Qit’a and Muraqqa (Calligraphic Sheets and Albums)

The calligraphic works written on a normal, book-size sheets in one or several different styles are known as qit'a, and the albums consisting of these sheets which are folded and attached to each other are called muraqqa. Qit'as usually have two styles: either sulus-nasih, muhaqqaq-rayhani or tawqi-riq'a. Those that are composed with a single style are mostly in the ta'liq qit'a style.

In this kind of calligraphic works, the texts that are written most frequently are hadiths of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh). Although they are usually smaller in dimension, they contain some of the best works of the most famous masters of calligraphy. Among the best known of these works are the muraqqas of the famous calligrapher Sheikh Hamdullah, written in six different styles, which also have come to be classic examples that were followed by subsequent calligraphers.

This category of calligraphic works also includes the kaside (eulogies) written as an expression of love, loyalty and praise for Prophet Muhammad. Such classics as Busiri's Kasidetu'l -Burde and Ka'b ibn Zuheyr's Banet Su'ad that praise Prophet Muhammad were then written in sulus and nasih styles by important Turkish calligraphers like Hafiz Osman and Sevki Efendi. In addition, selected couplets from Hakani Mehmed Bey's Hilye-i Hakani were written in the taliq style by leading figures in Ottoman calligraphy, including Mehmed Es'ad Yesari, and his son Yesarizade Mustafa Izzet, as well as Omer Vasfi and Aziz Efendi, who also collected them in albums. Also, the Asere-i Mucizat-i Nebi, narrated by Bukhari was later composed as plaques and albums by several master calligraphers, such as Mehmed Sevki Efendi.