MOSTResource.org

Resources on Muslims for the Entertainment Industry

  • Story Bank
    • Business & Technology
    • Entertainment
    • Culture & Lifestyle
    • Medical
    • National
    • Faith
    • Sports
    • Women
    • World
  • Resources
    • Faces & Places
    • Statistics
    • Infographics
    • Research / Reports
    • Quick Takes
  • Perspectives
  • Events
  • About
    • Contact Us
    • Staff
    • Parent Organization
    • Videos
  • Story Bank
  • Business & Technology
  • Entertainment
  • Culture & Lifestyle
  • Medical
  • National
  • Faith
  • Sports
  • Women
  • World
mostresource storybank video

Explored Our Story Bank Yet?

Our curated collection of thousands of stories has helped top Hollywood writers, producers, and creatives. Watch our brief video to learn more.

Culture and Lifestyle — November 5, 2019   

Scholar On The Importance Of Islamic Art & Architecture, Past and Present

Original article by Mahera Islam published in the Medium on 10/28/2019

Photo Credit: ISMAILIMAIL.BLOG
Photo Credit: ISMAILIMAIL.BLOG

Dr. Ruba Kana’an declares that the filed of study of Islamic art and architecture is “very young” and “exciting.” While “well-established museums of Islamic art focus on early Islam, the interest and focus on contemporary Islamic art is very recent,” says the scholar who is currently an assistant professor of Islamic Art and Architecture at the University of Toronto Mississauga (UTM).

Dr. Kana’an has taught in Canada and the UK, including a stint at the University of Oxford, at both the graduate and undergraduate levels. For six years, she worked at the Aga Khan Museum in Toronto where she shepherded a program ensuring Muslim history was included in the high school curriculum. The professor says that growing up in Jordan had a profound impact on her work and life pursuit. “I grew up in a part of the world where you’re surrounded by historical buildings and I [was] always [curious] about who built them and why.”

One of Dr. Kan’an’ favorite classes she teaches at UTM explores artists from the pre-modern Muslim world. “I like people to think of art as a product of living human beings with life experiences. Part of that life experience is their Muslim faith and the cultural contexts of the regions they lived in.” A takeaway she hopes for her students is to “think of Muslim civilizations as similar to any other civilizations that have built within them a huge diversity of expressions [and] ideas, and not to think of Islam as something relegated to the past and [of] Muslims as people who are different or the other.”

She says that art is an opportunity to see “how Muslims dealt with issues and came up with different solutions to express their diversity.”

Read more ...

Our Experts Are Here To Help

Want to start a conversation with our experts for help with your project?

TAGS: Islamic Art & Architecture, Scholar

Related Articles

  • M Film Lab Now Accepting Applications for Screenwriting Program
  • American Eid – Interview with Director Aqsa Altaf
  • Post vaccine, Muslim travelers are heading to… Israel

More From The Story Bank

Post vaccine, Muslim travelers...

Last year the Abraham Accords were signed between Israel, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Morocco and Sudan. This marked a public normalization of relations not seen in decades. And with this new … [Read More...]

Meet the first Muslim head...

As new head coach for the New York Jets, Robert Saleh is making history as the first Muslim American to lead a team in the National Football League. The Lebanese American is also the third Arab … [Read More...]

Meet American’s Youngest...

According to The Hill, Bushra Amiwala "is part of a new generation stepping into politics." In 2019, she was elected to the Skokie Board of Education in Illinois, making this Pakistani-American … [Read More...]

Riz Ahmed Is Oscars’ First...

Riz Ahmed has become the first Muslim nominated for Best Actor in a Leading Role at the Academy Awards for Sound of Metal, not long after Mahershala Ali made his own history with two Best Supporting … [Read More...]

More Women Study Physics in...

A recent report from Physics magazine finds that physics departments in many western universities have a "significant gender disparity, with far fewer women than men taking up the subject." However, … [Read More...]

Enter your email to receive periodic updates

  • Email
  • Facebook
  • RSS
  • Twitter

About | Contact Us | Terms of Use | Privacy Policy© 2002–2023 MOST ResourceMOST Resource globe


We use cookies to improve your browsing experience and to collect anonymous data to enable us to manage our website. Our Privacy Policy is a complete disclosure of our data collection policies, including the choices you have to control information we might collect. Your use of this site represents your consent to our Privacy Policy.