Naji Zain al-Din al-Masraf
1901–1986 · Baghdad
Naji Zain al-Din al-Masraf was born in Baghdad in 1901 (1319 AH) into the al-Masraf family, a Baghdad house that traced its descent to the Shaqaqi family of Anah. Part of his youth was spent in Sulaymaniyah, where his father served as an officer in the Ottoman army. He studied at the Ottoman Sultaniye school and then at the engineering school in Baghdad, and he made his living as an engineer: he drew a map of Baghdad and worked for the municipalities of Mosul, Hilla, Kirkuk and Basra. Alongside this career he became one of Iraq's chief writers on calligraphy. His Musawwar al-khatt al-'Arabi, a large illustrated volume on the history and forms of the script, was published by the Iraqi Academy of Sciences in 1968, and he also wrote Bada'i' al-khatt al-'Arabi and a thuluth copybook following Mahmud Celaleddin. Arabic Wikipedia also credits him with a multi-volume encyclopaedia of Arabic calligraphy. He died in Baghdad in 1986 (1406 AH). His son was the writer and editor Hilal Naji.
Achievements
- Wrote Musawwar al-khatt al-'Arabi, a large illustrated survey of Arabic calligraphy, published in Baghdad by the Iraqi Academy of Sciences in 1968 (reissued by the Ministry of Information, 1972).
- Wrote Bada'i' al-khatt al-'Arabi.
- Prepared a copybook for practising thuluth in the manner of the Ottoman calligrapher Mahmud Celaleddin.
- Worked as a municipal engineer in Mosul, Hilla, Kirkuk and Basra and drew a map of Baghdad.
His work
His calligraphy is still under copyright (he died after 1975), so no works are shown. No freely licensed photograph of him was found on Commons.
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: dates, family, schooling, engineering posts, books ar.wikipedia.org
- Urdu Wikipedia: same dates and books ur.wikipedia.org
- Ohio State University library guide: Musawwar al-khatt al-'Arabi, Baghdad, Iraqi Academy 1968; 1972 edition guides.osu.edu
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).