Kufic Script, Abbasid Bookhand The form of Kufic script used, and the use of parchment instead of paper, suggest that the fragment is earlier than the 10th century. In general, Kufic script is one of the earliest forms of Arabic script of lapidary style, which served as a stage between modern Arabic writing and the Mesopotamian cuneiforms and Phoenician proto-writing. The more plain and jagged the Kufic letters are, the earlier their creation can be assumed. The development from plain Kufic to more ornamental forms, like foliated and floriated Kufic, did not happen until the middle of 10th century. Based on this information and the fact that this fragment is written in a very primitive form of Kufic, the date is almost certainly earlier than 10th century. Since North Africa was not completely under Muslim rule until the beginning of the 8th century, the date of the fragment must be sometime after that. Therefore, the 9th century is the most accurate conjecture. A comparison between the manuscript and a full table of different letter forms from North Africa in different dates also confirms this dating (see Arif, pt.3). Noteworthy in this text is the fact that some of the words are broken at line endings. While this practice is common in manuscripts with Roman letters, in Arabic writing, because the letters are connected to form the words, such breaks can disrupt the text. One may speculate that this usage pertains to the form of the Arabic letters themselves (a less developed stage of Arabic writing), or it may be the case that North African scribes had not yet mastered Arabic writing by the time of the writing of this text. Both these speculations would corroborate that the text was written earlier than the 10th-century date assumed by Maggs Bros. and Witkam.