Mehmed Abdülaziz Rifâî (Hattat Aziz Efendi)
1872–1934 · Istanbul
Mehmed Abdülaziz, known as Hattat Aziz Efendi, was born in Maçka near Trabzon in 1872 and came to Istanbul with his family during the war of 1877–78. He studied thuluth and naskh with Filibeli Ârif Efendi and ta'lik with Hasan Hüsnü Efendi (diploma 1894), took a diploma from Ârif and Muhsinzâde Abdullah Hamdi in 1896, and learned jali at Sâmi Efendi's house. He worked as a clerk in the office of the Şeyhülislam and taught calligraphy; in 1910 he became a deputy of the Rifâî shaykh Kenan Rifâî and later signed as al-Rifâî. In 1922 King Fuad I invited him to Cairo, where he copied a Qur'an for the king in six months. He stayed to run Cairo's royal calligraphy schools for about eleven years, training Muhammad Tahir al-Kurdi, Muhammad Ali al-Makkawi and others. He returned to Istanbul in 1933 and died there in 1934.
Achievements
- Invited by King Fuad I in 1922, copied a Qur'an for him in Cairo in six months under al-Azhar scholars' review.
- Founded and directed Cairo's royal calligraphy schools in 1922–23 and taught there for about eleven years.
- Gave diplomas to calligraphers who led 20th-century Arab calligraphy, such as Muhammad Tahir al-Kurdi and Muhammad Ali al-Makkawi.
- Copied twelve Qur'ans and seven large hilyes in several scripts (TDV).
- 116 of his panels are in the Museum of Turkish and Islamic Arts, Istanbul; two hang in the Great Mosque of Bursa.
- Published more than twenty exercise albums (meşk) in Cairo.
Taught by: Filibeli Hacı Ârif Efendi, Muhsinzâde Abdullah Hamdi Bey, Karinâbâdlı Hasan Hüsnü Efendi, Sami Efendi
Taught: Muhammad Tahir al-Kurdi, Muhammad Ali al-Makkawi, Muhammad al-Shahhat, Muhammad Ahmad Abd al-Al, Rizq Musa, Muhammad Abd al-Qadir Abd Allah, Abd al-Raziq Salim, ʿAbd al-Rahman Khwarazmi, Mahmut Bedrettin Yazır, Ömer Vasfi
His work
1924–1925 · collection not stated
Photo: Wikimedia Commons, public domain
before 1934 · reproduced in Muhittin Serin's monograph
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
- TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi, 'AZİZ EFENDİ, Rifâî': life 1872–1934, teachers, Cairo schools, Fuad Qur'an, students, works islamansiklopedisi.org.tr
- English Wikipedia: 1871 – 16 August 1934, 11 Qur'ans, Bursa panels en.wikipedia.org
- Turkish Wikipedia: life, Cairo, Fuad Qur'an location claim tr.wikipedia.org
- Arabic Wikipedia: Arabic name form, scripts mastered, students ar.wikipedia.org
- Wikidata item wikidata.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).