The Uqba Masjid
The Mosque of Uqba also known as the Great Mosque of Kairouan, is located in the historic walled district of the Medina, between the Rue de la Kasbah and the Rue el Farabi….
The Qur’an
As the word of God revealed to the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH), the verses of the Qur’an are canonical and cannot be changed. Because of the centrality of the Qur’an to the religion of Islam, copying all or some of its verses in any medium is considered a pious act. Over time a wide variety of styles of writing Arabic script developed, but not all of these were considered appropriate for copying Qur’ans. Qur’an manuscripts from the first two centuries of Islam were written on parchment in an angular style called Kufic after the Iraqi city of Kufa, an early Muslim capital.
Museum of Science and Technology in Islam
Knowledge exists potentially in the human soul, like seed in the soil, through learning, that potential turns into reality” – Al-Ghazali A Celebration of the Golden Age of Islam The Museum celebrates the…
The Magic of Science
Science in Islam was at its high peak between the ninth and 13th centuries. Charlotte Schriwer of the Nasser D Khalili Collection of Islamic art examines the achievements of the early Islamic scientists;…
The Farjam Collection of Islamic Art
The Farjam Collection is one of the most impressive privately-owned collections in the world today. Featuring Islamic and pre-Islamic art, Contemporary Middle-Eastern art and International Modern and Contemporary Art, the Collection is born…
Fragments of a 9th Century Quran
al-Qurʼān (ajzāʼ) Fragments of an Abbasid Qurʼān, probably written in the third century A.H / ninth century C.E., containing verses from the suras: al-Dhārīyāt (سورة الذاريات),al-Ṭūr (سورة الطور), al-Najm (سورة النجم), al-Qamar (سورة القمر), and al-Raḥmān (سورة…
From Cuneiform to Topkapi
In the Islamic world, where reading and literacy have always been highly prized for the access they provide to the word of God and the world of knowledge, books were objects of both…
Shodo Arabi – the way of Arabic writing
nside the Arabic Islamic Institute in Tokyo, 15 students of calligraphy raptly practice writing verses from the Qur’an. Yet when the call to prayer is heard, few stir. The instructors and students are…
Science in Islam – the forgotten brilliance
Islamic science was in its prime during the European Middle Ages, between the 9th and the 13th centuries, particularly in the brilliant period of the Abbasid caliphate from the 9th century to the…
From Middle East to Middle Kingdom
In contrast, the appreciation of Chinese–Islamic works has been negligible. For collectors of traditional Chinese art, these works are not Chinese enough; for Islamic-art collectors, they seem too alien to be considered truly…
The Masterpiece Minbar
Until relatively recent times, wooden furniture—in the sense of tables and chairs was little known in traditional Islamic societies. Throughout the warm and dry lands of North Africa, the Middle East, India and Central…
Art & Islam
The arts of Islam are among its greatest legacies. Yet the legitimacy of the arts is today a matter of controversy in contemporary Muslim societies. The modernist rejects the religious basis of any…
