Anil Kumar Chawhan

Anil Kumar Chawhan (born 1970) is an Indian calligrapher from Hyderabad. He is known for painting Quranic verses on the walls of Mosques and Dargahs in India. He received the Rehmat Alam International Peace Award in 2021.

Life Chawhan hails from a humble Marathi Hindu family from Maharashtra, his maternal grandmother is from Hyderabad, where they eventually moved.

His father, mother and grandfather were also painting artists, which sparked his interest in art from a young age.

He had to leave school after the 10th grade to support the family. He was quite skilled in drawing and painting, so he decided to pursue a career as a painter.

Initially starting his career by painting Urdu signboards, Chawhan learned the language to enhance his skills. His first opportunity to paint on a mosque came from a patron impressed by his calligraphy in 1995.

He has worked in over 200 mosques, painting their walls with beautifully written Quranic passages. He states that he has not requested payment from at least a hundred mosques, receiving instead letters of gratitude for his contributions.

His work is also displayed in the library of Jamia Nizamia University, showcasing verses from the Quran.

He has been employed by two mosques in Secunderabad to write Hadith (Sayings of Prophet Mohammad) on the blackboard of the masjid once a week.

Miracles Chawhan has several intriguing experiences from his work in the mosques, some of which he describes as spiritual. He shared two encounters with Muslim Mirror that he considers miraculous, feeling a divine presence during these moments.

One such experience occurred during Ramadan, after the night prayers when most people had left the mosque. While painting verses from the Quran, he became tired and drowsy, eventually falling asleep while standing on a high stool with the brush in hand. When he awoke more than an hour later, he found that the verses had already been painted.

Another experience was particularly harrowing, as he narrowly escaped a fall.

After completing his calligraphic work in a mosque, Chawhan descended a wooden ladder. Just as he stepped off the last rung, the entire ladder collapsed.

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