Over the last three months or so, the Royal Academy of Arts in London has mounted a major exhibition on The Turks: 600-1600. This was an impressive run-down of a thousand years of west/central Asian culture in the space of just over a dozen rooms, via 350 objects. Most cultural commentators gushed over the beautiful Ottoman manuscripts, the calligraphy, the kaftans, the ceramics, the ancient carpets, and the intricate paintings. As one review put it,

The “Magnificent" was a respectful name the Christian west gave its enemy [Suleyman], and magnificent is really the only word you can apply to the relics of the great 16th-century conqueror shown here. (Jones)

But, wandering around the crowded exhibition, I noticed something even more magnificent. Was that a man with beard over there? And was that a woman in a headscarf? I could hardly believe my eyes—there were real Muslims visiting an art gallery!

I consider myself a reasonably regular attendee at galleries and exhibitions, but the idea of bumping into Muslim visitors while there is not one which has often come to me, sad to say. I would have liked—though time-constraints and natural British reserve prevented me—to have asked why Muslims had suddenly appeared at The Turks, when they didn’t bother going to the Matisse exhibition just across the corridor.

Perhaps there’s an easy answer. The Royal Academy has not been exactly bursting with exhibitions on Islamic themes recently, indeed, the last one was back in 1931. Were wandering Muslim culture-vultures rushing to the exhibition for fear that it would be the last time they’d see Islamic art at the Royal Academy until 2079? In which case, shame on the Royal Academy’s curators.

But I doubt if it’s fear of missing out. You don’t get too many opportunities to see Aztec art, but I think I may have spotted just one Muslim at the Royal Academy’s mega-exhibition on the great Central American civilization three years ago. I saw none at the Hayward Gallery’s recent exhibition on works of art saved for the nation by the National Art Collections Fund or the Tate’s Turner Prize exhibition.

I think it’s more likely that The Turks was well attended due to social pressure to “support Muslim causes,” or “rediscover our great Muslim heritage,” or “see art that’s not haram.” All three of these reasons have limited validity, especially as The Turks exhibition was loaded with figure drawings and non-Muslim artistic influences that could quickly turn into cultural prejudice. But before I start sparking debates, a quick check of the facts.

What’s Happened to Muslim Cultural Participation?

The Arts Council of England has recently woken up to the need for “diversity” in cultural events, and commissioned research into how often minority communities in the UK view arts and culture. (Arts Council of England) This shows that Muslims do not somehow avoid cultural institutions and events. Indeed, 79% of Asian or British Asians agreed that arts and cultural projects should receive public funding. However, patterns of Muslim cultural participation are different to the average Westerner, and remain essentially linked to intra-community events and art-forms.

Asian or British Asian respondents were most likely to have attended a culturally specific festival (32%). Those identifying themselves as Pakistani or Bangladeshi were the most likely (35%) to say that one of their reasons for attending a cultural event was the social aspect, closely followed by “special occasion/celebration” (18%). This compares with 18% and 8% respectively for the majority white community.

This supports previous research, which suggests that “minority ethnic people are not ‘alienated from the arts’ generically, but many were less likely to attend mainstream arts since they believed these did not relate to their experience, lives, and artistic traditions.” (Jermyn & Desai) Or another, which says that members of visible minorities “tend to feel unwelcome at arts activities that do not have a cultural bias, aware that they will be a minority among audiences for such activities.” (Francis).

Which leaves us to decide whether Muslims are avoiding mainstream cultural institutions through external reasons (fear of being a visible minority) or through internal reasons (not wanting to take part in cultural events outside their own artistic tradition). While sympathizing with those in the former category, I cannot avoid the impression that most Muslims fall into the latter.

I reach this conclusion on the basis of the sheer amount of work that majority communities have done in the West to break down the significant barriers that existed fifty years ago. Young British Muslims no longer have anything like the linguistic or even financial hurdles that their parents faced. Every publicly-funded cultural institution now has outreach officers, trying to make arts relevant and accessible. The age of cultural imperialism in British arts died long ago, and in its place is a genuine mission to inform and sustain dialogue between cultures.

Muslim insularity is also shown by the reaction of other minority groups in the UK. People of mixed ethnicity (44%), white (36%) and Black or British Black (32%) respondents were more likely to have visited a gallery than Asian or British Asian respondents (25%). Pakistanis and Bangladeshis were the most likely of any ethnic group to report that they didn’t attend more cultural events because they were “not really interested” (20%), they were the least likely of any ethnic group to read for pleasure (55%), the least likely to paint or draw (10%), or to take classes in any form of art or craft (6%).

Time for wider cultural horizons

I admit I am at a loss to explain these figures, but I could clearly see them in action when I went to see The Turks exhibition. Most of the lost-looking Muslims were in groups, as if needing to reassure each other that it was safe to appreciate beautiful objects. I heard murmurings of subhan Allah at the fact that Muslims were able to create such great cultural achievements, but not many understanding whispers on the meaning of the calligraphy, geometry, and biomorphic of past times.

So, I have to hope that Muslims were there in a spirit of genuine intellectual inquiry and that they weren’t simply looking to boost their self-confidence in the ongoing identity struggle for second-generation, urban, 21st-century youngsters. I hope that the visitors really engaged with the techniques and the spirit of the objects in front of them, without forgetting that Muslims have no monopoly on beauty. I fear that Western Muslims would prefer not to visit an MC Escher exhibition because his name was not Muhammad Camal Escher—even though his geometry is arguably as “Islamic” as that of the Ottoman masters. I fear that Western Muslims may appreciate Muhammad Siyah Qalam’s figure drawings, yet shun those of William Hogarth or Gerald Scarfe. I don’t think I am alone in holding this fear, when I think of how much effort the Globe Theatre, the Islamic Society of Britain and Q-News had to put in, in order to convince British Muslims that it was safe to enjoy Shakespeare’s plays.

We need to push ourselves to remember that we are part of humanity and should not fear to appreciate the cultural achievements of others in the world. If Muslims prefer to enclose themselves in their own “culturally-specific events,” they will reduce their horizons and fail to understand the changing world in which we live. Taking an interest in other people’s culture doesn’t diminish our own—indeed, we will probably learn something that will enhance and expand our own culture.

Furthermore, how can we fulfill our duty to be good neighbors to non-Muslims if we do not take time to understand where they come from, what makes them tick, and what they have achieved? It has certainly been noted, although grudgingly, that the majority community has broadened its own culture to promote harmony with minorities and has learned to appreciate the merits of others. On the other hand, “those Muslims” come to “our country,” but don’t want to participate in “our way of life.”

We need to rectify this situation. We need to show visible Muslim faces in mainstream and intellectual cultural circles, appreciating the works of the Dutch Masters as well as Master Sinan, appreciating Robert Browning as well as Rabi`a Al-Basri. When we see veiled or bearded Muslims crossing the corridor from The Turks exhibition to go to see Matisse, we’ll know that minds have truly begun to open. As the Prophet said, “Allah is beautiful and loves beauty. Pride means denying the truth and looking down on people.”

1- Jones, Jonathan. Full of Eastern Promise, The Guardian. January 18, 2005.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/arts/features/story/0,11710,1392855,00.html

2- Arts Council of England. The Arts in England: Attendance, Participation & Attitudes. London, 2003.

http://www.mla.gov.uk/documents/artsurv2003.pdf

3- Jermyn, H. and P. Desai. Arts: What’s in a Word? Arts Council of England, London, 2000

4- Francis, J. Attitudes Among Britain’s Black Community Towards Attendance at Arts, Cultural, and Entertainment events: A Qualitative Research Study, London, 1990

** Dal Nun Strong holds a BA in Modern History from Hertford College in Oxford and a postgraduate Diplôme in International Trade from Institut d'Etudes Politiques de Paris. He currently works for the British Department of Transport. You can contact him at ArtCulture@islamonline.net.

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