Books
Redefining Modern Art in the Muslim World
Though at times a puzzling read, artist Rasheed Araeen’s latest book critiques Western scholarship that ignores Islam’s influence on modern art.
Islam
News
Professor Who Showed Images of Prophet Muhammad Sues University
Hamline University had characterized Erika López Prater’s display of the images as “Islamophobic,” an accusation it now recognizes as “flawed.”
Books
Alain George’s Detailed View of Art, Faith, and Empire in Syria
Borrowing the model of the palimpsest, George's The Umayyad Mosque of Damascus: Art, Faith and Empire in Early Islam takes the reader on a vivid tour of the renowned mosque’s history, meaning, and significance.
Books
Reading a New Translation of Rumi
Translations of Rumi raise questions not only about faithfulness to the original but also who is or is not entitled to try their hand.
News
Access Rare and Beautiful “Manuscripts of the Muslim World” via UPenn’s Digital Library
The project offers over 500 manuscripts and 827 paintings that are “mostly unresearched.”
Art
The Challenges of Fashion in a Museum
Contemporary Muslim Fashions is an exhibition that is also a major political statement, one that should provide support for multicultural tolerance and understanding.
Art
A Qur'an Transcribed by Hand Presents Parables of Contemporary American Life
NEWPORT BEACH, Calif. — In the midst of growing Islamophobia in the US, artist Sandow Birk embarked on a nine-year project to transcribe and illustrate the entire Qur’an by hand.
News
Oldest Fragment of Koran Found in UK Library
A 1,370-year-old section of the Koran possibly dating back to the life of Mohammed has been discovered in central England.
Art
Revisiting an 18th-Century Illuminated Islamic Manuscript
One benefit of digitization is the return to the public, if only virtually, of religious and cultural artifacts often long hidden in the collections of institutions far from their regions of origin.
Books
Five of the World's Largest Religious Manuscripts, from Devil's Bible to Buddhist Labyrinth
Marcel Proust may have written a novel over 4,000 pages long, but there are other books out there of goliath proportions not in their length, but their size.
Art
The Power of Luxury at the Metropolitan Museum
The Met’s Byzantium and Islam: Age of Transition is a treat for viewers who appreciate the ways that power and continuity are expressed in both luxury items and everyday objects.