Mouneer Al-Shaarani ( منير الشعراني) (1952) is a Syrian graphic artist specialized in Arabic calligraphy. Al-Shaarani is known as calligrapher, graphic designer and writer about Arabic calligraphy and Arab Islamic art. He has designed several Arabic typefaces for book covers or other graphic creations. His work has been exhibited in several Arab countries, Malaysia, Europe, Australia and the United States and is internationally present in collections of contemporary Arabic art. Between 1985 and 2007, he lived and worked in Cairo, Egypt, and later returned to live in Damascus.
From the age of 10, Al-Shaarani studied the art of Arabic calligraphy under the Syrian calligrapher Muḥammad Badawi Al-Dirany, and until his graduation in 1977, he studied Fine Arts at Damascus University.
Based on his command of traditional Arabic calligraphy, Al-Shaarani has been using historical calligraphic styles, such as Kairouan Kufic, Square Kufic, Thuluth or Maghrebi script, and at the same time, developed and modernized the shapes of drawing Arabic letters and typeface design according to his personal, modern style. Choosing his texts both from Islamic, as well as from Christian religious sources, but mainly from Arab philosophers or Sufi poets, such as Ibn Arabi, Al-Mutanabbi, or Ibn Sina, he conveys non-religious, but universal messages. An example is this quote from the Lebanese-American poet Khalil Gibran "The whole earth is my homeland and the human family my clan."
Apart from historical quotes, he sometimes also expresses his own contemporary messages, such as in his work entitled There is no creativity where there is no freedom and in his graphic images starting with the message NO TO... "No to killing, no to prison, no to intimidation, no to humiliation, no to hypocrisy, no to oppression, no to violence, no to fear, no to falsehood, no to terrorism, no to corruption."
Another important aspect of Al-Shaarani's artistic work is his view that "Arabic calligraphy has nothing to do with religion. It is the result of a civilization and not a religion. Religion benefited from calligraphy and not the other way round. The development of Arabic script was not initiated by religion, but by the state of the Umayyads. Second, calligraphy is an art. It has no finality or climax. The Arabic script has no “sacred” status for me."
In 2016, digital media platform Mashable published several of Al-Shaarani's graphic works, expressing his artistic statements about his war-torn country, including comments on his poetic and philosophical messages.
In the 2020 historical overview A History of Arab Graphic Design by Egyptian art historians Bahia Shehab and Haytham Nawar, Al-Shaarani is credited for his invention of new Arabic calligraphic styles and his calligraphic work for book covers, logos, and typeface design. In 2023, Lebanese writer Huda Smitshuijzen AbiFarès co-published a monograph both in Arabic and English titled Mouneer Al-Shaarani, Against the Grain: Exploring the Scope of the Arabic Letter. Apart from chapters about his personal creations developing Arabic calligraphy into a modern graphic art, the book features several of his book covers and information on his political engagement.
Al-Shaarani's graphic art has been featured in Arabic and international news media and exhibited in several Arab countries, Malaysia, Europe, Australia and the United States.
© 2026. All content on this blog is protected by international copyright laws All images are copyrighted © by Mouneer Al-Shaarani or assignee. Apart from fair dealing for the purpose of private study, research, criticism or review as permitted under the Copyright Act, the use of any image from this site is prohibited unless prior written permission is obtained. All images used for illustrative purposes only
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| Mouneer Al-Shaarani |
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| Al-Hamdu lillah (Praise be to Allah), 1981 |
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| The Light of My Eye: Mercedes-Benz SLR Gargash Limited Edition, 2004 |
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| Untitled, 2004 |
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| Untitled, 2007 |
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| Sham is the mirror of my soul, 2008 |
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| The prophetic ornament, 2008 |
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| My Nearness to You Is My Sufficient, 2014 |
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| Scared I Am of What the Heart Trusts In, 2014 |
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| Do Not Be a Solid Rock, Lest You Break, Nor a Soft Reed, Lest You Bend, 2015 |
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| I Believe in the Faith of Love, 2015 |
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| Idle Talk is a Violation of the Soul, 2015 |
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| In as much as the men of will are, resolutions are, 2015 |
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| Loud Voice Is Not Proof of Correctness, 2015 |
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| People are but Those Lovers, Those of Passion, 2015 |
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| Prejudice is the Blight of Judgment, 2015 |
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| Prejudice is the Blight of Judgment, 2015 |
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| The best of you is the one who learns the Quran and teaches it, 2015 |
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| The Wider the Vision, the Narrower the Phrase, 2015 |
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| Things Clear Up Through their Opposites, 2015 |
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| Whatever Bird Flies and Rises, 2015 |
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| And So No Soul Laden Bears the Load of Another, 2016 |
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| Motion is Life, No Stillness, No Death and No Existence is No Nothingness, 2016 |
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| Every condition will pass, 2016 |
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| Speech Is a Trap / Idle Talk, 2016 |
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| The Seed Is an Adjourned Life, 2018 |
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| Ignorance Is The Pillar Of Content, 2018 |
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| By Gilding The Stay Had Gone Astray, 2018 |
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| The Knower is the Master of Experience, 2018 |
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| Vile Men Are Like Vile Plants, Nor Serve As Firewood, 2018 |
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On Earth Peace, and Good Will Toward Men, 2023
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