Hijazi script

Hijazi script (Arabic: خَطّ ٱَلحِجَازِيّ ḫaṭṭ al-ḥijāzīy), also Hejazi, literally "relating to Hejaz", is the collective name for a number of early Arabic scripts that developed in the Hejaz region of the Arabian Peninsula, which includes the cities of Mecca and Medina. This type of script was already in use at the time of the emergence of Islam. A calligraphic Hijazi script is called a Ma'il script (مائل, "sloping"), these are found in a number of the earliest Qur'anic manuscripts. The two terms are often used interchangeably.

Hijazi was one of the earliest scripts, along with Mashq and Kufic. Earlier scripts included the Ancient North Arabian and South Arabian script.

The script is notably angular in comparison with other Arabic scripts and tends to slope to the right. The script does not yet contain any dots or diacritical marks to indicate vowel sounds: but does differentiate consonants by the intermittent use of dashes above the graphic letter forms.