Salah Shirzad
1948– · Kirkuk
Salah al-Din Shirzad was born in Kirkuk, Iraq, on 6 September 1948 and moved to Baghdad in 1966 to study at the university, where he took a degree in arts. Alongside his studies he learned calligraphy from Abd al-Ghani al-Ani and then from Hashim al-Baghdadi until the master's death in 1973. In 1977 he was sent to Germany to oversee a printing of the Qur'an in Muhammad Amin al-Rushdi's hand. From 1978 he studied in Istanbul, where he completed his training with Hamid Aytaç and received his ijaza, studied illumination and miniature, and later earned a doctorate in Islamic art history at Istanbul University. He was a founder of the Iraqi Calligraphers Association. Living in Sharjah from 1986 to 2009, he worked for the UAE education ministry, lectured at the University of Sharjah and was managing editor of the journal Huroof Arabiya. He later taught at Fatih Sultan Mehmet University in Istanbul from 2014 to 2021. He is known for free compositions that leave the usual circle and rectangle behind, and has trained many students, several to the ijaza.
Achievements
- Received his ijaza from Hamid Aytaç in Istanbul after studying with Abd al-Ghani al-Ani and Hashim al-Baghdadi.
- Supervised the printing in Germany (1977) of the Qur'an in the hand of Muhammad Amin al-Rushdi.
- Founding member of the Iraqi Calligraphers Association (1974) and of the calligraphy group of the Emirates Fine Arts Society.
- Managing editor of the Dubai journal Huroof Arabiya from 2000 to 2003; taught at the University of Sharjah and at Fatih Sultan Mehmet University, Istanbul (2014-2021).
- Wrote Khatt al-thuluth (King Abdulaziz University); known for free compositions that break with fixed frames.
Taught by: Abd al-Ghani al-Ani, Hashem al-Baghdadi, Hamid Aytaç
Taught: Muhammad Isa Khalfan, Abd al-Ilah Abu Jaysh, Ibrahim al-Jurayshi, Saad al-Rawi, Taha Al Bustani, Fatima al-Baqqali
His work
He is living, so his calligraphy is protected by copyright and no works are shown.
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: full biography, teachers, students, posts, books, memberships ar.wikipedia.org
- Ketebe artist page: birth, teachers, ijaza from Hamid Aytaç, posts ketebe.org
- Wikidata: founder of the Iraqi Calligraphers Association, 1974 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).