Here is a picture of a Qing imperial edict, a huge document (85.5 x 278 cm) which on display at the National Palace Museum in Taipei.

On the right is the imperial edict in Chinese script, but on the left is an unfamiliar-looking script. It looks vaguely Arabic, except that it's written up-to-down. Anyone have any idea what this is, and what it's doing on a Qing document?

Here's a close-up view of the script.