The Met Says ‘Open Sesame’
In New York, the glories of Islamic art are laid before the world. A gorgeous salad-bowl-size ceramic dazzles the eye upon entry. The bowl suggests a highly refined and thoughtful curatorial choice as...
View ArticleIn Search of Divine Truth
Striving for beauty through proximity to God is a theme that has always permeated Muslim poetry in different historical contexts. Here’s a look at poetics and ethics in Islamic art. Let the beauty...
View ArticleFragments 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),...
View ArticleThe Morgan Treasures of Islamic Manuscripts
It was at the urging of his librarian, Belle da Costa Greene (1879–1950), that Pierpont Morgan purchased the core of his Islamic collection in 1911 and 1912. Greene had become Morgan’s librarian in...
View ArticleThe 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...
View ArticleThe 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...
View ArticleCalligraphy – the geometry of the spirit
This article appeared on pages 16-27 of the September/October 1989 print edition of Saudi Aramco World. Islamic calligraphy is without doubt the most original contribution of Islam to the visual arts,...
View ArticleIlluminated Timurid copy of the Qur’an
A large-format, illuminated Timurid copy of the Qur'an is believed to have been produced in Northern India in the 9th century AH/AD 15th.
View Article18th Century Qur’an in Maghribi Script
This manuscript, Walters W.568, is a fragment of the Qur'an, consisting of chapters 19 (Surat Maryam) through 23 (Surat al-mu'minun).
View Article14th Century Qur’an Stand
14th Century Stand for a Qur'an, Iran or Central Asia, A.H. 761/A.D. 1360
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