The £407,000 Al-Hakim Palace — Sacred Fortune in a Forgotten Calligrapher’s Qur’anic Chamber

Al-Hakim Palace preserved an indoor Qur’anic chamber devoted to sacred transcription and scholarly assessment. Within these walls, £407,000 existed as fortune—secured through commissioned manuscripts, calligraphy instruction, and endowments—now sacred yet frozen in quietude.

Scrolls, Pens, and Documented Fortune

Mustafa ibn Rashid Al-Hakim, master calligrapher and Qur’anic scribe, was born in 1858 in Cairo.

Married to Fatima Al-Hakim, father of three sons, his presence survives in objects: finely trimmed reed pens engraved with his full legal name, inkstones with residues of indigo and soot, bound treatises of classical calligraphy, bundles of correspondence with mosque patrons, and a ledger meticulously recording fortune associated with each manuscript. His daily regimen followed ritualized hours—preparation of ink at dawn, transcription of verses by mid-morning, ledger notation by lamplight—revealing a temperament contemplative, meticulous, and devout.

Colonial Policies and Artisan Marginalization

By 1912, colonial reforms disrupted traditional commissions, redirecting patronage to state printing presses. Manuscript orders dwindled; pigment imports became restricted. The chamber preserves this halt: scrolls unrolled yet untouched, gilding incomplete, ledger entries ending mid-year. Some manuscripts may have been distributed quietly; most remain aligned and documented, their fortune recorded yet unrealized.

A final notation beneath the ledger’s last entry reads: “Retain fortune until new commissions arrive.” Commissions never came. Al-Hakim Palace stands abandoned indoors, its calligrapher’s Qur’anic chamber intact, its scrolls aligned, and its sacred fortune suspended between devotion and silence.