Sufyan al-Wahbi
d. 1850 · Baghdad
Sufyan al-Wahbi was a calligrapher of Ottoman Baghdad; the year of his birth is not recorded. He trained under Darwish Nu'man al-Dhaka'i and became a master in his own right, teaching many pupils, including his son Ahmad and several men who became leading scholars of the city: the mufti Abu al-Thana' al-Alusi, the mufti Abd al-Ghani Al Jamil, Muhammad Amin al-Wa'iz, Isa al-Bandaniji and Ahmad al-Qaymaqchi. He took great care over the quality of his hand, was skilled in decoration, and wrote panels in pure gold and enamel. Among his surviving works are a copy of al-Tuhfa al-ithna 'ashariyya in the Qadiriyya library and a Qur'an in the Central Waqf Library in Baghdad (No. 2660), whose colophon names him as one of the mamluks of the governor Sulayman Pasha. He also wrote panels on the walls of the mosques of Shaykh Umar al-Suhrawardi and al-Ahmadiyya. He died in 1267 AH (1850-51) and was buried in the Ahmadiyya mosque.
Achievements
- One of the leading calligraphers of Baghdad in his day and teacher of a generation of its scholars, among them the mufti Abu al-Thana' al-Alusi.
- Copied a Qur'an now in the Central Waqf Library in Baghdad (No. 2660), signing himself one of the mamluks of the governor Sulayman Pasha.
- Wrote panels in pure gold and enamel, and inscriptions in the mosques of Shaykh Umar al-Suhrawardi and al-Ahmadiyya in Baghdad.
Taught by: Darwish Nu'man al-Dhaka'i
Taught: Ahmad al-Wahbi, Abu al-Thana' al-Alusi, Abd al-Ghani Al Jamil, Muhammad Amin al-Wa'iz, Isa al-Bandaniji, Ahmad al-Qaymaqchi
His work
No open-licence photograph of his Qur'an, manuscripts or mosque panels was found on Commons.
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
- Arabic Wikipedia: teacher al-Dhaka'i, students, gold and enamel panels, Tuhfa manuscript, Qur'an Waqf Library 2660 with colophon, Suhrawardi and Ahmadiyya mosques, d. 1267 AH/1850, buried Ahmadiyya ar.wikipedia.org
- Marefa (mirror of the Arabic Wikipedia text) marefa.org
- Wikidata: d. 1850 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).