View Egyptian tents at the Islamic Arts Museum Malaysia

Source: IAMM website. An Egyptian
ceremonial tent.

The Islamic Arts Museum Malaysia (IAMM) has launched Khayamiya: Khedival to Contemporary, a cooperative effort between the IAMM and guest curator Dr Sam Bowker of Charles Sturt University, Australia.

Khayamiya, derived from the Arabic 'khayam' (خيمة, tent), is the Egyptian art of tent-making. It is created using a hand-appliqué technique in which fabric pieces are cut, folded and skilfully hand-sewn to canvas, producing impressive tents and wall hangings. These vibrant textiles are widely used in ceremonial contexts such as weddings, funerals, street parties and religious events.

This exhibition will take visitors on a journey through the evolution of khayamiya from the late Ottoman Empire to the present day. Some of the highlights include the Syme Panel (the first Khedival khayamiya to be discovered in Australia), and rarely-seen monumental tent panels from the Bowker Collection. The IAMM will be displaying one of its most treasured objects, a complete 19th-century Egyptian tent, to demonstrate that khayamiya is a sophisticated textile art form with a rich legacy of Islamic design influences.

Interested?

The exhibition runs till 31st January 2016. Check the museum opening hours

Grand Mufti of Egpyt to deliver the Muis Lecture 2015 in Singapore

The Islamic Religious Council of Singapore (Muis) will organise its fourth Distinguished Visitors Programme from 24 to 27 January 2015. The programme was first introduced in 2006 with the aim to widen and deepen progressive discourses through engagement sessions, discussions and lectures delivered by eminent Muslim statesmen, intellectual leaders and thinkers of international standing to discuss latest developments in contemporary issues on Islam and Muslims.

A key highlight of the DVP is the Muis Lecture delivered by the Distinguished Visitor, and chaired by the Minister for Communications and Information and Minister-in-charge of Muslim Affairs Dr Yaacob Ibrahim. Attendance at previous Muis Lectures has averaged 500 participants with a good mix of political and community leaders, the asatizah (Islamic religious teachers) fraternity, scholars and students of Islam and Muslims, madrasah teachers and students, interfaith leaders and activists. 

Source: Muis. Dr Allam.

The fourth Distinguished Visitor is Sheikh Dr Shawki Allam, the Grand Mufti of Egypt. Dr Allam’s dedication and efforts towards peace through greater understanding of different and diverse communities are recognised internationally. He was recently selected as the prominent promoter of peace by the World Alliance of Religions in Seoul, South Korea for his remarkable achievements in promoting world peace and his outstanding contributions to human society.

Dr Allam is the 19th and current Grand Mufti of Egypt through Dar al-Ifta al-Misriyyah, succeeding Dr Ali Gomaa in February 2013. He is the first Egyptian Grand Mufti to be elected into the position by Al-Azhar University's Council of Senior Scholars; previous ones were appointed by the President of Egypt. Born in 1961 in the Nile Delta governorate of Beheira in Egypt, Dr Allam completed his Bachelors and Masters degrees in Islamic Jurisprudence in Al-Azhar University’s Tanta and Cairo campuses respectively, where he eventually gained his PhD with honours in 1996 in the same field. He then lectured in Oman in 2001 to 2010, thereafter returning to Egypt to serve as a lecturer and head of the Department of Islamic Jurisprudence of Al-Azhar University’s Tanta campus.

During his visit, Dr Allam will be involved in many dialogues and discourses with various segments of the community, which will culminate with the Muis Lecture on 26 January 2015. In his lecture, Dr Allam will focus on Building Harmonious Societies in a Pluralistic World. He will address the universality of our respective values, and the importance of entering into authentic dialogue to promote the unifying role of religion in fostering a mutually respective, civic-minded and harmonious way of living with others. The lecture will be chaired by Minister Ibrahim.

The details for the Muis Lecture 2015 are as follows:

Date: Monday, 26 January 2015
Time: 8 to 9.30 pm
Venue: Grand Ballroom, Orchard Hotel Singapore, 442 Orchard Road, Singapore 238879
Dress code: Shirt and tie

Click here to register for the Muis Lecture.

Six countries house more than half of the Muslims around the world

Source: Pew Research website.

Muslims are concentrated in the Asia Pacific region, where six-in-ten (62%) of all Muslims reside, says 2012 figures from Pew Research. Against the total population by region, about one-in-four people (24%) are Muslims. The Middle East-North Africa region is almost wholly Muslim (93%), but represent only about 20% of the world’s Muslims.

The largest share of Muslims live in Indonesia (13%), followed by India (11%), Pakistan (11%), Bangladesh (8%), Nigeria (5%), Egypt (5%), Iran (5%), Turkey (5%), Algeria (2%) and Morocco (2%)*.

In August 2014, Pew Research updated its figures in a 'Fact Tank' about where people from different religions are clustered around the world. The top six nations where Muslims live together account for 53% of the world’s 1.6 billion Muslims, the consultancy said, accounting for 30% of the world’s population.

Pew Research also created an infographic in 2013 about the world's Muslims which can be viewed here.

*The difference between the rankings in this report, which states that India comes before Pakistan, and previous reports, where Pakistan was ranked larger than India, is primarily due to a downward revision by the United Nations Population Division of its estimate of the size of Pakistan’s total population and an upward revision of the UN estimate of India’s total population.