Dr. Mohamed Ahmed Hassan Ismail is a senior academic researcher at the Center for Studies of Writings & Calligraphy, Bibliotheca Alexandrina (since 2006), specializing in Arabic scripts, Islamic manuscripts and documents, and their history and art.https://mohamedhassan-calligraphy.example/en-UShttps://mohamedhassan-calligraphy.example/en/articles/fatimid-kufic-tombstone/https://mohamedhassan-calligraphy.example/en/articles/fatimid-kufic-tombstone/One 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.Thu, 10 Jun 2021 00:00:00 GMTIslamic Art Historyhttps://mohamedhassan-calligraphy.example/en/articles/ottoman-ferman-three-scripts/https://mohamedhassan-calligraphy.example/en/articles/ottoman-ferman-three-scripts/A 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.Wed, 20 Jan 2016 00:00:00 GMTArabic Scriptshttps://mohamedhassan-calligraphy.example/en/articles/ottoman-nastaliq/https://mohamedhassan-calligraphy.example/en/articles/ottoman-nastaliq/The 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.Wed, 20 Apr 2016 00:00:00 GMTArabic Scriptshttps://mohamedhassan-calligraphy.example/en/articles/mahmoudia-canal-taliq/https://mohamedhassan-calligraphy.example/en/articles/mahmoudia-canal-taliq/The 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.Sun, 10 Jul 2016 00:00:00 GMTArabic Scriptshttps://mohamedhassan-calligraphy.example/en/articles/shikaste-persian-script/https://mohamedhassan-calligraphy.example/en/articles/shikaste-persian-script/Shikaste — the beauty the eye never forgets and insight never misses — among the finest and most splendid manifestations of the art of Persian calligraphy.Wed, 20 Sep 2017 00:00:00 GMTArabic Scriptshttps://mohamedhassan-calligraphy.example/en/articles/diwani-ghazlani/https://mohamedhassan-calligraphy.example/en/articles/diwani-ghazlani/Specimens 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 (1805–1952).Tue, 03 Sep 2019 00:00:00 GMTArabic Scriptshttps://mohamedhassan-calligraphy.example/en/articles/mamluk-thuluth-azhar-masthead/https://mohamedhassan-calligraphy.example/en/articles/mamluk-thuluth-azhar-masthead/The 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.Fri, 17 Jun 2022 00:00:00 GMTArabic Scriptshttps://mohamedhassan-calligraphy.example/en/articles/mamluk-manuscript-art/https://mohamedhassan-calligraphy.example/en/articles/mamluk-manuscript-art/The 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.Wed, 18 Jan 2017 00:00:00 GMTManuscripts & Qurʼanshttps://mohamedhassan-calligraphy.example/en/articles/sultan-ghuri-quran/https://mohamedhassan-calligraphy.example/en/articles/sultan-ghuri-quran/The 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.Sun, 02 Apr 2017 00:00:00 GMTManuscripts & Qurʼanshttps://mohamedhassan-calligraphy.example/en/articles/uthman-mushaf/https://mohamedhassan-calligraphy.example/en/articles/uthman-mushaf/The 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.Sun, 14 Jan 2018 00:00:00 GMTManuscripts & Qurʼanshttps://mohamedhassan-calligraphy.example/en/articles/abbasid-quran-mamluk-illumination/https://mohamedhassan-calligraphy.example/en/articles/abbasid-quran-mamluk-illumination/One 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.Sun, 21 Aug 2022 00:00:00 GMTManuscripts & Qurʼanshttps://mohamedhassan-calligraphy.example/en/articles/omar-al-aqta-timur/https://mohamedhassan-calligraphy.example/en/articles/omar-al-aqta-timur/ʿUmar 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.Tue, 20 Dec 2016 00:00:00 GMTManuscripts & Qurʼanshttps://mohamedhassan-calligraphy.example/en/articles/king-fuad-mushaf-rifai/https://mohamedhassan-calligraphy.example/en/articles/king-fuad-mushaf-rifai/The 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.Mon, 14 Dec 2015 00:00:00 GMTManuscripts & Qurʼanshttps://mohamedhassan-calligraphy.example/en/articles/romance-of-the-mushaf/https://mohamedhassan-calligraphy.example/en/articles/romance-of-the-mushaf/The 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.Tue, 15 Jun 2021 00:00:00 GMTManuscripts & Qurʼanshttps://mohamedhassan-calligraphy.example/en/articles/marzouk-safini-mushaf/https://mohamedhassan-calligraphy.example/en/articles/marzouk-safini-mushaf/The 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.Mon, 20 Jun 2022 00:00:00 GMTManuscripts & Qurʼanshttps://mohamedhassan-calligraphy.example/en/articles/paleography-comparative-reading/https://mohamedhassan-calligraphy.example/en/articles/paleography-comparative-reading/The 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.Mon, 14 Oct 2019 00:00:00 GMTCodicology & Paleographyhttps://mohamedhassan-calligraphy.example/en/articles/halouji-six-pillars/https://mohamedhassan-calligraphy.example/en/articles/halouji-six-pillars/Prof. 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.Mon, 20 Jun 2022 00:00:00 GMTCodicology & Paleographyhttps://mohamedhassan-calligraphy.example/en/articles/amulets-paleography/https://mohamedhassan-calligraphy.example/en/articles/amulets-paleography/Amulets 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.Wed, 24 Aug 2022 00:00:00 GMTCodicology & Paleographyhttps://mohamedhassan-calligraphy.example/en/articles/ahmad-al-kamel-manial/https://mohamedhassan-calligraphy.example/en/articles/ahmad-al-kamel-manial/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.Sun, 21 Feb 2016 00:00:00 GMTIslamic Art Historyhttps://mohamedhassan-calligraphy.example/en/articles/sanglakh-ibrahim-pasha-tomb/https://mohamedhassan-calligraphy.example/en/articles/sanglakh-ibrahim-pasha-tomb/Sanglakh 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.Wed, 20 Jul 2022 00:00:00 GMTIslamic Art Historyhttps://mohamedhassan-calligraphy.example/en/articles/baybars-calligrapher/https://mohamedhassan-calligraphy.example/en/articles/baybars-calligrapher/It 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.Sat, 29 Jul 2017 00:00:00 GMTMasters of Calligraphyhttps://mohamedhassan-calligraphy.example/en/articles/sayed-ibrahim-arab-al-yasar/https://mohamedhassan-calligraphy.example/en/articles/sayed-ibrahim-arab-al-yasar/Sayed 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.Wed, 03 Feb 2021 00:00:00 GMTMasters of Calligraphyhttps://mohamedhassan-calligraphy.example/en/articles/sayed-ibrahim-seals/https://mohamedhassan-calligraphy.example/en/articles/sayed-ibrahim-seals/Sayed 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.Mon, 18 Sep 2017 00:00:00 GMTMasters of Calligraphyhttps://mohamedhassan-calligraphy.example/en/articles/ugur-derman/https://mohamedhassan-calligraphy.example/en/articles/ugur-derman/In an event that recurs only once every twenty years, Professor Uğur Derman comes to Egypt — born in Bandırma in 1935, a leading authority on Ottoman calligraphy and its history.Thu, 16 Jun 2016 00:00:00 GMTMasters of Calligraphyhttps://mohamedhassan-calligraphy.example/en/articles/suyuti-calligraphy/https://mohamedhassan-calligraphy.example/en/articles/suyuti-calligraphy/The 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.Mon, 29 Aug 2022 00:00:00 GMTMasters of Calligraphy