The masthead of the noble al-Azhar magazine was issued in the design of my friend, the calligrapher and artist Ismail Abdo, who chose the Mamluk Thuluth script to be the visual language and the identity of that venerable magazine.
Specimens of the Mamluk Thuluth script abound in the al-Azhar Mosque — enough to form an encyclopedia of this distinctive script. They were gathered by my colleague and dear brother Dr. Muhammad al-Sayyid in his cherished encyclopedia of the al-Azhar Mosque.
Congratulations, my brother Master Ismail; may God increase you from His bounty and His knowledge.
