Hashem al-Baghdadi
1917–1973 · Baghdad
Iraq's iron hand and modern calligraphy's sternest teacher. Certified in Cairo, he brought Ottoman rigour back to the city of Ibn Muqla and refused every shortcut the twentieth century offered. His 1961 copybook 'Rules of Arabic Calligraphy' remains the region's standard training text — generations from Morocco to Malaysia learned their first correct alif from its pages. He wrote for mosques across Iraq and corrected the Qur'an edition of the Iraqi state press.
Key work: Qawa'id al-Khatt al-'Arabi (1961) — the modern copybook.
Images of his works are under copyright review — shown when cleared.
Achievements
- Ijaza from Mulla Ali al-Fadli in Baghdad, 1943.
- Diploma from the calligraphy school in Cairo after study with Muhammad Husni and Sayyid Ibrahim, 1944-1945.
- Published the copybook Qawa'id al-khatt al-'Arabi in 1961, with about 300 models; still used in teaching.
- Taught at the Institute of Fine Arts in Baghdad from 1960 until his death in 1973.
- Designed lettering for Iraqi banknotes and coins, and for currencies of Tunisia, Libya and Sudan.
- Wrote inscriptions in about 20 mosques in Iraq, among them the Haydar-Khana mosque in Baghdad; IRCICA named its 7th calligraphy competition (2007) after him.
Taught by: Mulla Arif al-Shaykhli, Muhammad Ali Sabir, Mulla Ali al-Fadli, Muhammad Husni (Muhammad Kamal Husni al-Baba), Sayyid Ibrahim, Hamid Aytaç
Taught: Abd al-Ghani al-Ani, Ahmad al-Najafi al-Zanjani, Walid al-A'zami, Sadiq al-Duri, Taha Al Bustani, Jamal al-Kabbasi, Mahdi al-Jaburi, Uthman Taha
His work
about 1970 · Haydar-Khana Mosque, Baghdad (photograph 2023)
Photo: Ayham4002, Wikimedia Commons (Haydar-Khana Mosque exterior wall(1).png), CC BY-SA 4.0 (creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)
This inscription is the one work of his we may publish from an open record; his panels are in Iraqi mosques and private collections. His copybook, Qawa'id al-Khatt al-Arabi (Baghdad, 1961), is still one of the model books Arab students of calligraphy learn from most.
Write in the tradition this hand shaped.
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Living calligraphers you can buy from — signed originals on paper, from AED 550: Anwar Alhulwani (Thuluth) · Ahmed Alhawary (Jali Thuluth, Naskh) · Rasha Kasim (Kufi) — or every Thuluth piece the store makes: Thuluth collection.
Sources
- Arabic Wikipedia: birth 1921 (conflict), teachers, ijazas 1943/1950/1952, Survey Directorate, mosques, students, 1961 copybook, death 1393/1973 ar.wikipedia.org
- English Wikipedia: birth 1917, Survey 1937, Cairo 1944, Fine Arts Institute 1960, banknotes, students, works en.wikipedia.org
- Persian Wikipedia (translation of the English article) fa.wikipedia.org
- Wikidata: both birth years 1917/1921, death 1973-04-30, Baghdad wikidata.org
- TDV Islam Ansiklopedisi (article by Yusuf Dhannun): 1917 Baghdad, d. 30 April 1973, teachers, Aytaç certificates 1951, Fine Arts Institute 1960-1973, Qawa'id (300 models), German Qur'an reprints 1966/1971, ~20 mosques, currency, two ijaza students islamansiklopedisi.org.tr
- Al Jazeera encyclopedia: birth 24 Nov 1921 (conflict), ijazas, 1960 post, currencies, Qur'an printed in Germany ajnet.me
- IRCICA: 7th International Calligraphy Competition (2007) dedicated to Hashim al-Baghdadi (1917-1973) arts.ircica.org
Written by the MASHQ studio · last updated 2026-10-05. Further reading, the standard references in English: Sheila S. Blair, Islamic Calligraphy (Edinburgh University Press, 2006) · Annemarie Schimmel, Calligraphy and Islamic Culture (New York University Press, 1984) · Yasin Hamid Safadi, Islamic Calligraphy (Thames and Hudson, 1978).