Analysis of the Structure and Visual Features of the Kufic Inscription of Surah Yasin in Shushtar Grand Mosque

The construction of the Shushtar Mosque was completed in the year (512-529) AH. The construction began in 254 AH. The Kufic inscription (Surah Yasin) on the wall of Shushtar Grand Mosque’s altar is one of the successful examples of the Kufic script as architectural decoration. This inscription is thirty-two meters long and contains verses 8 to 23 of Surah Yasin. It is a combination of simple and barg-dar Kufic script with plastered Islamic motifs in the background. This study aims to discover the structure and visual features of Kuifc inscription (Surah Yasin) in Shushtar Grand Mosque. The questions are: what are the constituent structures in the written system of Kufic inscription (Surah Yasin) in Shushtar Grand Mosque? What visual features and capabilities does it have? The research method is descriptive-analytical and data are collected from library and field research. Data analysis is qualitative and based on logic and reasoning. This inscription is thirty two meters long and forty centimeters wide which shows the height of the vertical letters such as (الف). The letters (د), (ک), and (ط) and in some words the letters (ن), (ر), (ی) and (و) have the same height as vertical letters such as (الف), (ل) and (ط، ظ). The letters (د), (ک) and (ط) are designed similarly which lead to mistakes in reading. The artist also paid special attention to design of the letter (لام-الف) due to its semantic and symbolic values. The letter (لام-الف) consists of eight types which are similar in appearance, but different in details. The letter (لام-الف) in the Kufic inscription (Surah Yasin) of Shushtar Grand Mosque is very similar to the letter (لام-الف) in Kufic inscription of Golpayegan Grand Mosque’s altar (508 AH). Moreover, the whole form of the letters is schematically similar to the Kufic inscription (Surah Yasin), but Islamic motifs are not used in the background. This similarity can show the origin of the Kufic inscription of Shushtar Grand Mosque. The Kufic inscription (Surah Yasin) of Shushtar Grand Mosque follows a systematic structure of Kufic script including the written system and vegetal design system with the most various letters in the written system. Nine guidelines are used to design the letters and their connections in the words. Eight guidelines are used in the written system and ninth guidelines show the height of the vertical letters, two of which are background baselines and the letters’ connections are placed on them in the whole inscription. Six other guidelines determine the beginning and the end of the letters in the written system. Each letter starts on a guideline and ends on another guideline; the letters are designed so that they do not cross over the guidelines. The eight horizontal guidelines are placed with the same distance from each other, on which the letters’ structure in the inscription’s words is designed. The guideline (1):  all the arcs of the letters (ف), (ع), (ه), (ن), (و) and (ی) in the entirety of the thirty-two-meter long inscription end on this line. The guideline (2): the end of circles in letter (م) and the final line of letter (د) as well as the end of elongation in letter (و) in the whole length of the inscription end on this guideline. The guidelines (5), (6), (7) and (8): the beginning of the letters and the end of arcs in the whole length of the inscription are placed on these guidelines. To know about how the structure of the Kufic inscription (Surah Yasin) of Shushtar Grand Mosque is designed, we can say that the artist has used checkered pages with specific proportion of units, so that all the thickness of the horizontal and vertical letters as well as the guidelines for designing the horizontal letters follow a specific size. After systematically executing the text of the whole inscription and placing it on the tabulation of all horizontal and vertical letters on the lines of the checkered page, all the proportions regarded in this inscription led to a general appropriateness in the thirty-to-meter long inscription. About the whole space of the inscription, the space between the eighth to the ninth guideline is twice the space of the written system. The empty space between the elongations of the high letters such as (الف) is various in the whole inscription which is repeated over and over throughout the inscription, equally creating a rhythm of negative spaces. What is clear in the structure of this inscription is the rhythm of empty spaces throughout the inscription filled with designs of Islamic motifs that are related to the meaning of the verses (of Surah Yasin). Using Islamic motifs in the spaces helps balance the positive and negative spaces in the structure of the inscription.