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Spain: Arabic . Qur'anic Folio, Andalusi script, 12th century

Kufic is a clean, geometric style of Arabic writing, with a very visible rhythm and a stress on horizontal lines. Vowels are sometimes noted as red dots; consonants are distinguished with small dashes to make the texts more readable. A number of Qur'ans written in this style have been found in the Mosque at Kairouan, in Tunisia. Kufic writing also appears on ancient coins. The Maghribi script and its Andalusi variant are less rigid versions of Kufic, with more curves.