Nassar Mansour is one of the most accomplished calligraphers in the Arab World today. He received his ijazain calligraphy from the eminent calligrapher Hasan Celebi and, between 1996 and 1999, he was responsible for calligraphy and ornamentation in the restoration of the twelfth-century pulpit (minbar) of Saladin at the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem after it was destroyed in 1969. He completed his PhD, on which this book is based, in 2007. He has participated in numerous calligraphy workshops and exhibitions in the Middle East, Europe, India, Malaysia and Japan and his work is represented at the British Museum. Mansour lives in Jordan, where he teaches at the Institute of Traditional Islamic Arts and Architecture at World Islamic Sciences and Education University. Sir Mark Allen is an Arabist who, during a diplomatic career in the Middle East, acquired an intimate knowledge of, and affection for, the culture of the region.