(b Baghdad, 1917; d Baghdad, 1973). Iraqi calligrapher. He studied in Baghdad with Mulla `Arif and then served an apprenticeship with Mulla Muhammad `Ali al-Fadli (d 1948), who awarded him a calligraphy diploma in 1943. In 1944 he continued his studies in Cairo, where he was taught by Sayyid Ibrahim and Muhammad Husni at the Royal Institute of Calligraphy and received further awards. After returning to Baghdad, in 1946 he published a textbook on the riqa` style of calligraphy (see ISLAMIC ART, §III, 2(iii)(c)). He visited Turkey on several occasions and found favour with the Turkish calligrapher Hamid Aytaç of Istanbul, who awarded him diplomas in 1950 and 1952. In 1960 he was appointed lecturer in Arabic calligraphy at the Institute of Fine Arts in Baghdad and later became the head of the department of Arabic calligraphy and Islamic decoration. Hashem followed the classical Baghdad style of Yaqut al-Musta`simi and combined it with features from the Ottoman school of calligraphy. He was among the best calligraphers of the thuluth style. The other scripts he favoured were naskh, nasta`liq, diwani, ijaza and muhaqqaq. He supervised the printing of a manuscript of the Koran by the Turkish calligrapher Muhammad Amin al-Rushdi, reilluminating missing letters, and adding other details. This Koran was published in Baghdad in 1951, and a second edition was published in Germany in 1966, for the supervision of which Hashem stayed in the country for three years. In 1961 he published an edition of his work (‘The methods of Arab calligraphy’) in Baghdad. His calligraphy adorns various buildings in Iraq, including al-Shahid Mosque, the mosque of Sheikh `Abd al-Qadir al-Gilani, the Haydarkhana Mosque, the Muradiyya Mosque and the Bunia Mosque. He also designed Iraqi bank notes and coins for Morocco, Libya and Sudan. Although he planned to transcribe a copy of the Koran, he died before the project was completed. A statue of him was erected in his honour in al-Fadl quarter, Baghdad. He awarded only one diploma during his life, to his student Abdul Ghani al-Ani (b 1937).

• Hashem Muhammad al-Baghdadi
  • Iraq