Sayyid Ibrahim
1897–1994 · Cairo
Sayyid Ibrahim was born in the Citadel quarter of Cairo in 1897. He first learned writing from local shaykhs, then studied thuluth and naskh with Muhammad Wahbi Efendi, learned diwani from a Turkish master, Husni Efendi, and studied the written models of Muhammad Mu'nis Zadeh. He taught at the Royal School for the Improvement of Scripts from 1935 to 1979, at Dar al-'Ulum from 1937 to 1959 and at the American University in Cairo in the 1970s. He wrote the inscriptions of several mosques, among them the Fuli mosque in Minya, and the mastheads of many Egyptian papers, including al-Ahram. He published school copybooks for Egypt and Sudan and the book Fann al-khatt al-'Arabi. He was also a poet and took part in the Apollo literary group. His students called him the dean of Arabic calligraphy; Hashim al-Baghdadi was among them. He died in January 1994, and IRCICA named its fifth calligraphy competition (2001) after him.
Achievements
- Taught at the Royal School for the Improvement of Scripts (Tahsin al-Khutut) from 1935 to 1979.
- Taught calligraphy at Dar al-'Ulum (1937-1959) and at the American University in Cairo (1970-1977).
- Published Khatt al-naskh (Sudan, 1942), Khatt al-riq'a (1954) and Fann al-khatt al-'Arabi (1963).
- Wrote inscriptions for mosques including the Fuli mosque in Minya (1930) and a mosque in Bangalore, India (1960).
- Wrote mastheads for Egyptian papers and magazines, among them al-Ahram and al-Musawwar.
- IRCICA dedicated its 5th international calligraphy competition (2001) to him.
Taught by: Shaykh Faraj and Shaykh Abd al-Hafiz, Shaykh Mustafa al-Ghar, Muhammad Wahbi Efendi, Husni Efendi, Turkish, Abd al-Ghani Ajjur, Aziz al-Rifa'i, models of Muhammad Mu'nis Zadeh and Muhammad Ja'far
Taught: Hashem al-Baghdadi, Muhammad Sharifi, Muhammad Siyam
His work
Died in 1994: the works are still protected by copyright, so we show them only with the permission of those who hold the rights.
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: birth Aug 1897 al-Qal'a, teachers, mosques, mastheads, teaching posts, books, death 21 Jan 1994 / 28 Rajab 1414, Bibliotheca Alexandrina book ar.wikipedia.org
- TDV Islam Ansiklopedisi (M. Hüsrev Subaşı): teachers, scripts, teaching years, books with dates, inscriptions with dates, students, death 9 Jan 1994 islamansiklopedisi.org.tr
- Wikidata: 1897-08 / 1994-01-21 wikidata.org
- IRCICA: 5th competition (2001) dedicated to Sayyid Ibrahim (1897-1994) arts.ircica.org
- Bibliotheca Alexandrina: 2015 lecture on the book 'Sirat al-'Amid: Sayyid Ibrahim' bibalex.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).