الرسم القرآني
al-Rasm al-Qurʾānī
Topic
The calligraphy and orthography of the written Quran.
What it means
Al-Rasm al-Qurʾānī is the Quranic script: the way the text of the Quran is written down, in its calligraphy and its spelling. It records the spellings used in the copies of the Quran made under the third caliph, Uthman ibn Affan (may God be pleased with him), and so is also called al-rasm al-ʿUthmānī. Scholars have long studied it, and the scribes who copied the Quran have kept to it with great care. Some spellings differ from those of ordinary Arabic writing, and they are preserved as they were first set down. The study has its own books and experts, who also treat the marks added later to guide reading.
Often misunderstood as
That it is ordinary Arabic spelling, when it preserves a specific written tradition of the text.
Term and Arabic as listed in Ismail al Faruqi, Toward Islamic English (International Institute of Islamic Thought, 1995), p. 49, listed as AL RASM AL QUR'ĀNĪ. The definition is restated here.