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From Pakistan’s Associated Press. Also, a note on Golden Jubilee Year.
LONDON, July 9 (APP): More than 160 master pieces of Islamic art, never before seen in the UK, goes on public display at The Ismaili Centre in the upscale London locality of South Kensington from July 14. The exhibition has been titled “Spirit & Life”.
At a press review on Monday, the media saw a rich display of objects from the collection showing the diversity of artistic traditions in the Muslim world.
Highlights included miniatures from one of the finest illustrated manuscripts ever produced, the Persian epic Shahnama (The Book of Kings) and an extremely rare copy of the Canon of Medicine of Ibn Sina, used in Europe and the Middle East as the standard medical textbook for over 500 years.
Spirit & Life covers a geographical area stretching from India in the East to Morocco in the West and spans over a thousand years from the ninth to the 19th century.
The London exhibition displayed textiles, exquisite miniatures, rare manuscripts, ceramics, precious pages from Quran, scientific medical texts, books of fables and tiles and musical instruments alongside some of the finest portraits of Ottoman sultans and Qajar Shahs of the 19th century.
Organized by the Aga Khan Trust for Culture, Spirit & Life presents treasures from the permanent collection of the Aga Khan Museum, which will open in Toronto, Canada, in 2010. The museum, an initiative of Aga Khan, the spiritual leader of the Ismaili Muslims, is dedicated to the presentation of Muslim arts and culture in all their historic, cultural and geographical diversity.
Speaking at the press review, Luis Monreal, General Manager, Aga Khan Trust for Culture, said, “The political crisis of the last few years and the large numbers of Muslim emigrating to the West, have revealed often dramatically, the considerable lack of knowledge of the Muslim world in many Western societies.
“This ignorance spans all aspects of Islam: its pluralism, the diversity of interpretations within the Quranic faith, the chronological and geographical extent of its history and culture as well as the ethnic, linguistic and social diversity of its peoples.”
Monreal brushed aside the concept of “clash of civilizations and said it is in reality nothing more than a manifestation of mutual ignorance.”
The Aga Khan marks the beginning of his Golden Jubilee year on July 11. Fifty years ago at the age of 20 years; he succeeded his grandfather Sir Sultan Mahomed Shah Aga Khan as the 49th hereditary Imam of the Shiites Ismaili Muslims. He provides spiritual guidance to a community of 15 million living in some 25 countries around the globe.
Ismailimail 