Reqa'

Reqāʿ (رِقَاع) is one of the six scripts of Arabic calligraphy used primarily for letters, edicts, or manuscripts. Reqa'  was used for private correspondence on small papers or for nonreligious books and texts. Ibn al-Nadim mentioned in his book Al-Fehrest, that the inventor of Reqa'  script was Al-Fadl ibn Sahl. The script was one of the most popular scripts in the Ottoman Empire. Reqa' was gradually simplified by other calligraphers and was changed to a new script called Ruqʿah (رُقعة) or Riqʿah (رِقعة), which is now the most common handwritten script in Arab countries.