'Chief of Calligraphers' Hasan Çelebi bids farewell to his final journey

Canan İLARSLAN – Emir Efe BENLİOĞLU/ISTANBUL,(DHA)-

Creation Date: February 25, 2025 16:48

Hasan Çelebi, whose signature is on calligraphy exhibited in many mosques around the world and known as the 'Chief of Calligraphers' and winner of the Presidential Culture and Arts Grand Award, has passed away at the age of 88. Çelebi's funeral prayer was held today after the noon prayer at the Büyük Çamlıca Mosque in Üsküdar, whose calligraphy was written by Hasan Çelebi, and then he was buried in the Calligraphers' Hall in Karacaahmet Cemetery. The funeral was attended by Çelebi's family and relatives, as well as Istanbul Governor Davut Gül, Former Minister of Health Fahrettin Koca, Deputy Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Ibn Haldun University Bilal Erdoğan and Çelebi's loved ones.

'OUR TEACHER WAS GIVING US GUIDANCE WITH THE STATEMENTS HE MADE'

Hanifi Dursun, a student of Çelebi, said, "We have lost our teacher. Our teacher's place is irreplaceable. We can only imitate our teacher's writings. Therefore, I cannot find anything else to say about him. He is also a good educator in the art of calligraphy. He was giving us direction in his statements. He was setting us goals. We will continue to walk on our teacher's path in line with our goals. I am both a calligrapher and an academician. May God have mercy on him for educating us as a great educator. May he rest in peace."

'HOCA WAS SOMEONE WHO EDUCATED STUDENTS IN EVERY COUNTRY IN THE WORLD'

Another student of Çelebi, Ahmet Polat, said, "I have been a student of my teacher for 15 years. Today is a sad day, may Allah have mercy on him. My condolences to the Islamic community. We say Islamic community because the teacher was someone who trained students in every country in the world. He was someone who worked in Medina for years and wrote articles. He was someone who had students on four continents. His illness lasted for 2 weeks. Then, with his death, we came to this point. We say may Allah have mercy on him. He was a person who loved the Prophet. He made great efforts for the Islamic world. He glorified the Quran, and Allah glorified him."

WHO IS HASAN CELEBI ?

He learned to read at a young age through his own efforts and became interested in calligraphy. He went to Istanbul in 1954 and took Arabic and religious lessons. He worked as a muezzin and imam in Üsküdar from 1956. He received calligraphy training from Halim Özyazıcı and Hamit Aytaç. He received the sülüs and nesih icazet from Hamit Aytaç in 1975, and the ta'lik and rik'a icazet from Kemal Batanay in 1981. He carried out restoration work in the Atik Ali Pasha Mosque in 1960 and in the Sultanahmet Mosque in 1974. He opened his first exhibition in 1982 at the Islamic History, Art and Culture Research Center and worked in Saudi Arabia and other countries. He has taught calligraphy since 1976. He has trained more than 50 artists. He has improved the scripts in the restoration of some monumental mosques. The dome inscriptions of the Sultanahmet Mosque and the dome inscription of the Hırka-i Şerif Mosque are among his most important works. Çelebi was awarded the Presidential Culture and Arts Grand Award in 2011 and was presented with the award by President Erdoğan. (DHA)