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Tracing Islamic History Through Its Scripts – NYTimes.com

Tracing Islamic History Through Its Scripts – NYTimes.com. The items, on display through Feb. 27, form part of the Aga Khan’s collection of Islamic art from the 8th to the 18th centuries, and will find a more permanent home when the Aga Khan Museum opens in Toronto in 2013. The founders say it will be the first major educational and exhibition center in North America dedicated to Muslim arts and culture.  Much of the writing displayed comes from Korans. Scribes faced the daunting task of precisely copying the Muslim holy book and in a way became early page designers, deciding…

LUMA Loyola University Museum of Art

LUMA Loyola University Museum of Art. Saturday, May 21  Everyday Art: The Islamic Impact on American Arts  3:00 p.m.  Free with museum admission  American popular culture reflects the cultural diversity of the American people and helps to shape the way Americans understand themselves. Perhaps the least understood of these influences is the cultural impact of the various Muslim communities that have settled in the United States. The tapestry of influences that converge in popular music, architecture, and literature-the arts we engage with every day-bears witness to the presence of Muslims in America. In this richly illustrated talk, Dr. Hussein Rashid…

Interview on NPR on Riyaaz Qawwali

I was recently interviewed on NPR about Riyaaz Qawwali, a group out of Austin, TX. Hussein Rashid, a professor of religion at Hofstra University, says that many qawwaliartists working in South Asia today have limited themselves. He believes this American group is bringing the music back to its roots.  “You know, I think there’s been so much concern about what is Islam, and what isn’t, politically speaking and artistically speaking,” Rashid says, “that there’s been a push in modern qawwali to actually sanitize it and make it very sterile — and almost rule-bound — rather than ecstatic and devotional. For me, I think…