Arabic Calligraphy went through periods of consolidation and refinement at the hands of great calligraphers that built their splendid works on earlier established traditions. By the fourth century Hijra, 11th Century Common Era, the Kufic script reached its final refinements in the recording of the Holy Qur'an, after which time, the Naskh script began to take over as the most popular style of calligraphy for the recording of the Holy Qur'an.

The Naskh script, as we know it today, was attributed to Ibn Al Muglah (d.940). As a chief administrator and mathematician he occupied an important official position to influence the development of styles of calligraphy in the middle Abbasid Era. His mathematically proportioned rules for the Naskh script were adopted by all great calligraphers that followed. His rules formed the basis for all the grand scripts that we have today. Naskh was espoused by arguably the greatest two calligraphers of all times: Abul Hassan Ali Ibn Hilal, better known as Ibn Al Bawwab (d. 1022) and Yaqut Al Musta'asimi, (d. 1298) and it was the influence of these calligraphers that generated the plethora of Naskh styles.

Patronage of calligraphy accelerated the development of the Naskh script and rulers vied for the support of calligraphers. Of the important traditions of calligraphy are those that sprang in Iran in the 14th Century, first, under Ill Khanids and later the Timurids, with the great styles of Thulth, Muhaqaq and Rihani as most popular of the era. The Mamluks who ruled Egypt, Greater Syria and parts of Arabia between 1250 and 1517 were great patrons of calligraphy. Holy Quranic manuscripts written in the Thulth script during that period were amongst the most elegant. These great traditions flourished later in Iran under the Safavids, in India and the Moguls and in Turkey under the Ottoman Empire. The splendid and spectacularly beautiful Quranic manuscripts produced in these periods remain amongst the noblest forms of artwork ever achieved by man.