Sini (script)

Chinese Qur'an

Sini (from Template:Lang-ar, Al-khaṭ as-ṣīnī, lit. 'The Chinese script') is a calligraphic style used in China for the Arabic script. It can refer to any type of Chinese Arabic calligraphy, but is commonly used to refer to one with thick and tapered effects such as seen in Chinese calligraphy. It is used extensively in mosques in Eastern China and to a lesser extent in Gansu, Ningxia and Shaanxi.

Two famous Sini calligraphers are Muhammad Hasan ibn Yusuf (Shi Jie Cheng 1927-2006) and Hajji Noor Deen Mi Guangjiang (b. 1963).

Gallery

• 
  The names of Allah in Chinese Arabic Sini Script
• 
  Quran with Chinese translation recorded in both Arabic script of Xiao'erjing and Chinese scripts
• 
  Qur'anic Manuscript in Sini script
• 
  A book on law in Arabic, with a parallel Chinese translation in the Xiao'erjing Arabic script, published in Tashkent in 1899
• 
  Calligraphy on a plaque in the Great Mosque of Xi'an in Sini script
• 
  The Basmala in Sini script
• 
  Taḥmīd ("Praise be to God") in Arabic Ṣīnī-style calligraphy at the Great Mosque of Xi'an

See also

• Islamic calligraphy
• Chinese calligraphy
• Xiao'erjing: the use of Arabic script for writing Chinese language

External links

• Islamic Calligraphy in China, China Heritage Newsletter, Number 5 (March 2006)
• Hajji Noor Deen's Website, features Sini galleries
• Islamic Chinese Art (Dru C. Gladney's photo album on Flickr.com)