Selected writing on Arabic calligraphy, manuscripts, and the history of Islamic art, drawn from the work of Dr. Mohamed Hassan.
An academic lecture at the ISMAR center of Fatih Sultan Mehmet University in Istanbul on the Umayyad Qur'anic codices (41 to 132 AH): the development of Orientalist and contemporary studies about them, their concept and characteristics, the sciences involved in studying them (paleography, codicology, and philology), and the leading researchers and codex collections.
Continue readingA lecture by Dr. Mohamed Hassan Ismail within the Institute of Arabic Manuscripts' 2025 courses on the manuscript codices and their codicological dimensions: the major drivers of the Qur'anic script's evolution (religious, artistic, historical), the chronological development from Hijazi to Kufic to the supple scripts, the contemporary academic schools and the clash of their methods, and controversies such as the Sana'a palimpsests and the Birmingham codex.
Continue readingA lecture on paleography (the science of scripts and the reading of ancient texts) and its importance in uncovering the history of Arab-Islamic civilization: its definition, its levels of study, the distinction between manuscript and document, and its application to the noble Qur'anic codices.
Continue readingA lecture on the art criticism of Arabic calligraphy: the concept of the "critical history," the methods of reading the history of script, the crisis of art criticism and its authentic sources, and the effect of intellectual mindsets (such as Sufism and Hurufism) on the calligraphic panel.
Continue readingA lecture on the Arabic calligraphic schools: the concept of the "calligraphic school" and its classifications, the approaches to reading it, its geographical classification, and the problems of the early scripts and their discoveries (the Sana'a codices and the papyri).
Continue readingA symposium within the exhibition "The Journey of Writing and Script: Paths of the Spirit" in Riyadh, tracing the evolution of Arabic script: from its Nabataean roots and origins, through the calligraphic schools and the early codices, to attributed (mansub) script, contemporary art, and its future with artificial intelligence.
Continue readingA lecture by Dr. Mohamed Hassan Ismail at the Qatar National Library on the science of paleography in the copying of the Arabic manuscript: its nature and definition, the rigid scripts (Hijazi and Kufic), the supple scripts (Naskh, its schools, and scholars' manuscripts), and the pioneers of calligraphy and the Maghribi scripts.
Continue readingThe calligrapher Mustafa Hilmi Efendi, known as 'Hakkakzade,' author of Mizan al-Khatt, placed Imam al-Suyuti within a calligraphic lineage, yet al-Suyuti himself wrote of calligraphy in a different sense.
Continue readingAmulets are among the most beautiful written objects and an authentic paleographic source, where the historical, the human, the archaeological, popular piety, and sociology all intertwine.
Continue readingOne of the most beautiful Qur'ans I have worked on, copied in the late Abbasid period and illuminated in Mamluk Egypt, a manuscript that renewed my research thinking.
Continue readingSanglakh al-Khurasani, calligrapher of Muhammad Ali Pasha, wrote the tomb of Ibrahim Pasha, fusing Arabic, Ottoman, and Persian language, scripts, and ornament in a codified state art.
Continue readingThe book of Prof. Muhammad ʿAbd al-ʿAziz Marzouk (The Noble Qur'an: A Historical and Artistic Study) uniquely describes the external form of the 'Safini' Qur'an, named after the ship for its resemblance to its shape.
Continue readingProf. ʿAbd al-Sattar al-Halluji defined the fields for studying the Arabic manuscript in six pillars, from the history of the manuscript to editing and publishing.
Continue readingThe masthead of the noble al-Azhar magazine, designed by the calligrapher and artist Ismail Abdo, who chose the Mamluk Thuluth script as the visual language and identity of this venerable magazine.
Continue readingA dialogue organized by the AUC Type Lab on the history and methods of teaching Arabic calligraphy: the work of the Center for Writing and Calligraphy Studies at the Bibliotheca Alexandrina, and the methodological shift from the traditional 'mashq' system to modern pedagogical curricula, with a focus on typography and the design of educational materials for children.
Continue readingThe story of a Qur'an that Sultan Abdülhamid II gave to his wife on their marriage, opening it to choose her name from a verse: a glimpse of the human romance within every piece of art.
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 readingSayed Ibrahim, dean of Arabic calligraphy and one of the foremost calligraphers of the twentieth century, was born in Cairo's Arab al-Yasar, a quarter of rich culture now subjected to systematic erasure.
Continue readingThe first steps in learning to read old or uncommon scripts: comparative reading between similar texts, with Qur'anic texts as the most useful basis for comparison.
Continue readingSpecimens written in the Diwani, and the Ghazlani Diwani in particular, are rare. This artistic script is among the most distinctive features of the art of the Muhammad Ali dynasty (1805 to 1952).
Continue readingA lecture by Dr. Mohamed Hassan within the 'Mushaf Course: History and Characteristics' at the Bibliotheca Alexandrina, addressing the science of paleography and its knowledge tributaries, a case study of the Mamluk codex, the mindset of the calligrapher and the paleographer's tools, and François Déroche's theory of the evolution of the early codices from the Hijazi script to artistic refinement.
Continue readingA lecture by Dr. Mohamed Hassan within the 'Mushaf Course: History and Characteristics' at the Bibliotheca Alexandrina, offering a critical and historical view of Qur'anic paleography: the gap between the Western and Arab schools, the methodology of François Déroche, the problem of the 'geometric rule' of Qur'anic Kufic, and an analysis of the six codices attributed to ʿUthman ibn ʿAffan.
Continue readingThe day I was honored to behold and read in the Qur'an attributed to the Rightly-Guided Caliph ʿUthman ibn ʿAffan, may God be pleased with him.
Continue readingShikaste, the beauty the eye never forgets and insight never misses, among the finest and most splendid manifestations of the art of Persian calligraphy.
Continue readingSayed Ibrahim, dean of Arabic calligraphy, kept a copy of every seal he designed, leaving three large volumes containing hundreds, even thousands, of seals for the most important Egyptian and Arab figures and institutions of the early twentieth century.
Continue readingIt is related that when a merchant brought the young amir Badr al-Din Bilik to Sultan al-Zahir Baybars to sell him, the youth wrote a verse so apt that the sultan raised his price.
Continue readingThe most monumental, magnificent, and resplendent: the Qur'an of Sultan al-Ghuri. The Mamluk Qur'ans remain a living testament to the brilliance of the Mamluk school of Arabic calligraphy in Egypt.
Continue readingThe Mamluk manuscript and its various arts played an important role in shaping the Arab-Islamic book, and greatly influenced the output of non-Muslims who lived under the Islamic state.
Continue readingʿUmar al-Aqtaʿ presented a Qur'an so small it could fit inside a signet ring, which failed to impress Timur; so he designed an enormous Qur'an, 1.5 × 2 meters, in the Muhaqqaq script.
Continue readingThe Mahmudiyya Canal text is among the rare inscriptions of Lower Egypt, written by the military judge Yesarizade Mustafa Izzet (1849), a model of Ottoman Taʿliq, the Persian script in the Ottoman-Turkish manner.
Continue readingThe biography of Professor Uğur Derman, a leading authority on Ottoman calligraphy and its history: born in Bandırma in 1935, a student of Necmeddin Okyay, art consultant at IRCICA, and author of more than 247 studies and works on the calligraphic arts.
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.
Continue readingThe 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 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 Mevlevi lodge, the dwelling of Sheikh ʿAbd al-ʿAziz al-Rifaʿi in the heart of Cairo, an enchanting place where the sheikh wrote and gilded the Qur'an of King Fuad in the 1920s.
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