thumb|Mohamed Zakariya
Mohamed Zakariya (born 1942 in Ventura, California Later he moved to Los Angeles with his family. Zakariya saw Islamic calligraphy for the first time in the window of an Armenian carpet store in Los Angeles. Zakariya traveled to Morocco in his late teens where he became fascinated with Islam and Islamic Calligraphy.
Students worldwide travel to the United States to study under Zakariya. Viewed as a contemporary artist who practices traditional Islamic calligraphy, he focuses on styles of Ottoman and Turkish calligraphy (including hilyes, besmeles, ayets, kitas and levhas).
Mohamed Zakariya is not only is a master of calligraphy, but he also executes all aspects of the process of creating a calligraphic artwork, from treating paper and preparing his tools and materials to illuminating the page. In addition, an important part of being a master calligrapher is cutting the pen (qalam). A hollow reed is used to make the pen, and the thicknesses of the reed as well as the cut of the nib results in a variety in sizes of pens for writing different styles and scales of scripts.
According to Zakariya, his choices of material, script, and illumination all depend on the word or phrase he is writing. The planning process for each piece is carefully thought through so that the visual design reflects the meaning of the phrase or word that is written. Furthermore, when choosing the words or phrases he states: “I find my texts in classic Arabic and Ottoman Turkish books, including poetry, aphorisms, collections of Hadith, and Quranic ayets. Study and tafsir are the sources of my concepts.”
Prior to learning the art of calligraphy, Mohamed Zakariya worked as a “machinist” and created various instruments such as astrolabes. The materials, techniques, and precision the learned as a machinist also informs his approach to calligraphy. According to the artist, “In approaching my work, I rely on methods informed by my industrial background: every work must be made in the most efficient and practical way possible to get the most powerful effect possible, using the best and most appropriate materials and methods. Some of my methodology I have learned in the shops, some I have reverse-engineered from observation of original work, and some I have gathered from ancient Arabic, Turkish, and English texts.” In 2009, US president Barack Obama commissioned Mohamed Zakariya to create a piece of calligraphy that was presented to the king of Saudi Arabia.