Calligraphy is the most important and pervasive element in Islamic art. It has always been considered the noblest form of art because of its association with the Qur’an, the Muslim holy book, which is written in Arabic.

This preoccupation with beautiful writing extended to all arts—including secular manuscripts; inscriptions on palaces; and those applied to metalwork, pottery, stone, glass, wood, and textiles—and to non-Arabic-speaking peoples within the Islamic commonwealth whose languages—such as Persian, Turkish, and Urdu—were written in the Arabic script.

While many religions have made use of figural images to convey their core convictions, Islam has instead used the shapes and sizes of words or letters. Because Islamic leaders saw in figural arts a possible implication of idolatry, Islam's early theocracy looked to the artistry of calligraphy for religious expression. In Islamic and Arabic cultures, calligraphy became highly respected as an art -- the art of writing.

Scholar Yasin Hamid Safadi (1978) writes: " The primacy of the word in Islam is reflected in the virtually universal application of calligraphy. Writing is given pride of place on all kinds of objects--objects of everyday use as well as entire wall surfaces, mosque furniture, the interiors and exteriors of mosques, tombs, and al-Ka'ba, the most famous sanctuary of Islam. But like the icons of most other faiths, script also represents power. Its preeminent use is the writing of the divine message of the Qur'an, of course, which endowed it with extraordinary strength and transcendent significance. From this world's manifold possibilities, Allah had chosen Arabic as the vehicle for his final revelation."

The various disciplines associated with the manuscript, such as calligraphy, binding, and the painting of miniatures, have in Turkey traditionally been crowned by the splendor of illumination.

The embellishments in albums and manuscripts, whether done in paint or gilt, are all defined as illumination, the word for which in Turkish, tezhib, comes from Arabic and means literally "gilding" or "begolding". The art uses more all-inclusive means, however: vegetable dyes, metal oxides, earth-based color dyes and powdered stones of various colors being added to sizing.

Among the favorite sites for illumination are the end sheet known as the zahriye which precedes the text in manuscripts; the final section called the hatim; the title; the heading of a chapter or verse in the Koran, or the end of a verse; and in some cases all the margins of a highly venerated work.

Like many Turkish arts of traditional origin, illumination depends on the skills of a number of craftsmen working together to create a finished product. When the calligrapher is done writing the body of the work, it is the turn of the cedvelkes to rule the margins in gold, or black or red ink. Then master and apprentices pounce the design worked up by the illuminator, who then does the actual drawing of the illumination, alone or with colleagues. All this would be carried out in a special room at the palace, or in the studio of a great illuminator.