Muhammad Sa'id al-Sakkar
1934–2014 · al-Miqdadiyah & Paris
Muhammad Sa'id al-Sakkar (in French, Mohammed Saïd Saggar) was born in al-Miqdadiyah in Diyala province in 1934; English Wikipedia gives 25 April. He grew up in Basra, a city that stayed present in both his poems and his letter paintings. From 1955 he worked for newspapers and magazines as editor, calligrapher and designer. In 1978 he went into exile in France and set up a publishing house in Paris, working in his own studio. He is best known among calligraphers for the 'Saggar alphabet', a reduced system of Arabic letter shapes he devised around the early 1970s so that Arabic could be set by the new electronic machines; Arabic Wikipedia credits it with opening the way for early Arabic computer typesetting. His letter paintings, rather than classical panels, made his name as an artist. He also wrote poetry and more than fourteen books, among them a calligraphy primer for children. The Institut du monde arabe honoured him at eighty in March 2014, and he died in Paris on 23 March 2014.
Achievements
- Worked in the press as editor, calligrapher and designer from 1955.
- Devised the 'Saggar alphabet' (al-abjadiyya al-murakkaza), a reduced set of Arabic letterforms for early electronic typesetting.
- Ran his own publishing house in Paris from 1978.
- Received the Architectural Heritage award for his murals for the Mecca Gate.
- Honoured by the Institut du monde arabe in Paris on 17 March 2014 for his eightieth birthday.
- Wrote a calligraphy primer for young learners, al-Khatt al-'Arabi li-l-nashi'a.
His work
He died in 2014, so his calligraphy is still under copyright and no works can be shown.
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: birth date, career, awards, alphabet en.wikipedia.org
- Arabic Wikipedia: life, alphabet, IMA tribute, books ar.wikipedia.org
- Asharq Al-Awsat on the IMA tribute (cited by Arabic Wikipedia) aawsat.com
- Le Delarge artist dictionary entry ledelarge.fr
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).