Khalifa Al Shimi

Khalifa Al Shimi is an Egyptian calligrapher and painter who has lived in Sharjah, United Arab Emirates, since 1976. He writes classical Arabic calligraphy, chiefly Thuluth, and makes hurufiyya paintings. These are acrylic and ink works on rough-textured canvas, in which lines of text are layered, partly erased and partly revealed.

Al Shimi calls these works the hidden text: part of the text is concealed so that the viewer takes part in reading the work. His project Sada al-Kalam (2005 to 2011) set verses by al-Mutanabbi and al-Ma'arri on painted panels. In Ibtihalat (2011), he wrote Sufi supplications, lines from al-Busiri's Burda, quatrains of Omar Khayyam in Arabic and sayings of Imam al-Shafi'i in Thuluth. He showed an Ibtihalat exhibition of 26 works at the Arab Cultural Club in Sharjah in 2022.

Al Shimi studied calligraphy in Turkey for two years and holds ijazas, the traditional licences to teach. His teachers included the Turkish calligrapher Hasan Çelebi. He has written Qur'anic inscriptions for mosques in Sharjah, including Al Noor. He also designed lettering for the facades of the American University of Sharjah and the University of Sharjah. He taught at both universities and has worked as a designer and artist at the Sharjah Department of Culture. He is a founding member of the Emirates Fine Arts Society. His awards include prizes from the society and from Islamic arts festivals, and the Burda award. The Sharjah Calligraphy Forum named him one of its three honourees in 2026.