MOST ERUDITE SCHOLAR AND CALLIGRAPHER

MUHAMMAD TAHIR KURDI AL-MAKKI AL-SHAFI’I

A CALLIGRAPHER OF THE QUR’AN

by

A. W. ABU SULAIMAN

Abstract

Muhammad Tahir Kurdi was a learned scholar, and a calligrapher of the Glorious Qur’an. He was a scholar of encyclopedic dimensions with diversified fields of interest. He was born in the year 1321 AH, in the Holy city of Makkah, attended al-Falah school and graduated in the year 1339 AH.

In the year 1340 AH, his father took him to Azhar in Cairo to study. There he studied  religious sciences as well as Arabic Calligraphy and related sciences like painting, decoration and gilding. This was in the Royal School for Improving Arabic Calligraphy.

His greatest pride is that he wrote the ‘Mushaf Makkah’, and a great achievement it is ideed. He crowned his services to the Glorious Qur’an with numerous scholastic works which he single- handedly achieved. His works portray him as: a mufassir, faqih (jurist), adib (man of letters), mu’arrikh (historian), khattat (calligrapher) and rassam (painter).

It is well known that the Glorious Qur’an was transmitted down to us, the Muslim nation, through tawatur. It is not an ordinary book that can be copied by all and sundry. No one dares copy it except one who is qualified and fit psychologically, with sound knowledge of the different Qur’anic sciences. Only a scholar who is competent and possesses of all the necessary prerequisites can be bold enough to embark on such a sacred and noble work.

All prerequisites were found in the Sheikh Muhammad Tahir Kurdi al-Makki. This is evident in his methodology in copying the Glorious Qur’an which he provided as a supplement to the copy of the Mushaf he prepared.

As additional steps to perfect his methodology, he included explanations of the  terminologies used in the dabt.

The specialized committee made up of qurra’ from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and Egypt, and from various scholarly institutions in both these countries, which scrutinized ‘the Mushaf Makkah’ also benefitted from the methodology devised by Shaikh Kurdi. His copy of the Mushaf proved the fact the Qur’an is a miracle not only in its words but also in its orthography.

Sheikh Muhammad Tahir al-Kurdi al-Makki practiced his artistic gift and his knowledge of rasm in copying the Glorious Qur’an. He knew that some features of the rasm could prove where the mushaf was copied. Thus, he left behind an everlasting work which has rendered his name also everlasting as it is connected to the Glorious Book of Allah.

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