The Relevance of Traditional Ideas.

Experience the 1976 World of Islam Festival in London

‘Inspired by a meeting with Mahmud Mirza, a traditional musician from India, the architect Paul Keeler, of the Centre for Advanced Creative Study in London, who was to become the initiator of the World of Islam Festival, set about producing an exhibition on “the Mughal way of life”. Keeler’s interest in Islam grew from the 1960s pop scene and the widespread fascination for Indian music and spirituality that grew up in this milieu. In contrast to the mainstream of this counter-culture, Keeler developed his interests towards Islam rather than Hinduism. His deepened engagement with Islamic traditions led on to a first, and much smaller, Festival of Islam in London in 1971, which aimed “to celebrate the unity of the Islamic world”.

It was a time after the demise of late-nineteenth-century Muslim peril propaganda and before the rise of modern post-Cold War Islamophobia. Islam was still largely viewed as a quaint remnant of a traditional way of life that it was assumed would disappear in the ongoing modernization of the world. The planning had already begun in 1971, which meant that the increased revenues flowing to Arab oil producers did not create the Festival, but expanded its budget and size.

Many of the senior curators of the major Islamic collections in European museums either participated in or were influenced by the Festival’s exhibitions.

“In the history of European exhibiting of Islamic art, it was the first to eclipse the legendary Munich exhibition of Islamic art in 1910. The explicit aim of the World of Islam Festival was to “promote knowledge, appreciation and understanding of the Muslim world”.

See, Framing Islam at the World of Islam Festival, London, 1976, Klas Grinell, 2018; See, Arabic language version of a documentary giving an outline of the events; See, Revisiting the 1976 World of Islam Festival - Panel Discussion with Dr Nur Sobers-Khan, SOAS, 2016