Senior Academic Researcher in Arabic & Islamic Calligraphy and Manuscripts
Senior academic researcher at the Center for Studies of Writings & Calligraphy, Bibliotheca Alexandrina, specializing in Arabic scripts, Islamic manuscripts and documents, and their history and art.
The evolution and aesthetics of the Arabic scripts, from Kufic to Diwani and Taʿliq.
Studying Islamic manuscripts and Qurʼans, their copying and illumination.
Methods for reading, dating, and editing historical scripts and documents.
Epigraphy and ornament in Islamic architecture and the arts across eras.
The inscriptions of Hajj Ahmad al-Kamel, chief of calligraphers, in the mosque of Prince Mohamed Ali at the Manial Palace — a state of artistic and spiritual serenity that renders the talent of the last chief calligrapher of the Ottoman state.
Continue readingOne of the finest Fatimid marble tombstones, its floriated Kufic inscription marking the height of mastery under the Fatimid state — bearing the name of Abu al-Makarim ibn Abi al-Qasim al-Misri ibn Ashur.
Continue readingA sultanic ferman that brings together three scripts — the tughra, jali diwani, and diwani — and opens a window onto diplomatics, paleography, and the calligraphic study of Ottoman chancery documents.
Continue readingThe Ottomans handled the nasta'liq — the script Egyptians call 'Persian' — with great artistry. Beyond its celebrated jali form lies a less-studied story: its exclusive use in the correspondence of the Şeyhülislam.
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A study of the life and work of the “dean of calligraphers” Sayed Ibrahim in light of modern Arabic calligraphy.
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A documentary book and artistic encyclopedia on the career and achievement of the great Egyptian and international artist Mosaad Khudair al-Borsaidy — a pioneering figure of singular standing and head of Egypt’s calligraphers’ syndicate. The volume is a significant harvest and a sober study of one of the most important Arab calligraphers of the modern age, surveying his artistic history and calligraphic legacy from his birth and upbringing in Port Said, to the artistic mark he left for several years on Egyptian television, lettering the title sequences of various series and programmes. Published by the Calligraphy Studies Center at the Bibliotheca Alexandrina, with a foreword by Prof. Mostafa El-Feki.
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The inaugural volume in the Bibliotheca Alexandrina's series “Studies in Contemporary Arabic Calligraphy.” It reads Arabic calligraphy and its history during the dynasty of Muhammad Ali (1805–1952) as a vast epistemic and historical field — one embracing every facet of human creativity — and seeks to understand the history of Egypt through it. Its material was gathered with the help of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, the Egyptian Society for Arabic Calligraphy, and the families of several eminent Egyptian calligraphers.
Read moreA theoretical and practical course introducing researchers to the methods of reading and dating the scripts of Islamic manuscripts and documents.
A series of seven methodical lectures, each combining presentation, practical drill, terminology, and sources.
A vision premised on calligraphy as “the conscience of Arab-Islamic civilization” — not mere letter-drawing — addressing the challenges of teaching it through three axes of solutions.
