Muhammad Mu'nis Zadeh (Muhammad Efendi Mu'nis)
Muhammad Efendi Mu'nis Zadeh was the leading calligrapher of Egypt in the 19th century. His birth date is unknown; Arabic Wikipedia places it around 1830. He learned from his father, Ibrahim Efendi Mu'nis, who gave him an ijaza, and he taught calligraphy at the Tawfiqiyya school, Dar al-'Ulum and al-Azhar. In 1868 (1285 AH) the government press printed his al-Mizan al-ma'luf, a model book of thuluth and naskh letters and words; he had earlier copied the prayer book Dala'il al-khayrat in 1860. He wrote the inscription for the renewal of the mosque of Sidi Muhammad al-Majdhub in Asyut and, with his pupil Muhammad Ja'far, the cenotaph of Shafaq Nur Hanim, mother of Khedive Tawfiq. His pupils included Muhammad Ja'far Bey, who designed type for the Bulaq press, Shaykh Ali Badawi and Shaykh Mustafa al-Ghar, through whom his teaching reached the next generation. Sources disagree on when he died: about 1900, or about 1873.
Achievements
- Published al-Mizan al-ma'luf fi wad' al-kalimat wa-l-huruf, a model book for thuluth and naskh, printed by the government press in 1285 AH / 1868.
- Copied Dala'il al-khayrat in 1277 AH / 1860.
- Taught calligraphy at the Tawfiqiyya school, Dar al-'Ulum and al-Azhar.
- Wrote the inscription for the renewal of the mosque of Sidi Muhammad al-Majdhub in Asyut.
- With his pupil Muhammad Ja'far, wrote the cenotaph of Shafaq Nur Hanim, mother of Khedive Tawfiq.
- His pupils, among them Muhammad Ja'far and Mustafa al-Ghar, taught the next generation of Egyptian calligraphers.
Taught by: his father, Ibrahim Efendi Mu'nis
Taught: Muhammad Ja'far Bey, Shaykh Ali Badawi, Muhammad Ibrahim Efendi, Muhammad Mahfuz, Shaykh Mustafa al-Ghar, Shaykh Mustafa al-Hariri, Hasan Hilmi
His work
1286 AH (1869-70) · McGill University Library, Rare Books and Special Collections, Montreal
Photo: Wikimedia Commons, public domain
dated 128x AH (1860s); the last digit is hard to read · McGill University Library, Rare Books and Special Collections, Montreal
Photo: Wikimedia Commons, public domain
These are the works in open collections that can be attributed with certainty.
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: c. 1830 - c. 1900, father Ibrahim Efendi Mu'nis, teaching posts, Asyut inscription, Shafaq Nur cenotaph, Dala'il 1277/1860, al-Mizan al-ma'luf 1285/1868, students ar.wikipedia.org
- Rosa al-Yusuf: 'chief of Egyptian calligraphers', government schools 1285 AH, al-Mizan al-ma'luf, Dala'il 1277, students incl. Muhammad Ja'far and Hasan Hilmi, death around 1290 AH daily.rosaelyoussef.com
- TDV: Sayyid Ibrahim improved his thuluth and naskh from Muhammad Mu'nis Zadeh's writings islamansiklopedisi.org.tr
- Wikidata item (no dates) wikidata.org
- Commons/McGill records naming 'Munis zadah, Muhammad, calligrapher' (4 sheets) commons.wikimedia.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).