From: Baha'i Biographical Notes
A distinguished calligraphist, and
companion-in-exile of Baha’u’llah, surnamed “Mishkin-Qalam”: “Musk-scented
pen”, a name by which he as a calligrapher of the first rank was known. He
first heard of the Faith in Isfahan, but it was in Baghdad that he learned more
about it. In Adrianople he met Baha'u'llah and became His follower. When
Baha'u'llah and His companions were exiled to 'Akka, Mishkin-Qalam was sent to
Cyprus. He was eventually freed and came to the Holy Land in 1886. After
travelling in Egypt, Damascus and India, 'Abdu'l-Baha asked him to come back to
the Holy Land, where he passed away in about 1912. It is Mishkin-Qalam's
calligraphic rendering of the Greatest Name which Baha'is most commonly use as
its symbol.