Waleed al-A'dhami
1930–2004 · Baghdad
Walid Abd al-Karim al-A'zami was born in the al-A'zamiyya quarter of Baghdad. Arabic Wikipedia gives 1930 (1348 AH); Wikidata gives 1939. He is best known as an Islamic poet and writer, but he was also a trained calligrapher and the main historian of Baghdad's modern calligraphers. He learned composition from the Turkish calligrapher Majid al-Zuhdi and spent twenty years close to Hashim al-Baghdadi. He later received ijazas from Muhammad Tahir al-Kurdi, the scribe of the Mecca Qur'an, from the Egyptian master Muhammad Ibrahim, and from Amin al-Bukhari, calligrapher of the Kaaba cover. For twenty years he worked as a calligrapher and proofreader at the Iraqi Academy of Sciences, and the Ministry of Awqaf used him as an expert on Qur'an copies. He was a founding member of the Iraqi Calligraphers Association. His biographical books on calligraphers, including Tarajim khattati Baghdad al-mu'asirin (1977) and Jamharat al-khattatin al-Baghdadiyyin (1989), remain standard references. He died in Baghdad in February 2004 and was buried in the Khayzuran cemetery.
Achievements
- Learned composition from the Turkish calligrapher Majid al-Zuhdi and kept company with Hashim al-Baghdadi for twenty years.
- Received ijazas from Muhammad Tahir al-Kurdi, scribe of the Mecca Qur'an, from the Egyptian Muhammad Ibrahim, and from Amin al-Bukhari, calligrapher of the Kaaba cover.
- Founding member of the Iraqi Calligraphers Association.
- Worked for twenty years as calligrapher and proofreader at the Iraqi Academy of Sciences; adviser on Qur'an copies to the Ministry of Awqaf.
- Wrote Tarajim khattati Baghdad al-mu'asirin (1977), Hijrat al-khattatin al-Baghdadiyyin (1989) and Jamharat al-khattatin al-Baghdadiyyin (1989).
Taught by: Majid al-Zuhdi, Hashem al-Baghdadi, Muhammad Tahir al-Kurdi, Sayyid Ibrahim, Amin al-Bukhari
His work
His calligraphy is still under copyright (he died after 1975), so no works are shown. No freely licensed photograph of him is on Commons; the photos on Arabic Wikipedia are local non-free files.
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: birth 1930, calligraphy teachers and ijazas, posts, books, death February 2004 ar.wikipedia.org
- Wikidata: gives birth 1939 (disagrees) wikidata.org
- Al-Sharekh archive: his articles in Arabic periodicals archive.alsharekh.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).