Ibn al-Khazin al-Katib (Abu al-Fadl Ahmad ibn Muhammad)
1078–1124 · Baghdad
Abu al-Fadl Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn al-Fadl, known as Ibn al-Khazin, was born in Baghdad in 471 AH (1078) to a family that came from Dinawar, and he grew up in the city. He is remembered first as a poet and man of letters, but the biographers single out his handwriting as well: al-Dhahabi describes him as the owner of an outstanding hand and says that it came close to the hand of the scribe Abu al-Fawaris ibn al-Khazin. Writing ran in the family. His son Abu al-Fath Nasrallah was a well-known scribe who copied al-Hariri's Maqamat many times, and it was he who collected his father's poems into a diwan. Imad al-Din al-Isfahani read that diwan and quoted from it in his anthology Kharidat al-qasr, and Ibn Khallikan included him in his biographical dictionary. Ibn al-Khazin died in Baghdad in Safar 518 AH (March 1124), aged about forty-seven. No piece in his hand is known to survive in a public collection.
Achievements
- Al-Dhahabi, in Siyar a'lam al-nubala', calls him a poet with an outstanding hand and likens his writing to that of the scribe Abu al-Fawaris ibn al-Khazin.
- His son Abu al-Fath Nasrallah, himself a known scribe who copied al-Hariri's Maqamat many times, gathered his poems into a diwan.
- Imad al-Din al-Isfahani saw his diwan and quoted his verse in Kharidat al-qasr; Ibn Khallikan also gives him an entry.
His work
No work in his hand is known to survive in an open collection; only the biographers' praise of his writing remains.
Write in the tradition this hand shaped.
Open Mashq Studio →Living calligraphers you can buy from — signed originals on paper, from AED 550: Anwar Alhulwani (Thuluth) · Ahmed Alhawary (Jali Thuluth, Naskh) · Rasha Kasim (Kufi).
Sources
- Arabic Wikipedia: dates, al-Dhahabi's description of his hand, his son and diwan, Ibn Khallikan and al-Imad ar.wikipedia.org
- Wikidata: 1078-1124 wikidata.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).