Jasim al-Najafi
1950–2026 · Najaf
Jasim Hammud al-Najafi was born in 1950 in the old city of Najaf. He had no formal master: he taught himself from Hashim al-Baghdadi's copybook Qawa'id al-khatt al-'Arabi and corresponded with al-Baghdadi from 1969, but never received an ijaza from him. Ketebe also names Hamid al-Amidi and the Karbala calligrapher Muhammad Ali Da'i al-Haqq among the older masters he knew. He showed his work in Najaf in 1977 and 1979, unusual events in that city, and in 1986 won prizes at IRCICA's first international competition in Istanbul. The same year he lettered the 1920 Revolution monument in Kufic tile and designed the University of Kufa emblem. In the late 1980s he worked in Kuwait on Sakhr's Arabic computer letters. His inscriptions stand in the shrine of Imam Ali, in many Najaf mosques and on the minarets of the Husayn shrine in Karbala. He made his own soot ink, and his studio near the shrine in Najaf was a school for many younger calligraphers. Arabic Wikipedia gives his death in Najaf on 27 January 2026.
Achievements
- Held his first solo exhibitions in Najaf in 1977 and 1979.
- Won prizes in the first IRCICA international calligraphy competition (Hamid al-Amidi edition), Istanbul, 1986.
- Won a national competition in 1986 to letter the monument to the 1920 Revolution, executed in Kufic on turquoise tile (the monument was removed in 2008).
- Designed the emblem of the University of Kufa in 1986, still in use.
- Worked in Kuwait in the late 1980s on the Arabic computer letterforms of the Sakhr company.
- Wrote inscriptions at the shrine of Imam Ali in Najaf, the Kufa and Sahla mosques, and the two minarets of the shrine of Imam Husayn in Karbala.
His work
He died in 2026, so his calligraphy is still under copyright and no works can be shown (Commons holds photos of his shrine inscriptions, but the calligraphy itself is protected).
Write in the tradition this hand shaped.
Write in this tradition now →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: life, exhibitions, IRCICA 1986, monument, works, death 27 Jan 2026 ar.wikipedia.org
- Ketebe: born 1950 Najaf, self-taught from al-Baghdadi's copybook, older masters he knew ketebe.org
- University of Kufa: emblem (cited by Arabic Wikipedia) edu.uokufa.edu.iq
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).