Islamic heritage versus orthodoxy: Figural painting, musical instruments and wine bowls at the Dutch National Museum of World Cultures

Abstract

Shahab Ahmed’s What Is Islam? The Importance of Being Islamic (2016) challenges anthropologists, Islamic Studies scholars, art historians and museum practitioners to question the theological assumptions underlying conceptions of Islamic art and material culture. This article analyses three object types key to Ahmed’s analysis – Islamic figural painting, musical instruments and wine bowls – from the vantage point of the collection of the Dutch National Museum of World Cultures. Based on the author’s experience as Assistant Curator for West Asia and North Africa in 2015–2016 and on exhibition developments up until 2019, Ahmed’s framework is demonstrated as a guide for critical interpretations of exhibitions of Islamic art and material culture. This perspective lays bare a tension that contemporary museums struggle with in response to nationalist pressures to integrate Muslim citizens in Western Europe: between a diverse Islamic heritage, on the one hand, and orthodox desires to materially purify the very idea of Islam, on the other.

Can Muslims Drink? Rumi Vodka, Persianate Ideals, and the Anthropology of Islam

“…pooyan tamimi arab amplified calls to prayer, visual culture, and contestations over food (Tamimi Arab 2017;2021). My first observations of drinking relevant to the present study, however, go back to the period 2008-2014, when I lived with and visited Iranians of different ages and backgrounds in New York City, Toronto, Amsterdam, and Kuala Lumpur.…”

“…What Is Islam? , though, is written as part of contemporary academic and political polemics, emerging in museological reflections on Islamic art after 9/11 (Winegar 2008; Shaw 2019; Shatanawi 2019; Tamimi Arab 2021). In this unique political context, asking whether “pockets of resistance” is an apt description can unpack the anthropology of Islam and wine drinking in comparative perspectives on settings in which diverse national and transnational ties motivate clashes over Islam and alcohol consumption.…”

“…The contrast with tales of golden ages and cosmopolitan pasts, mostly before the nineteenth century, can appear romanticized in comparison with the anthropology of Islam that focuses on colonial and postcolonial times from the 1800s on. What Is Islam?, though, is written as part of contemporary academic and political polemics, emerging in museological reflections on Islamic art after 9/11 (Winegar 2008;Shaw 2019;Shatanawi 2019;Tamimi Arab 2021). In this unique political context, asking whether "pockets of resistance" is an apt description can unpack the anthropology of Islam and wine drinking in comparative perspectives on settings in which diverse national and transnational ties motivate clashes over Islam and alcohol consumption.…”

“…I draw from a decade of ethnographic work as an anthropologist studying the Dutch context (2011)(2012)(2013)(2014)(2015)(2016)(2017)(2018)(2019)(2020), in particular material Islam-mosques, amplified calls to prayer, visual culture, and contestations over food (Tamimi Arab 2017;2021). My first observations of drinking relevant to the present study, however, go back to the period 2008-2014, when I lived with and visited Iranians of different ages and backgrounds in New York City, Toronto, Amsterdam, and Kuala Lumpur.…”

“…Ahmed's book has been widely reviewed and (critically) engaged with. See, for example,Doostdar 2017;Sulaiman 2018;Dressler, Salvatore, and Wohlrab-Sahr 2019;Ghazi 2019;Shatanawi 2019;Zaman 2020;and Tamimi Arab 2021. …”