Reading the Quran in IndoPak script

Guide · 29 October 2026

If you learned to read the Quran in South Asia, or in a South Asian family anywhere in the world, you probably learned it in the IndoPak script. Switching to a mushaf in another script can feel like learning to read again. Here’s what’s different, and how to keep reading in the script you know.

What the IndoPak script is

“IndoPak” is the style in which the Quran is usually printed in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, and by South Asian communities in the UK, South Africa, North America and elsewhere. It is the same Quran, with the same words and the same recitation. What differs is how the text is written on the page: the shapes of the letters, the vowel and other marks, and some spelling conventions.

The other style most people meet is the one printed in Madinah, often called the Madani or Uthmani mushaf, which is common in the Arab world and in many apps.

How it looks different

• Heavier, rounder letters. The writing is bolder, and many readers find it easier to read at small sizes.
• More marks on the page. IndoPak printings mark more of the pronunciation directly in the text, so less is left for the reader to know. This is a large part of why people who don’t speak Arabic often find it easier.
• Different signs. Some marks have different shapes, and the pause (waqf) signs are a larger set.
• Different page layouts. IndoPak mushafs come in printings with 13, 15 or 16 lines a page. Many people who memorise use a 15-line printing and remember where each ayah sits on the page.

None of this changes the meaning. But the script you learned in is the one your eyes read fastest, and a few minutes a day goes further when you aren’t fighting the page.

Reading IndoPak on a phone

Many Quran apps show only the Madani script, and a scan of a printed page is hard to read on a small screen. What helps:

• A real IndoPak font, not a picture of a page, so the text stays sharp at any size.
• A text size that suits you. Larger text that wraps to the screen is easier on the eyes than zooming into a page.
• Familiar surahs first. If you’re coming back after a long break, start with surahs you know (the last juz is a good place), then move on.

How Qalil shows it

Qalil uses the Digital Khatt IndoPak font, a typeface made for the IndoPak script, and follows the 610 pages of the 15-line IndoPak mushaf. The text wraps to the size you choose, so the lines on your screen won’t match a printed page line for line. If you memorise by the position on the page, use your printed mushaf for revision. You can jump to any surah or juz (para), and Qalil remembers where you stopped.

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