Muhammad Husni (Muhammad Kamal Husni al-Baba)
1894–1969 · Damascus & Cairo
Muhammad Kamal Husni al-Baba, known as Muhammad Husni, was born in Damascus in 1894 into a family of Kurdish origin; English Wikipedia gives Cairo instead. As a boy he studied with the Ottoman calligrapher Yusuf Rasa, who had been sent to Damascus to write the inscriptions of the Umayyad Mosque during its restoration. In 1912 he moved with his father to Cairo, where he lettered for lithographic presses, newspaper headlines, silent-film title cards and visiting cards, and in 1929 he opened his own office and engraving workshop. When the Royal School for the Improvement of Scripts opened in 1922 he was among its first teachers, and in the 1940s he also taught at the Higher Institute of Art Education. His pupils included Muhammad Ibrahim of Alexandria, and in 1944 he certified Hashim Muhammad al-Baghdadi. He became an Egyptian citizen in 1965 and died in Cairo on 6 June 1969. The singers Najat al-Saghira and Soad Hosny were his daughters.
Achievements
- Among the first teachers of the Royal School for the Improvement of Scripts in Cairo when it opened in 1922.
- Taught at the Higher Institute of Art Education in Cairo in the 1940s.
- Opened his own calligraphy office and engraving (zincograph) workshop in Cairo in 1929.
- Wrote thousands of title cards for silent films and headlines for newspapers.
- Certified the Iraqi calligrapher Hashim Muhammad al-Baghdadi in 1944.
- Granted Egyptian citizenship in 1965.
Taught by: Yusuf Rasa, Mehmed Şevki
Taught: Sayyid Ibrahim, Muhammad Ali al-Makkawi, Muhammad Ahmad, Muhammad Sa'd al-Haddad, Hashem al-Baghdadi
His work
No work of certain attribution is yet in an open collection we may publish.
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: 1312-1389 / 1894-1969, Damascus birth, Yusuf Rasa, Cairo 1912, 1929 workshop, Tahsin al-Khutut 1922, students, Baghdadi ijaza, death Cairo 6 June 1969 ar.wikipedia.org
- English Wikipedia: birth given as Cairo, Yusuf Rasa, Mehmed Şevki, 1922 school, 1944 certification of al-Baghdadi, thuluth; contradictory death date en.wikipedia.org
- Wikidata: b. 1894-01-11 Cairo (Q85), d. 1969-06-06 Cairo wikidata.org
- Youm7 (2018): 1894-1969, Syrian, Yusuf Rasa, Cairo 1912, 1922 school, 1940s institute, citizenship 1965 youm7.com
- TDV: al-Baghdadi studied with Muhammad Husni in Egypt, 1944 islamansiklopedisi.org.tr
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).