Najm al-Din Muhammad ibn Ali Rawandi
1155–1207 · Rawand
Najm al-Din Abu Bakr Muhammad ibn Ali al-Rawandi came from a family of scholars in Rawand, near Kashan; Persian Wikipedia dates his birth to 550 or 555 AH. He lost his father young and was brought up by his maternal uncle Taj al-Din Ahmad al-Rawandi, and he studied Hanafi law in Hamadan from 1174 to 1184. He made his living as a book craftsman, copying, illuminating and binding Qur'ans and other books. That skill took him to court: when Sultan Toghrul III took up calligraphy, another uncle became his teacher, and Rawandi was engaged to make a Qur'an for the sultan. After Toghrul's fall in 1194 he turned to writing. His Rahat al-sudur, begun in 599 AH and dedicated to Kaykhusraw I of Rum, is a major source for Seljuk history, and among its closing chapters is one on the principles of script. He died after 1207; Arabic Wikipedia gives 643 AH (1245), a date the other sources do not support.
Achievements
- Earned his living copying, illuminating and binding Qur'ans and books (Persian and Arabic Wikipedia).
- Was brought to the court of the Seljuk sultan Toghrul III to make a Qur'an for him and won the sultan's favour (English Wikipedia).
- Wrote Rahat al-sudur, a history of the Seljuks begun in 599 AH and dedicated to Kaykhusraw I of Rum; its closing chapters include one on the principles of writing.
- Persian Wikipedia credits him with a separate treatise on the rules of script, measured by the circle and the dot.
Taught by: Taj al-Din Ahmad ibn Muhammad al-Rawandi
His work
No Qur'an or page in his own hand is known in an open collection; the only manuscript of his history was copied by another scribe in 1238.
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
- English Wikipedia (after Hillenbrand, EI2): Hamadan studies, Qur'an for Toghrul III, Rahat al-sudur, died after 1207 en.wikipedia.org
- Persian Wikipedia: birth 550/555 AH, uncles, book crafts, calligraphy chapter and treatise fa.wikipedia.org
- Arabic Wikipedia: teachers, copying and binding, death 643 AH (minority date) ar.wikipedia.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).