Historically, Islamic art has influenced the works of British figures like William Morris. Such influence and interests continue, as highlighted in contemporary exhibitions, including William Morris and Art from the Islamic world and the Birmingham Qur’an manuscript. For Curator of Islamic manuscripts, Dr. Neelam Hussain, it became apparent that in those exhibitions there was growing engagement from Muslim communities. To bridge the gap between interests and accessibility in art spaces, in 2020 she decided to raise funds for a museum dedicated to Islamic arts and history. 

The Museum of Islamic Arts and Heritage Foundation (MIAH) known as MIAH was established in 2020. Since taking on a gallery lease in 2023, the MIAH Foundation has regularly been holding exhibitions showcasing the arts, culture and heritage of the Islamic world. In an interview with MWN Hub, Dr. Neelam Hussain explains the inspiration behind the Foundation, its purpose and how she defines heritage in Islamic arts.

How do you define heritage in the context of Islamic arts?

Heritage can come in many different forms – it can be in relation to where people are now, what their cultural heritage is and what their faith is. Heritage is also related to tangible objects, and in tangible skills and arts and crafts. Islamic arts is a broad term, it’s not particularly a useful term, but it is a short-hand, that lets us know what we are talking about when it comes to the skills, arts, crafts, heritage and knowledge from places of Muslim majority world and Muslims in the UK.

What inspired you to establish the Museum of Islamic Arts and Heritage Foundation?

It really started from my work at the University of Birmingham, where I am the Curator of their Islamic manuscripts collection. Whilst doing some work around the Birmingham Qur’an manuscript exhibition - it showed me that if it is centred around faith, you get lots of people that otherwise don’t go to the art sector attending an exhibition and cultural spaces. That’s where the idea came from.

When I took on a permanent position at the Cadbury Research Library in 2017, I made it one of my main goals to expand public engagement for cultural collections that are held in these institutions to really not just be open, but actually feel open to the communities that they represent. We can’t do anything about the fact that these collections are no longer in their place of origin, but what we can do is make sure that if they are here in the UK – that the communities that they represent; cultures that they represent, truly feel engaged with that collection and feel a sense of ownership with it.

MIAH really came about after that, when I realised that actually there is so much that you can do on an institutional level and what we need is a grass-root organisation that is built up from the ground upwards and is centred in the communities whose arts are being represented and is sensitive to the feedback that they provide about what they want to see.

It’s great how MIAH Foundation emerged from the work that you did with Cadbury Research Library. Since setting up the foundation, what has been the most rewarding?

The most rewarding since we’ve opened is the positive response from the community, especially when we deliver the art workshops. Feedback we’ve got is having something on their doorstep that represents their heritage. Providing a space where people can feel confident to be experts in their own heritage. Providing a forum where people can feel a sense of ownership of their cultural heritage was really important in terms of our outlook when we set up the foundation, but it’s been the most rewarding to actually see it in practice.

Were there any challenges when setting up the foundation?

Setting up a charity is a complex matter, and one you can’t really enter into quite easily. So, it was about being informed about the responsibilities that comes along with that; certainly money was a big factor and getting the word out there in terms of what we are trying to establish – but that continues to be a challenge.

I think, also I don’t tend to see my job as from a woman’s perspective – trying to get into the field, but the Muslim charity sector is majority male. And I guess one of the challenges is we didn’t get that benefit that you might have from just your social contacts in terms of how you can set up a charity and you need to think about.

What strategies do you use to ensure the foundation remains financially stable?

To be honest we’re in early stages, I wouldn’t say that we are in a financially strong position yet. Our work started in 2022, and initially it was online and popping up in different places, we only took the gallery lease in 2023 and from 2024 onwards have regular weekly and monthly programming. We are growing as an organisation.

In terms of financial strategy, it is to incorporate commissions for our work on top of our regular gallery work. So, we have worked in partnership with Arab British Centre, University of Birmingham as part of its culture forward programme and Birmingham Botanical Gardens. We are seeking to commission individual art commission work as well as working on a broader grant and fundraising.

How do you obtain the exhibits?

The gallery doesn’t have museum grade items. The objects that go on display are loans that we have from personal connections. Tend to be from personal collections. Although, we did have the reproduction of the Birmingham Qur'an, but that was from the University of Birmingham. 

Do you feature locally based Islamic calligraphers/artists and how do you decide on which artists to feature?

A lot of the work we have done is in relation to historical art, we hope to support more contemporary artists. Especially those who are informed by the traditional arts in their contemporary practice.

There are a lot of Muslim artists across the country, there are few who are focussed on traditional arts. We do have a section on our website where we do encourage them to submit their profiles. We hope to in the future showcase the talent of Muslim artists in Birmingham and West Midlands, too.

In terms of impact, what role has the foundation played in dispelling misconceptions about Islamic culture and heritage?

We try to broaden people’s understandings of arts and culture from the Muslim world. As an organisation it’s not our priority to get hung up by people’s misconceptions and feel that it is our responsibility to correct that – it’s not. We are an arts organisation, we work on arts, history and culture – we are there to make those arts – open, accessible, understood to a broad range of audiences and to make sure that Muslim communities feel confident in this as an arts space. One that they can enter and have a say on how it develops. 

There is no way that you can learn about the arts, history, the rich heritage of various parts of the Muslim world – if you have negative stereotypes it will challenge. But I don’t see that as our burden to carry – we’re here to enjoy, celebrate, open our doors to anybody who wants to come.

We have a more celebratory attitude in terms of the heritage that we are representing.

Looking ahead, what are your hopes for the foundation?

Preserving traditional arts and preserving people’s connection with it when they are no longer living with it in the countries that those arts come from. Apart from just the exhibitions, I see our purpose might be to promote budding historians, artists and crafts people. Provide a niche of expertise for school teachers who want to incorporate Islamic history and arts into their school curriculum.

Potential for our work is huge. It’s just a matter of, can we get the resources that would match that huge ambition and our long term aim of a dedicated museum of Islamic arts and heritage.

 *For more information on MIAH foundation and upcoming events, visit the MIAH Foundation.