With religious fervor rivaling that of the medieval monks, and with an alphabet surpassing the European one in artistic possibilities, the Moslem calligraphers of the Koran gained just honor and lasting renown. The art of writing is regarded by the Moslems as the finest of the arts, but it had few exponents before the time of Mohammed. In his own tribe, the Korelshites, only seventeen knew how to write and the prophet is not numbered among these, Naskhi is the most common Arabic script. This leaf was written by the Egyptian calligrapher Mohammed ibn Kuzel Al Isawai with a reed, on egg-glazed paper that antedates any European paper by half a century.