MishkÃn-Qalam
Mishkin - Qalam (Arabic مشكن قلم ) was the honorary title of leading Iranian calligrapher Mirza Husayn- i- Isfahani (* 1826 in Shiraz, Iran, † 1912 in Bahji at Acre, Palestine, Ottoman Empire). He was also a prominent Bahai and one of the 19 Apostles of Baha'u'llah.
Life
Early years
Mirza Husayn- i-Isfahani, who dominated every calligraphy style, engraved around the age of 25 years, a picture of the first minister of the Shah in the back of a paper sheet. This Naser ad -Din Shah was aware of Mirza Husayn- i- Isfahánis calligraphic talents and appointed him tutor of the Crown Prince. It is said that the Shah himself the calligrapher Mishkin - Qalam, the title was what musk fragrant or pitch- black spring means. During a short leave of absence from the court of the Shah, Mishkin - Qalam drove, who was a dervish, to Isfahan, where he met a Baha'i and then took to the faith. He did not return to the court of the Shah back, but went to Edirne and there came into the presence of Baha'u'llah. From this time on, his life was dedicated entirely to the Bahai faith and signed his calligraphy with " The servant at the gate Bahá, Mishkin Qalam ". He wrote, among other things, you settle glory of the All-Glorious, in various forms the Greatest Name, Yá Bahá'u'l - Abha, O and sent everywhere these calligraphy. One of these forms was the default icon of the Bahai faith. Some time later, Mishkin - Qalam came to pass, apparently on the orders of Baha'u'llah, in the nearby Istanbul, where he made a number of calligraphy for the Ottoman Sultan Abdulaziz. Unfortunately, he had in the Persian ambassador at the court of an enemy, who betrayed him and made sure that Mishkin - Qalam was set finally caught by virtue of belonging to the group of Baha'is in 1867.
Cyprus
When Baha'u'llah was sent in 1868 with his entourage exiled to Acre, Mishkin - Qalam was deported at the same time along with three other followers of Baha'u'llah in the wake of Subh -i - Azal to Famagusta in Cyprus. Despite his imprisonment, he could operate his calligraphy. As 1878 Cyprus was under British sovereignty, sought Mishkin - Qalam to order release from Cypriot captivity, but had to wait due to bureaucratic hurdles until September 1886. That month he went by ship to Acre to Baha'u'llah.
Last years
In Acre, he taught the art of beautiful writing and produced calligraphic copies of many Baha'i writings on. A copy of the Hidden Words in the handwriting of calligraphers was published in Germany. In Acre Mishkin - Qalam also learned Orientalists Edward Granville Browne know who has the calligrapher and the meeting with him in the integrated report his stay in Acre. After the death of Bahá'u'lláh in 1892 Mishkin - Qalam traveled to Egypt, Damascus and India. In India, he participated also at the first publications of the Baha'i religion in that country. There, too, he made calligraphy. As Abdul- Baha heard that the calligrapher was old and weak, he asked him to come back in 1905 to Acre. A description Mishkin - Qalams in old age can be found in the novel " The Mountain of God" by Ethel Stefana Stevens, later Lady Drower.
One of the last services that Mishkin - Qalam assisted the Bahai faith, was the design of the ornate inscriptions on the marble sarcophagus, which the Baha'is of Myanmar had donated for the remains of the Bab. Many calligraphy are in Baha'i archives, will be exhibited in Bahai centers or are in private ownership of Baha'is throughout the world. Some pieces are even known museums such as the pictorial representation of a molded letters cock, which is located in M. Sackler Museum at Harvard University. Mishkin - Qalam lived until his death in Bahji north of Acre.