as Shiite in sympathy if not in actual allegiance, just as the THE ROLE OF CALLIGRAPI Rihani DB. FN bg a REN \ aN x Talig