The book, entitled "Diwan of Arabic calligraphy in Samarkand" by Dr. Shebl Obaid, Assistant Professor, Faculty of Antiquities, Cairo University, and published by Bibliotheca Alexandrina. It is considered to be a proven scientific study published for the first time in Arabic and even unique in the field of calligraphy studies in the whole world.
The author divided the subjects of the book into seven chapters. In the first chapter he dealt with a series of burial domes in Samarkand, and selected models of inscriptions executed on those domes and models of coffins in some of these domes; he studied them in terms of form and content of the line engravings on those coffins.
The second chapter contains examples of religious architecture in Samarkand,
Chapter III is dedicated for educational architecture (schools) through the study of three schools located in Alrikstan Square: Mirza Olga Beck, Cher House, and Talla Carey.
Chapter IV is singled out to study the technical characteristics of the inscriptions written in Kufic script recorded on buildings in Samarkand, with an indication of the features of its development, types, most of them are in geometric Kufic script, as well as some other types such as the Simple Kufic with Interpolations of flowers and leaves.
The fifth chapter has been devoted to the study of the technical characteristics of the inscriptions written in Thuluth calligraphy (It is a script variety of Islamic caligraphy, in which one-third of each letter slopes, explaining the name meaning "a third" in Arabic).
Chapter VI is allocated to study the technical characteristics of the written inscriptions recorded the Persian calligraphy.
And as for the last Chapter, it is devoted to examine the content of the written inscriptions on Samarkand's buildings that are characterized by diversity between religious inscriptions, which included Quran verses and traditions of the Prophet, as well as various religious phrases such as testimony of monotheism and the word "God", the names and attributes of Allah Almighty, and the name of the Prophet Mohammad(peace be upon him), and the Imam Ali, and the documentary inscriptions, which varied between foundational texts, titles, and texts that record some historical events, as well as some Persian quatrains, and philosophical opinions.
The author concluded this chapter with studying the decorative elements associated with inscriptions, which include plant and geometric motifs, with clarification of the extent to which harmonization between the font type and space that it occupies on the buildings and what is the role played by colors in the implementation of these inscriptions during the period study covered. The book has provided a set of paintings and illustrations.