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Khal Mohammad

Khal Mohammad and his son Ibrahim Khal
Yes, those are penguins in the background.

Khal Mohammad Ibrahim Khal and another son.

When Emmett Eiland of Emmett Eiland Oriental Rug Co. wrote Oriental Rugs Today he asked me to read it and make comments before it went to the printer. One of the areas we wrangled over was whether Khal Mohammadi really existed and how to spell his name. Emmett went with Halmahmadi and Khan Mohammadi and I held to Khal Mohammadi. It was the only thing in his book that we disagreed on. Today I had lunch with Ibrahim Khal the son of Khal Mohammad.

I was photographing rugs at Herat Oriental a major importer of Persian and Afghan rugs. Zia and I are going to put some rugs on eBay so I was making the selections and taking pictures. A young man came in and was watching and talking to Zia in Dari. I said to the fellow helping me hand me the Khal Mohammadi from one of the stacks and the fellow watching got excited. After a burst of Dari which was way over my head Zia said "He sees you know his father's rugs

Ibrahim Khal at Herat Orientals in Alexandria Va.

Here is Ibrahim Khal with Zia Hassanzadeh

Zia (left) is the main US Importer of Khal Mohammadi rugs and carpets.

Over lunch I learned a little from Ibrahim. The family is Ersari Turkmen. Harkening back to Dr, Murray Eiland Jr. Murray has frequently asserted that while he met Turkmen in Afghanistan he never met any who identified themselves as Ersari. So when Ibrahim identified himself Turkmen I asked what dialect of Turkmen he spoke. Ibrahim explained that they were Ersari and the family had moved to Afghanistan from Uzbekistan in his grandfather's day. Ibrahim added that in Afghanistan most Turkmen were Ersari and most of the rest are Tekke.

Khal Mohammad is the man and his rugs are called Khal Mohammadi. Ending a word with an "i" is equivallent to using " 's " in English. Khal Mohammad owns looms in Mazar-i-Sheriff, Andkhoy, and Kunduz. He is based in North Mazar-i-Sheriff and has a store there as well as Kabul and Peshawar Pakistan. The key to his success is extremely innovative use of natural dyes. I will go out on a limb and say that he has developed the best natural reds that I have seen. Additionally the workmanship, wool quality, and finish are very high quality.