JMEWS: Journal of Middle East Women's Studies, Wntr, 2010, Vol.6(1), p.75(28) [Peer Reviewed Journal]

A modern master of Islamic calligraphy and her peters Author(s): David Simonowitz Source: JMEWS: Journal of Middle East Women's Studies. 6.1 (Winter 2010): p75. Document Type: Article Abstract: 

In the Islamic world, an important body of biographical material traces the chains of transmission of calligraphic instruction over many centuries. Although there is comparatively little documentation on women who have practiced calligraphy, scattered references do mention female masters. Nevertheless, one can rarely associate a female master with an extant piece of calligraphy. This article provides an introduction to the person and work of Hilal Kazan, a Turkish female master calligrapher who holds traditional authorizations to practice. Such authorizations accord a prestige that has few parallels in Western societies. Kazan is, in a sense, a living national treasure. The study situates Kazan and other Muslim women in a genealogical tree of master calligraphers. It suggests furthermore that some of these women are akin to religious scholars. Finally, the study demonstrates that there is room for women to advance in this traditional Islamic discipline and that further research is merited.

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Much research has been conducted on Islamic calligraphy, (1) yet the history of women calligraphers has been largely neglected. Evidence suggests, however, that it was not entirely uncommon for women to practice calligraphy. Indeed, the Prophet Muhammad reportedly encouraged women to practice and teach writing (Schimmel 1984, 46). Scattered references indicate that women practiced Islamic calligraphy from the earliest, formative periods of the art (Ibn al-Nadim [d. 995] 1988, 10; Kahhala 1977, 3:6), and in certain well-to-do strata of some Muslim societies, training in calligraphy appears to have been a component of women's education at home in pre- and early modern times. Of the female calligraphers for whom we do find references, a considerable number were involved with the religious sciences and education in one form another (Kahhala 1977,3:181-2; Bewley 2004, 8). In fact, brief accounts of female masters exist; occasionally they also taught men, including some who became masters themselves. Although the circumstances of their practice were possibly a bit different, these women were not necessarily marginal calligraphers. The sparing references to female calligraphers in pre- and early modern biographical sources may reflect the hesitance of male authors in traditional Middle Eastern societies to draw attention to women and their histories. These accounts do not appear to be accurate indicators of the extent to which women practiced this discipline, however. Modern scholars of calligraphy have begun to include more references to women in their research, yet most of these discussions remain brief due to the dearth of relevant historical sources. Focused studies on the topic are rare.

At present there is a movement to encourage women to practice calligraphy in a number of Muslim societies; nevertheless, studies on the subject of modern female calligraphers have not been forthcoming. The present essay focuses on the person and practice of Hilal Kazan, a Turkish female master of traditional Islamic calligraphy, and it cursorily discusses a few of her

contemporaries. It is the author's hope that this will serve as a point of departure for further discussions of modern women calligraphers and provide a brief yet relatively developed account that may be of use to future researchers. In addition, the article elucidates some of the culture of the practice of traditional Islamic calligraphy in general and in the late Ottoman Empire and Turkey in particular. That culture, especially as far as it concerns women, is examined from a slightly unconventional perspective. Like many of their male peers, it is argued, some of these "women of the pen" were, and are, not simply artists or scribes, but in certain respects the virtual equivalent of (religious) scholars.

STUDIES ON ISLAMIC CALLIGRAPHY

Researchers have explored diverse subjects related to calligraphy over the course of the twentieth century. Abbott's (1939) seminal work represented one of the first systematic attempts to trace the development of the early Arabic alphabet. More recently, Deroche (1992; 1997; 2006) carried out in-depth studies of the development and refinement of early Qur'anic scripts. Other scholars, including Ettinghausen (1974) and Dodd and Khairallah (1981), weighed in on issues of legibility and meaning. Al-Munajjid (1972; 2002) devoted much of a prolific career to the study of Arabic paleography and calligraphy and editing manuscripts. Soucek (1979) sought to identify and name various scripts and hands. In his seminal study of ornamentation in the Islamic world, Grabar (1992) ascribed particular importance to writing as a medium. Tabbaa (1999; 2001) speculated on the extent to which calligraphic forms evolved in response to political and doctrinal factors. And Bierman (1998) documented the practice of public texts in specific historical and doctrinal contexts. Roxburgh (1999; 2003) has explored the historiography of calligraphy and the book arts in the late medieval and early modern periods. Soudavar (2006) has examined the development of a number of exceptional chancery practices in the Persian and Turko-Mongol milieu. Stanley (2006) has analyzed the historiography of calligraphy in the Ottoman and Turkish context. And Derman (1998) has devoted a lifetime to documenting the practice of calligraphy in the Ottoman Empire and Turkey from the perspective of a practicing, classically trained calligrapher. Among her many works on the arts of writing in Islam, Blair (2006) has carried out what is perhaps the most ambitious study on calligraphy to date. Despite numerous invaluable references to women calligraphers, Blair acknowledges that her massive tome does not provide a separate, focused discussion of the subject, observing that "Islamic calligraphy is traditionally a man's art" (xxxii).

The catalogue for a recent major exhibition at the British Museum (Porter 2006) includes examples of work by a number of modern female (and male) artists who employ Arabic words and script in their work, but few of these women (or men) are classically trained calligraphers. Rather, many of these individuals are heirs of the Hurufiyya, an artistic movement of the postwar period that emphasized Arabic letters--often in very basic, elemental forms--as an original, indigenous source of inspiration for modern Middle Eastern art (Porter 2006, 15-16). (2) One of the few monographs in English devoted specifically to traditional female calligraphers is a very brief article by al-Munajjid (1995) comprising various disparate references. Nevertheless, it constitutes a meritorious, preliminary attempt to address the issue. Although the above-mentioned scholars, and others, have made inestimably important contributions to the study of Islamic calligraphy, a major monograph devoted entirely to the subject of women in the practice of the art would be a welcome addition to the literature.

ISLAMIC CALLIGRAPHY AND THE RELIGIOUS SCIENCES

In Islam, calligraphy (Ar., khatt, Tur., hat) is usually regarded as the highest form of visual culture. This is due in part to the fact that it has long been one of the primary means of preserving and transmitting the literal, revealed word of God, as Muslims understand the Qur'an. One may consider it a visual counterpart to the oral and aural arts of Qur'anic recitation, such as tilava, tajvid, and tartil, and the concomitant practice of memorization or hifz. Discouragement of figurative imagery, especially in ritual spaces and contexts, also contributed to the primacy of the written word in many Muslim societies.

Islamic calligraphy in its most traditional form is akin to the religious sciences. The authoritative method of training entails a sustained pedagogical relationship in which a master practitioner imparts knowledge and skill to a student or disciple, usually over a period of years for each script that the student intends to learn. Once the master deems the student proficient, he or she may grant an authorization (Ar., ijaza, Tur., icazet), which permits the student to sign a work of calligraphy and sign the master's name as well.

Over the centuries that Islamic calligraphy developed, this traditional method of education, whether entailing instruction on a one-to-one basis or from a master to a group of students, engendered an elaborate genealogical system that traces the lines of authoritative transmission of calligraphic instruction. These genealogical trees serve much the same purpose that such records do in the mystic traditions and especially in the more mainstream Islamic religious sciences such as tafsir (Qur'anic commentry), hadith (the utterances and deeds of the Prophet), fiqh (jurisprudence), etc. Furthermore, genres of literature evolved that document these genealogies. Such texts are similar in many regards to works of the tabagat (generations) and kutub al-rijal (books of [distinguished] men, "who was who") genres. In other words, they provide biographic entries, often arranged in isnads or silsilas, that is, chains, which record the pedigree (nisba) of men who have been recognized for their prowess in calligraphy. Comparatively rare in the major treatises and histories of calligraphy are entries for female calligraphers.

I stress the similarities between the exercise of traditional calligraphy and the practice of the so-called "orthodox" religious sciences such as hadith, tafsir, and figh--the purview of the ulema or religious scholars--as opposed to evoking the relationship between calligraphy and Sufism, the mystical mode of Islam. The mystical dimensions of calligraphy and the historical associations of many calligraphers with various Sufi orders have been well documented (Schimmel 1984; 1992; Khatibi and Sijelmassi 1996). Nevertheless, this has clouded the understanding of the full dimension of calligraphy and its importance in Islamic art, history, and society. In describing spiritual creativity and visual transcendence, many Western scholars have overlooked the rigor and the "orthopractic" dimension of traditional Islamic calligraphy.

FEMALE CALLIGRAPHERS OF THE LATER OTTOMAN EMPIRE

Although accounts of female calligraphers are rare for the premodern period, slightly more evidence exists for the modern period of the Ottoman Empire, during which a comparatively rich and well-documented tradition of calligraphic biography developed. It is this period which will briefly concern us as a prelude to discussing a modern Turkish master.

Mustakimzade (d. 1788/89), the noted eighteenth-century historian of Ottoman calligraphy, includes documentation on ten women in his account (Safwat 2000, 14). A later female master whose life and work are partially documented is Esma lbret Hanim (b. 1780). Various modern sources note that Sultan Selim III honored her for her calligraphy when she was 15 years old, and she later began to study with the renowned master Mahmud Celaleddin Efendi, whom she subsequently married (Rado 1984, 200-1; Derman 1998, 108; Safwat 2000, 16; Taskale and Gunduz 2006, 143). In 1850, another female calligrapher, Fatma Mevhibe Hamm, transcribed a striking hilya (a description of the Prophet) as her second ijaza, which is now preserved in the Topkapi Library. This remarkable piece contains the signatures and authorizations of two of her masters, Mustafa Vasif Efendi (d. 1852) and the revered Kazasker Mustafa izzet Efendi (1801-1876). Among the most enigmatic and talented of Ottoman female calligraphers was Emine Servet Hamm. In Son Hattatlar (The last calligraphers), an important mid-twentieth-century work of Turkish calligraphic historiography, final (1955) includes an enlightening biographical entry on her, noting that the divorced, childless calligrapher considered her nine hilyas her equivalent of offspring. In fact, it was one of these hilyas which served as her ijaza in AH 1291 (c. 1874 CE). This superb work bears the authorizations of no less than four great masters and is now held in a private collection (Tabrizi 2000, 347-52). And there are other Ottoman female calligraphers.

Abundant evidence on the subject is lacking, but it appears that at least certain educated women practiced calligraphy in the provinces of the Ottoman Empire as well as in the capital. Hafiza Khatun (d. 1830), who transmitted hadith and memorized the Qur'an, reportedly excelled in the thuluth and naskh scripts (al-A'azami 1989, 2:627). Al-Hafiza Saliha al-Nagshali (d. 1877), too, was a calligrapher-scholar apparently revered in Baghdad. Not only had she studied calligraphy with one of the undisputed masters of the city, but she held diplomas in jurisprudence, hadith sciences, and the principles of the faith from yet another great scholar. Reportedly, among her calligraphic masterpieces was a Qur'an, each page of which consisted of ten lines--three lines of thuluth script, four lines of naskh below, and finally three more lines of thuluth. This Qur'an was sumptuously illuminated in pure gold and lapis lazuli enamel and was at one time listed as part of an endowment (al-A'azami 1989, 2:678-9). Its current whereabouts are, unfortunately, unknown to this author.

That many of the female calligraphers were recognized for their piety and knowledge in the religious sciences, and not solely as artists, should not come entirely as a surprise. Calligraphy aside, women have at times been explicitly credited in canonical sources for maintenance of some of the most formal Islamic textual traditions, a fact that has often escaped Western scholarship (Geissinger 2005, 153). And the calligrapher-scholars I have cited were evidently proficient in the preservation and transmission of the content as well as the form of sacred texts. In part, this could result naturally from the study and practice of corollary disciplines, although it would not necessarily be recognized without some form of institutional sanction, especially formal acknowledgment by members of the ulema--or, in the visual domain, by master calligraphers. As to the important, indeed vital, role that women played in the religious sciences, and especially in the transmission and teaching of hadith, recent Islamic feminist scholarship is re-evaluating and highlighting the oft-overlooked contributions of women to the very foundations of the corpus of this fundamental religious/legal science (Shaikh 2004). My intention here is not to make broad, revisionist generalizations or to imply seamless continuity of

practices from the formative period of Islam to the modern, but rather to suggest that the situation for women scholars, and especially for scholar-calligraphers, may have been more complex than the meager sources would indicate. More texture may eventually appear in certain texts when read under the microscope of new methods and disciplines.

FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC

The Ottoman Empire was abolished in 1923, and in 1928 the new Republic of Turkey under Mustafa Kemal replaced the Arabic alphabet with a modified Roman alphabet for writing modern Turkish (Lewis 1999, 34-7). Many of the institutions for the traditional transmission of calligraphic skills and knowledge were ordered closed in this period. Paradoxically, Arabic calligraphy did not die out. In fact, the community of calligraphers, some of whom were in fact affiliated with mystical orders that were also in precarious positions, continued to practice somewhat clandestinely. These calligraphers resurfaced when the state no longer deemed their practice a threat to the processes of "modernization" that secularizing Turkey was encouraging. They eventually reasserted themselves and the authenticity of their art. Today, Turkish calligraphers in the Arabic script are regarded as technical masters throughout the Islamic world, despite the fact that their own national language is written in another alphabet.

It should not come as a surprise that various cultural traditions and social practices of the late Ottoman Empire persisted in the Turkish Republic in one form or another, or were revived to a certain extent. It has been argued that 1923 and the Kemalist period should not necessarily be regarded as a point of rupture between the traditional and the modern, but rather as the "beginning of the end" of a long process of modernization that began in 1839 with the Tanzimat reforms (Kahraman 2007,19-20).

Traditional Islamic calligraphy is not in the relatively precarious position that it was following the script reform of 1928, yet it would be a gross error to suggest that calligraphy dominates the visual arts in Turkey today. Many artists practice more abstract, contemporary forms of art, and to varying degrees they enjoy critical popularity and measured financial success. Already before the establishment of the Republic, however, artists were familiar with Western European modes and technologies of representation, from painting to photography. Even Osman Hamdi, the first director of the Ottoman Imperial Museum, had studied with the French Orientalist painter Jean-Leon Gerome. Hamdi was not only technically proficient in the pictorial idiom of the day, but he portrayed his subjects in a more sympathetic light, subtly subverting many of the conventions of his Orientalist master (Shaw 1999, 424). In the early years of the Republic, a number of artisans adopted and transformed various Western arts, media, and symbols, including alphabets. One of the remarkable practitioners of the letter arts was the late Emin Barm, a master of bookbinding, typography, graphic design, and calligraphy in both the Roman and the Arabic alphabets. Some of the foremost traditional Islamic calligraphers and illuminators of the twentieth century held Barin in great esteem and joined weekly gatherings at his studio in Istanbul, although a few were less than ecstatic about his graphic and calligraphic fusions (Ozpalabiyiklar 2002, 20). He produced both traditional and innovative works in the Kufic and diwani scripts, and he used these traditional calligraphic hands to inspire bold graphic compositions in the Roman alphabet, and vice versa. In unifying two distinct yet dialogic cultural impulses in his art and in his person, Barin perhaps embodied a certain phase of republican Turkish identity and modernity.

Much of the modern art promoted in Turkey in recent years would not seem out of place to patrons in Western cultural centers. The Istanbul Biennial has gradually become a major international showcase of conceptual art. And one of the newer museums in Turkey, the Istanbul Modern, has organized critically acclaimed exhibitions of foreign as well as Turkish contemporary artists. Numerous private galleries in Istanbul, Ankara, and some of the provincial capitals exhibit figurative painting, sculpture, mixed media, installations, and a host of other genres and compositions that dialogue with Western concepts of modern and contemporary art. While many Turkish artists, both male and female, paint or sculpt according to somewhat older Western academic conventions or local folkloric modes, others create highly conceptual pieces infused with social and political themes. More than a few modern artists nevertheless struggle with identity issues in their work and seek to create hybrid visual idioms that speak to contemporary aesthetics and social politics using traditional Islamic symbols. Some evoke the Arabic script, combine it with the Roman alphabet, or overtly "quote" elements of Ottoman Islamic calligraphy in their paintings or in mixed media. It is perilous to generalize about the motivations of these artists. Many embrace the cultural environment and politics of the Turkish Republic, although others have a more ambivalent attitude about the 1928 script reform and the loss of certain Ottoman cultural conventions (Platt 2003, 34). These artists will as readily express trepidation about the rise of Islamist political parties and their impact on modern Turkish society and culture. (Indeed, in the 1990s, a resurgent, evolved iconography of Ataturk and the State proliferated at the popular level in Turkey. Rather than fine art, this was a commercialized figurative imagery marketed to appeal to those anxious about the future of secular nationalism [ozyurek 2006, 124]). As for the Arabic alphabet and traditional Islamic calligraphy, one encounters divergent and sometimes contradictory practices and applications in Turkey--as in many Muslim societies. Gradual changes in the political and cultural climate that have paralleled the rise of the justice and Development Party (AKP) have not been adequately addressed here, but we can say that they have fostered an environment that welcomes more traditional Islamic arts--not to mention sartorial practices and other social conventions. Such factors however are not sufficient to explain the continued practice of traditional Islamic calligraphy in Turkey.

HILAL KAZAN: TRADITIONAL AND MODERN

Master calligrapher Hilal Kazan was born in Istanbul, Turkey, and currently resides in Kartal, one of the distant suburbs of the city. (3) She first began to study calligraphy with a female instructor by the name of Musharraf Celebi (1915-2007). Some of Musharraf Celebi's calligraphic work, such as a prayer uttered before reading the Qur'an, was fine enough to merit lithographic reproduction. For a number of reasons, including the fact that her instructor's health was deteriorating, Hilal stopped studying with Musharraf Celebi (Kazan 2007). (4) In 1994 Hilal began training in the thuluth and naskh styles of calligraphy with the renowned Turkish master Hasan Celebi who was born in Erzerum in 1937, and is of no relation to Musharraf Celebi. Hasan Celebi is known for, among other things, his restoration of inscriptions in the Prophet's Mosque in Medina in 1983 (Rado 1984, 276). To evoke again the relationship between calligraphy and the Islamic sciences, it is worth noting that Hasan Celebi memorized the Qur'an, studied in a theological school, and was eventually appointed imam at a mosque in Istanbul (Ulker 1987, 97). In turn, Celebi's master was the late Hamid Aytac al-Amidi (1891-1982), who has been referred to as "the last Ottoman calligrapher" (Taskale and Gunduz 2006, 251). In fact, calligraphers in many parts of the Islamic world regarded Hamid al-Amidi as a living bridge

between Ottoman and modern Turkish calligraphy (al-Jalaf 2001). Therefore, Hilal Kazan can trace the lineage of her instruction back through Hasan Celebi and Hamid al-Amidi to major Ottoman Turkish calligraphers such as Hafiz Osman (1642-1698) and the so-called "Qibla of Calligraphers," Seyh Hamdullah (1429-1520). Traditional calligraphers are very conscious of their places in the chains of authoritative calligraphic transmission.

In Istanbul, in the summer of 2007, Hilal led the author to the tombs of prominent calligraphers in the famous Eyup Cemetery and to the graves of Seyh Hamdullah, Hamid al-Amidi, and others in the giant Karacaahmet Cemetery in Uskudar. There she pointed out the calligraphy that Hasan Celebi had executed on one side of the tombstone of his master. It is not unusual that a master calligrapher should take a researcher on calligraphy to a cemetery. Ottoman headstones and epitaphs contain(ed) invaluable biographical information and were occasionally the only record to distinguish an individual or preserve a memory of her/his profession or social standing (Eldem 2007, 240). In fact, a number of the most important biographers of calligraphers in the late Ottoman Empire relied on tombstones to complete their chronicles (Stanley 2006, 99, 102). Furthermore, epitaphs served as tangible elements in the genealogical chains that I contend are of such importance in calligraphy in the Ottoman Empire, and in other intellectual and religious domains of various early modern Muslim societies. Eldem (2007, 252) provides evidence of at least one early nineteenth-century individual who, though not a calligrapher himself, made provisions for a belabored epitaph that indicated that he was the son of the son of someone who was the nephew of a calligrapher. This may further underscore the standing of at least some calligraphers at a time when posthumous social climbing could be accomplished by recording links to nobility and other distinguished members of society in increasingly complex epitaphs. To some extent, it would appear that the late Ottoman concern for genealogy endures among practitioners of traditional Islamic calligraphy in modern Turkey.

Hilal was granted ijazas in the thuluth and naskh scripts by Hasan Celebi in 2000 at a formal diploma-awarding ceremony held at the International Research Center for Islamic Culture and Arts (IRCICA) in Istanbul. With her ijazas, Hilal is authorized to sign her own works of calligraphy and include her master's name. However, it is not uncommon for a calligrapher to include with his or her signature the names of multiple masters in the chain of transmission going back several generations.

Hasan Celebi has trained some 500 male students of whom 48 have earned ijazas. He has also trained approximately 300 female students. Only three have earned an ijaza. Ayten Tiryaki was the first, Hilal Kazan was the second, and Nalan Kutsal the third. Celebi has stated that women are usually too busy to study calligraphy as they have more domestic responsibilities than men, but he is not opposed to training them (Celebi 2007). Domestic responsibilities notwithstanding, many female calligraphers are quite proficient, and they are gradually acquiring more recognition for their talents. Hilal Kazan and her female peers should not be regarded as anomalies. IRCICA, a relatively conservative institution known for its promotion of traditional Islamic calligraphy and arts, made a concerted, explicit effort to encourage female calligraphers in the seventh cycle of its international contest (IRCICA 2007). Women from various countries had already earned recognition in previous cycles of the competition. In the fifth cycle, for example, an Iranian, Tahire Khorasani, earned a special mention for her composition in nasta'liq,

one of the preferred scripts in her homeland, and five other women from Turkey, Morocco, Japan, Korea, and the Netherlands earned honorable mentions as well (IRCICA 2002, 91, 100-1).

Hilal Kazan's case merits special attention for a number of reasons. In addition to holding ijazas in two scripts, she holds a Ph.D. in the history of Islamic art from Marmara University as of 2007. She is therefore one of the few women in the world--if not the only one--to hold a calligraphy ijaza and a Ph.D. in a related field. So Hilal could also be considered the product of a more secular, Western-style education system; nevertheless, she consciously studies the history of art as part of an Islamic cultural framework. Furthermore, in her special interest in Ottoman chancery practices, calligraphy, and calligraphers, she sustains a somewhat self-reflexive attention to the art and to her masters and peers, a characteristic of the Ottoman tradition of calligraphic history, if we follow Stanley's (2006) presentation of it. In sum, she is a modern as well as traditional scholar-calligrapher.

Hilal's work has been part of group calligraphy exhibitions organized in Turkey, Tunisia, the United Arab Emirates, Italy, and elsewhere. She was also one of six of Celebi's students to participate with him in a 2005 exhibition at the British Museum titled "Making of the Master: The Art of Arabic Calligraphy." In this exhibition the document of Hilal's ijaza was displayed with those of other students of Hasan Celebi. The ijaza as a document of authorization is akin to a diploma and is sometimes also called an ijazatnameh or an izinnameh among other names (Tabrizi 1999, 1). It is a demonstration of the calligrapher's skill, frequently in two or more styles. The master granting the ijaza signs his name to a section appended below the student's work along with the student's name and certain formulae, thereby transforming the exercise into a document. A second master usually adds his or her name as well. Others may also sign their names to further endorse and praise the work of the student-cum-newly-authorized master. Ultimately, the ijaza authorizes the calligrapher to sign his name with the phrase katabahu (Ar., [he] wrote it) or her name with the phrase katabathu (Ar., [she] wrote it). The text and format of the ijaza can vary considerably, ranging from a gita'a (a small composition, usually in one or two scripts) consisting of Qur'anic verses, hadith, or prayers, to a large composition such as a hilya (the description of the Prophet Muhammad--often based on an account by his cousin and son-in-law 'Ali b. Abi Talib). The historical, educational, and cultural significance of the ijaza cannot be overemphasized. Jan Just Witkam asserts that "the ijaza is an important source for the history of scholarly and cultural networks and gives the details by which an entire cultural environment can be reconstructed" (1995, 135). Although Witkam is dealing primarily with two types of ijazas as they pertain to the Arabic manuscript tradition, the assertion is relevant and valid here as well.

With Hasan Celebi's approval, Hilal Kazan chose to write al-asma' al-husna, the so-called 99 names of God, for her ijaza. In this composition, she calligraphed each epithet in the naskh script, what one may describe as the "workhorse" of Arabic calligraphy. It is the script now most commonly used for transcribing the Qur'an, and variants of it are used in printing most books in languages that use Arabic type-faces and fonts. At the head of the composition she placed a large basmala, the phrase b'ism Allah al-rahman al-rahim (Ar., in the name of God the Merciful, the Beneficent). This part, however, she rendered in the thuluth script, a large cursive script that is generally considered the most elegant and exalted. Between the basmala and the names of God, Hilal inscribed the phrase huwa Allah alladhi la ilaha illa huwa (Ar., He is God, [other than] who [m], there is no god but He). Finally, she rendered each name diagonally in gilded cloud frames.

Unfortunately, Hilal was unable to provide a reproducible image of her ijaza at the time the author was writing this article.

Hilal did provide the author with images of various other compositions, including another rendition of the 99 names. She laid out this composition in a slightly different manner (Figure 1). In this case it is headed by the name Allah and the invocation jalla jalalahu in the thuluth script within an illuminated roundel. Below the roundel she has inscribed a fine basmala in the naskh script and the same phrase that appears below the basmala of her ijaza, namely, huwa Allah alladhi la ilaha illa huwa. The epithets of God are inscribed diagonally in the naskh script in limpid square frames. Of particular interest is the small rectangular frame at the bottom which contains the phrase katabathu Hilal, ghafaraha, 22 (Ar., Hilal, may [God] forgive her, wrote it, [in the year of the Hijra 14]22).

Hilal's rendering of Qur'an 2:255 on a red background is also worth examining closely for various reasons (Figure 2). Here she initiates the composition with a well-proportioned basmala in naskh script. The seven lines of the verse itself are in the same script. (Hilal has written a number of the diacritical and other marks in red ink.) At the bottom, one can see a different formula for the signature. Hilal has included the requisite katabathu Hilal, and appended tilmidha Celebi ([female] student of Celebi). This is an excellent illustration of the significance of according an ijaza. As mentioned above, Hilal Kazan is authorized to sign not only her name, but also that of a world-renowned master of Islamic calligraphy whose lineage extends back centuries. Whereas the master sees and approves a disciple's ijaza by affixing his name, he may see very few of his former student's future works that bear his name. This bestows a great degree of authority on the calligrapher signing her name and that of her master. Conversely, this system assures to some degree that the master will train his students thoroughly before granting them permission to sign his name on their works along with their own. It should be noticed that the conclusion of the signature reads ghafara dhunubahuma (Ar., may [God] forgive both of them their sins). Hilal uses the formula again at the bottom of another composition based on the same verse but headed with a large basmala in the thuluth script.

An illuminating example of her work consists of the first two pages of the Qur'an, which include Sura al-Fatiha in its entirety of seven verses, counting the basmala, and the first page and verses of Sura al-Bagara (Figure 3). These two pages are commonly singled out for supplemental illumination in many copies of the Qur'an and in numerous modern printed editions and referred to as a serlevha. Although a calligrapher commencing an entire copy of the mushaf (i.e., the manuscript of the Qur'an) would commonly have the first two pages specially illuminated, Hilal may have calligraphed no more than these two pages to constitute a discrete composition. This is likely considering that she has signed the bottom of the second page (on the left). However, the signature here is quite different from those on the other pieces of calligraphy thus far examined. Here she has limited herself to discreetly signing her name and including the date, AH 1425. Again, she has employed the naskh script throughout, from the sura headings on a gold background to the verses themselves punctuated by small gold rosettes.

Although Hilal has some familiarity with the techniques of tadhhib or illumination, she is not an illuminator, and all the works discussed and/ or illustrated in this article have been decorated by specialists in the art of tadhhib. To those unfamiliar with Islamic calligraphy, it is often the

illumination that catches their attention. The calligraphy is of primary importance, however; the illumination is subordinate, so to speak, and executed after and around the calligraphy.

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Hilal's recent piece consisting of the names of the prophet Muhammad is an original composition (Figure 4). Initially, it appears similar in format to her renditions of the 99 names of God, which are inscribed in squares, arranged ten-by-ten, with a final invocation in the hundredth box. The names of the Prophet, however, are inscribed in squares in a nine-by-twelve format. The first eleven lines bear the names, which are grouped in a manner that, among other things, clusters names derived from similar triliteral Arabic roots together. Thus, there is visual and phonetic rhythm to the piece. In the twelfth row are the last few epithets and a signature formula similar to those discussed earlier, except that it is rendered phrase-by-phrase in the succession of remaining squares. The name Muhammad and the phrase 'alayhi al-salam (Ar., peace be upon him) are written in large thuluth script in the roundel at the top.

The final rendition of the names of God to be discussed here is similar in layout to that used on Hilal's ijaza, although the illumination and authorizing elements at the foot of the page are considerably less elaborate (Figure 5). The piece is especially worth examining for the fine basmala in thuluth script at the top and the phrase huwa Allah alladhi la ilaha illa huwa below it.

[FIGURE 4 OMITTED]

Hilal Kazan accepted the author's invitation to come to California to give a series of lectures and demonstrations, and during the month of January 2008 she made presentations at the University of California, Santa Barbara; the University of California, Los Angeles; and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. In her various presentations on calligraphy, Hilal devoted comparatively more time to discussing her exercises than to discussing her completed compositions, including those that had been published. Many calligraphers in fact discuss their exercises since they are useful examples of the process of instruction. They serve as records of their masters' corrections (usually in red) and comments on their work. And this allows them to display the faithfulness of their calligraphy to the master's example. A comment that appeared occasionally on the exercises she presented during her demonstrations is the Arabic word ahsanti (Ar., you [f.] have done well). Although Hilal did not discuss this fact or the broader meaning and significance of the word, it is in fact the very same expression uttered by instructors of Qur'anic recitation to their pupils when they excel. Thus we come full circle again to parallels between Islamic calligraphy and the textual religious sciences. What is additionally noteworthy, for the purposes of this article, is that in Hilal's work, this word is conjugated in the second-person feminine, naturally, rather than in the more common second-person masculine.

In sum, these examples give a sense of Hilal Kazan's mastery of the naskh and thuluth scripts and her ability to employ them in traditional compositions. She too is an authorized master of

calligraphy who can and does train others in the art. Hilal inscribes herself in each calligraphic act into a documented genealogical record that extends back centuries to the great Ottoman master Seyh Hamdullah--and beyond. Like her master, Hilal Kazan is in effect a living national treasure of modern Turkey. As mentioned above, she is not the sole female student of Hasan Celebi, and her female colleagues Ayten Tiryaki and Nalan Kutsal are also links in the multiplying chains of transmission.

One special point that distinguishes Hilal from her peers is that she is a left-handed calligrapher. As traditional Islamic calligraphers accord great importance to following the examples of previous masters, and to deriving inspiration from them, it is not surprising that Hilal holds the great left-handed master Mehmed Es'ad Yesari Efendi (d. 1798) in special esteem. Despite total paralysis on his right side and tremors on his left, this Ottoman calligrapher was responsible for important refinements in the art (Derman 1998, 100). Hilal, for her part, wears a prosthetic right arm and has therefore learned to execute her calligraphy with her left hand. Incidentally, the practice of Islamic calligraphy with the left hand, as opposed to the right, is not necessarily the hindrance that it tends to be in writing the Roman alphabet. As the Arabic script is written from right to left, the left-handed calligrapher pulls rather than pushes the reed pen. This can reduce the incidence of smearing the ink, aid in regulating the pressure applied to the reed pen, and thus accord greater control, although it does create other factors with which to contend.

[FIGURE 5 OMITTED]

Hilal herself now has at least one female student (Figure 6). And the American master Mohamed Zakariya, who, like Hilal, holds ijazas from Hasan Celebi and is thus her peer, has taught a number of women including Elinor Aishah Holland in the United States, Nuria Garcia Masip of Spain, and Deniz Oktem Bektas of the Netherlands (Kazan 2008). (5) These women constitute links in another branch of this school, and they too form part of a new generation of female master calligraphers. Thus far, this study has only examined one school of calligraphy, and in a very cursory manner at that. In Turkey alone there are other female calligraphers, and one must not overlook women in the field in other countries, some of whom are also training with Turkish masters. Two noteworthy female calligraphers of Iraqi origin who have studied with masters from Turkey (and from other countries) are the sisters Farah and Janna 'Adnan Ahmad 'Izzat. Both hold ijazas from Hamid al-Amidi, the same Turkish master mentioned above who has been called "the last Ottoman calligrapher" and who taught Hasan Celebi, Hilal Kazan's master. Janna, the younger of the sisters, is distinguished for her rare ability to execute calligraphy with both hands--simultaneously (al-Jaburi 2001, 2:96). (The sisters must have obtained their diplomas from Hamid al-Amidi when very young, as the older of the two was born in 1962 and the younger in 1965, and al-Amidi died in 1982.) In a sense, these two women are distant, foreign "cousins" of Hilal Kazan.

Hilal's master, Hasan Celebi, has trained students from Syria, Kuwait, and other Arab countries, Iran, the United States, and Japan, to name only a few. And again, there are other Turkish masters who teach. Turkey now enjoys a rather paradoxical distinction as the center of traditional Islamic calligraphic instruction. For example, the Emirati calligraphic journal Huruf Arabiyya devoted a special issue in 2002 to the subject of Auda al-itqan al-'Uthmani (The return of Ottoman perfection). This focused on the creative ferment in modern Istanbul and in particular on the work of Turkish male calligraphers M. Ugur Derman, Mehmed and Osman OzCay, and the female illuminators Fatma CiCek Derman and Fatma OzCay (al-Jalaf 2002). On this last point, incidentally, women appear to have enjoyed more recognition in the field of illumination or tadhhib than in calligraphy properly speaking. In fact, Ayten Tiryaki, one of the three women to earn ijazas from Hasan Celebi, and who is first and foremost a calligrapher, is also an accomplished illuminator (Kazan 2008). (6) Ironically, a recent novel by Yasmine Ghata, La Nuit des calligraphes (2004), emphasizes the calligraphic talents of the celebrated female illuminator Rikkat Kunt (1903-1986) who, along with Muhsin Demironat (1907-1983), was largely responsible for the initiation of a new movement in book ornamentation.

[FIGURE 6 OMITTED]

CONCLUSION

Now it is not a matter of acknowledging the existence of female calligraphers but rather one of recognizing the growing number of modern female masters of the traditional art, and documenting their places in the complex genealogies of transmission. (7) In premodern times, fewer women than men practiced calligraphy, and even fewer were publicly or officially recognized as master calligraphers, per se. This still holds true today. The scarcity of entries in traditional biographical sources may be partly due to the reticence of male authors in pre- and early modern Middle Eastern societies to publicly focus their attention on women. Nevertheless, what evidence we do have strongly suggests that women were far more active practitioners of calligraphy than of the other major Islamic art, namely architecture. And calligraphy is arguably the foremost of the arts in Islam, owing to its utility in the transmission and preservation of scripture and other religious texts. Some Muslim scholars are re-examining religious sources and concluding that, at least in some cases, the shortage of references to women must not necessarily lead to the conclusion that Islam proscribed women's participation in these and corollary disciplines. Calligraphy can be considered such a corollary and even a complement to a religious science. (8) As de facto, if not official, masters of an "orthopractic" discipline, women calligraphers have nonetheless contributed to the maintenance of authoritative textual form as well as content, albeit less frequently and less publicly than men. They now do so more and more frequently. There thus appear to be grounds to emphasize the normality of female calligraphers, if not the commonness. And if not, then between the encouragement of women like Hilal Kazan to study and participate in international competitions at the highest levels, on the one hand, and the growing academic awareness of their current successes in the field, on the other, it seems likely that this will soon come to pass.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I wish to express my gratitude to Diane James for her patient assistance and to the two anonymous reviewers who generously gave of their time to read and critique the initial submission of this article. Their input and remarks greatly improved the paper, despite the fact that I have been unable to incorporate all of their suggestions. All responsibility for any errors or inaccuracies is mine, of course. For all their encouragement and/or support in different stages of this project, I would like to thank Linda Komaroff and her assistants at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art; Irene Bierman of the Art History Department and Susan Slyomovics and the staff of the Center for Near Eastern Studies at the University of California, Los Angeles; and Eileen Boris of the Feminist Studies Department, Nancy Gallagher of the History Department, Laurie Monahan, Bob Ortega, Peter Sturman, Miriam Wattles, Richard Wittman, and Fikret Yegiil of the Department of the History of Art and Architecture, and Holly Unruh and the staff of the Interdisciplinary Humanities Center at the University of California, Santa Barbara. My apologies to anyone I may have neglected to mention.

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NOTES

(1.) One of the most complex and problematic subfields of Islamic visual culture is the study of calligraphy in the Arabic alphabet and its multiple scripts. Indeed, there is no consensus on the proper term for this field. It is commonly called Arabic calligraphy, as the characters are usually all derived from those in the Arabic alphabet; however, the term is misleading as calligraphic works in many languages other than Arabic are also produced using the same characters. The more commonly accepted scholarly term is Islamic calligraphy, although this too can be misleading as many important examples of calligraphic work in this alphabet are of a profane nature; nevertheless, this is the preferable designation at present.

(2.) This Hurufiyya should not be confused with the medieval sectarian movement of the same name.

(3.) Because she signs her calligraphy "Hilal," I will refer to her by her first name in the article rather than by her last name.

(4.) A calligraphed gravestone marks the burial plot of Musharraf Celebi's family in Eyup Cemetery in Istanbul.

(5.) Some of these calligraphers have apparently also studied with Hasan Celebi and other masters as well.

(6.) Tiryaki is specifically described as a muzakhrifa (Ar., [f.] decorator) rather than as a khattata (Ar., [f.] calligrapher) or even as a mudhahhiba (Ar., [f.] illuminator) in a caption to a photograph of her in 'Allan 2007, 35. For an example of Tiryaki's calligraphic work, see the full-page muthenna (Ar., doubled, twofold, [or here] mirrored) composition in Huruf Arabiyya 2:5-6 (January 2002): 21. Unfortunately, the composition is unaccompanied by a caption, but one can clearly read at the bottom of the piece, katabathu al-faqira Ayten Tiryaki 1418.

(7.) Some of the recent interest in (re)writing women into certain histories of Islam, Muslim societies, and Islamic art may partly reflect Western opinions about what Islam is, or "should be," but it is inaccurate to characterize all the scholarship as motivated by such opinions.

(8.) Nevertheless, one should not construe that it is only a religious science and therefore exclusively the purview of recognized authorities, or even of pious practitioners. There are, as mentioned earlier, many profane applications of calligraphy in Arabic scripts, and many non-Muslims use the script and practice calligraphy as well.

Simonowitz, David

Source Citation Simonowitz, David. "A modern master of Islamic calligraphy and her peters." JMEWS: Journal of Middle East Women's Studies 6.1 (2010): 75+. Academic OneFile. Web. 13 Oct. 2011.Document URLhttp://go.galegroup.com.vlib.interchange.at/ps/i.do?&id=GALE%7CA216848058&v=2.1&u=wash89460&it=r&p=AONE&sw=w