Vesal Shirazi
1782–1846 · Shiraz
Muhammad Shafi' of Shiraz, called Mirza Kuchak and known by his pen name Vesal, was born in Shiraz in 1197/1782; TDV gives 1192 or 1193. He lost his father as an infant and was raised by relatives. His uncle Mirza Abd Allah, who earned his living copying the Qur'an, taught him to write, and Reed College notes he had no other master. He joined the Sufi circle of Mirza Abu'l-Qasim Sokut, who gave him the name Vesal. Vesal also lived by his pen, copying Qur'ans and prayers, and his dated calligraphy runs from 1817 to 1844. He wrote every current script, but naskh was his best, firm and graceful; there are also works in nastaliq, shikasta and red riqa' translations. He was skilled at illumination too, and gave Fath-Ali Shah a Qur'an written in seven scripts and decorated by himself. A major poet of the Qajar revival, he died in Shiraz in 1262/1846 and was buried at the Shah Cheragh shrine. Fath-Ali Hijab was his best pupil.
Achievements
- The leading naskh writer of Qajar Shiraz; he also wrote nastaliq, shikasta and riqa'.
- Presented to Fath-Ali Shah a Qur'an he had written in seven scripts and bound and illuminated himself, and was granted a yearly pension.
- Lived by copying Qur'ans and prayers; his dated works run from 1817 to 1844.
- A major poet of the 'return' (bazgasht) movement, with a divan of some 30,000 verses.
- Teacher of the nastaliq master Fath-Ali Hijab and father of six poet-calligrapher sons.
Taught by: Mirza Abd Allah
Taught: Fath-Ali Hijab Shirazi, his sons, among them Davari and Vaqar
His work
1842 (1258 AH) · Library of Congress, Washington
Photo: Wikimedia Commons, public domain
early to mid 19th century · Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (1979.518.6)
Photo: Wikimedia Commons, CC0
1839 · Golestan Palace Library, Tehran (No. 882)
Photo: Wikimedia Commons, public domain
1252 AH (1836) · National Library of Iran, Tehran
Photo: Wikimedia Commons, public domain
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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 Naskh piece the store makes: Naskh collection.
Sources
- TDV (Rıza Kurtuluş, 2013): born 1192/93 Shiraz, Mirza Kuchak, uncle taught writing, Sokut, illumination, seven-script Qur'an for Fath-Ali Shah and pension, d. 1262/1846, six children islamansiklopedisi.org.tr
- Reed College anthology: born 1782 Shiraz, only master his uncle Mirza Abd Allah, best pupil Fath-Ali Hejab, naskh and nastaliq, works 1817-1844, d. 1845, Shah Cheragh reed.edu
- Persian Wikipedia: 1197-1262 AH, scripts naskh/nastaliq/shikasta, best in naskh, divan of ~30,000 verses, six sons fa.wikipedia.org
- English Wikipedia: 1782-1845, bazgasht poet en.wikipedia.org
- Commons category of his works commons.wikimedia.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).