Persian calligraphy

The history of calligraphy in Iran dates back to the pre Islam era. In Zoroastrianism beautiful and clear writings were always praised.  Around one thousand years ago, Ibn Muqlah (in Persian: ابن مقله بيضاوی شيرازی) and his brother created six genres of Iranian calligraphy namely "Tahqiq", "Reyhan", "Sols", "Naskh", "Toqih" and "Reqah". These genres were common for four centuries in Persia. In 7th century (Hijri calendar), a new genre of Persian calligraphy was invented and named "Ta'liq". Morteza Gholi Khan Shamlou and Mohammad Shafi Heravi created a new genre called Shekasteh Nastaʿlīq. Abdol-Majid Taleqani brought this genre to its highest level.

In 1950, Iran's Association of Calligraphers was founded by Hossein Mirkhani, Ali Akbar Kaveh, Ebrahim Bouzari, Hassan Mirkhani and Mehdi Baiani. In Afghanistan, Azizuddin Vakili published a book entitled "Calligraphy during last two centuries in Afghanistan" (1964).