Hasan Çelebi

Grand master Hasan Çelebi was born in Erzurum, a city in the east of Turkey, in 1937. In 1956, the Department of Religious Affairs assigned him to work as the deputy muezzin (the caller to prayer) at the Üsküdar Mihrimah Sultan Mosque. Until his retirement in 1986, he continued to work as an imam at several mosques, including the Üsküdar Nasuhi Mosque, the Artvin Yusufeli Mosque, the Üsküdar Sultantepe Şeyhülislam Mehmed Zahid Mosque, the Şeyh Devati Mosque, and the Selami Ali Mosque.

Hasan Çelebi and his teacher Hamid Aytac Bey followed the great Ottoman masters of calligraphy Hafiz Osman and Mustafa Rakim, adding their own contributions and advances. Çelebi has further added his own personal developments, giving the style a new quality. Occasionally, in order to maintain the symmetrical harmony and balance of a composition, Çelebi writes some letters in reverse. This technique is usually reserved for entire compositions that are written forward and in reverse. Precedents for Çelebi's technique can be seen in Sefik Bey's inscriptions in the Bursa Ulu Cami (mosque).

The transparency of Çelebi’s ink on the paper reflects the production of the letters in a single stroke. One can also see in this transparency Çelebi's expertise in the control of the pen and his success in producing simple, clean letters with little need for tashih (retouching).

Hasan Çelebi has been practicing Islamic calligraphy for more than forty years. He is an exceptional figure who has formed a bridge between the past form of this art and the calligraphy world of today. In modern times, he is one of the very few calligraphy grand masters guiding others to live this great tradition.