Ahar Paper
We are the first supplier in North America to offer ahar papers (also known as muqahar) made specifically for Islamic calligraphy. Arabic calligraphy has been written ahar paper for more than 500 years.
The papers we import are made by Zakir Hussein Kagzi, the oldest continually-operarting papermaking family in India. From an article in the journal Hand Papermaking on their remarkable history:
By the fourteenth century, four papermaking families settled in Rajasthan during the reign of Feroz Shah Tughlaq. These four families worked for the King’s court in Jaipur making paper from jute plants that grew on the banks of the river Saraswati. They made paper for official use, account books, calligraphy, the Holy Quran, and currency notes...Today there remains one traditional papermaking family in Sanganer. The Hussain Kagzis are well aware of their rich heritage. Mohammad Hussain Kagzi, the head of the household, made paper for decades out of a small setup in his home. His son Zakir Hussain has taken over the business and moved it out of their modest home to a unit a short distance away. Zakir Hussain is now joined by his two young sons in the effort. Together the three generations of this family work every day to produce handmade paper of high quality.
You can read about the process of making this paper here.
After the paper is made in Rajasthan they are coated with multiple coats of wheat starch and a sizing made from alum and egg whites. This creates a microscopic barrier between the paper fibers and the air, so ink doesn't penetrate the paper itself, and instead sits on the ahar. This allows for corrections and erasure. The paper is then burnished until it shines. This lengthy process is undertaken by Muqtar Ahmed, the founder of the Institute of Indo-Islamic Art & Culture in Bangalore and India's only calligrapher with an Ijazah in calligraphy from both the Ottoman school and the Iranian Calligrapher's Association.
These papers are thus prepared for calligraphy by calligraphers and are the only such papers available in America.
