The Virtual Tour

Enter the museum and wander through the Objects gallery as if you were walking among its halls. More wing galleries are on the way — and journeys through time to the Cave of Hira, Cordoba, Baghdad…

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Virtual Tour — without JavaScript

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Museum wings

Exhibits in the Objects gallery

Astrolabe of Umar ibn Yusuf (1291 CE · 690 AH†) — A brass instrument for reading the stars, finding times and directions, made by the Rasulid sultan of Yemen, Umar ibn Yusuf, himself.
Birmingham Qur'an manuscript (between 568 and 645 CE) — Parchment folios in Hijazi script, radiocarbon dated to 568–645 CE, among the oldest known Qur'an leaves.
Iznik bottle (c. 1570 (approx.) CE) — A painted fritware bottle made in Iznik in 1575–80.
Umayyad coins of al-Andalus (between 929 and 1010 CE) — A set of dirhams struck in Cordoba in the age of the Umayyad caliphate of al-Andalus, 929–1010.
Mosque lamp from Egypt (c. 1482 CE · c. 887 AH†) — A brass lamp made in Egypt around 1468–96 to light a mosque.

† Hijri date derived by computation from the Gregorian/Julian date; it may differ from the transmitted date by a day or two.

Stops in the other halls

Time

The Hijra (c. 12 September 622 CE · c. 29 Safar 1 AH†) — The migration of the Prophet Muhammad and his followers from Mecca to Medina in 622 CE, from which the Islamic calendar is counted.
The Treaty of Hudaybiyya (c. March 628 CE · Dhu al-Qa'da 6 AH) — In Dhu al-Qa'da 6 AH the Prophet set out for Umrah with about 1,400 companions; when Quraysh barred the way, talks ended in a ten-year peace.
The Conquest of Mecca (c. 11 January 630 CE · 20 Ramadan 8 AH) — In Ramadan 8 AH, after the Hudaybiyya peace was broken, the Prophet entered Mecca with ten thousand, his head bowed in humility.
The Farewell Pilgrimage (March 632 CE · Dhu al-Hijja 10 AH) — The only pilgrimage the Prophet led, in which he gave the sermon known as the Farewell Sermon.
The founding of Baghdad — The caliph al-Mansur began building Madinat al-Salam, Baghdad, in 145 AH, as al-Baladhuri records.
The conquest of Constantinople (c. 29 May 1453 CE · 857 AH) — Sultan Mehmed II took the city in 857 AH (1453 CE) after a fifty-day siege, having moved his ships overland into the Golden Horn.

Place

Mecca — City in the Hejaz, birthplace of the Prophet Muhammad, site of the Kaaba and goal of the yearly Hajj.
Medina — City in the Hejaz to which the Prophet migrated in 622 CE, home of the Prophet's Mosque and the first Muslim community.
Jerusalem — City sacred to Jews, Christians and Muslims, the first qibla of Islam, surrendered to the Muslims in 637 CE.
Damascus — Capital of the Umayyad caliphate (661–750 CE) and home of the Umayyad Mosque.
Cairo (969 CE · 358 AH†) — Founded by the Fatimids in 969 CE beside Fustat, and home of al-Azhar.
Cordoba — Capital of the Umayyad emirate, then caliphate, of al-Andalus, with its Great Mosque.

People

Malik ibn Anas (c. 711 CE · 93 AH – c. 795 CE · 179 AH) — Imam of Medina and author of the Muwatta, who taught there until his death in 179 AH; the Maliki school bears his name.
Ibn Sina (Avicenna) (c. 980 CE · c. 370 AH – June 1037 CE · Ramadan 428 AH) — Polymath (c. 980–1037) whose Canon of Medicine and Book of Healing shaped medicine and philosophy in the Islamic world and Europe for centuries.
al-Khwarizmi (780 CE · 164 AH – 850 CE · 235 AH) — Muhammad ibn Musa al-Khwarizmi, counted by al-Mas'udi among the scholars of astronomy after the rise of Islam.
Ibn Khaldun (1332 CE · 732 AH – 1406 CE · 808 AH) — Abd al-Rahman ibn Muhammad ibn Khaldun al-Hadrami, author of the Muqaddima and the Kitab al-'Ibar, who died in 808 AH.
Fatima al-Fihri (c. 800 CE · c. 184 AH† – c. 880 CE · c. 266 AH†) — She gave her wealth to build the Qarawiyyin mosque in Fez around 859 CE.
Mimar Sinan — Chief architect of the Ottoman Empire in the sixteenth century; among his works is the Selimiye Mosque in Edirne.

Ideas

Tawhid (the oneness of God) — Affirming that God is one, without partner or likeness; al-Tahawi opens his statement of the creed with it.
The shahada — The testimony that there is no god but God and that Muhammad is God's messenger, named first in the hadith 'Islam is built on five'.
The five pillars of Islam — The five acts on which Islam is built: the testimony of faith, prayer, zakat, pilgrimage and the fast of Ramadan.
Iman (faith) — Belief in God, His angels, His book, meeting Him, His messengers and the resurrection, as in the hadith of Jibril.
Charity (sadaqa) — Charity is wider than giving money: the Prophet pointed his poorer companions to charities within their reach, such as glorifying God and doing good.
Remembrance of God (dhikr) — Remembrance of God; the fiftieth hadith in Ibn Rajab's collection says: 'keep your tongue moist with the remembrance of God'.

Words

Sahih al-Bukhari — The Jami' al-Musnad al-Sahih, compiled by Muhammad ibn Isma'il al-Bukhari al-Ju'fi.
al-Fihrist — Ibn al-Nadim's tenth-century encyclopaedia of books, authors and sciences, in ten discourses.
The Canon of Medicine — Ibn Sina's encyclopaedia of medicine in five books, opening with general principles and simple drugs.
The Algebra of al-Khwarizmi — Al-Khwarizmi's treatise on al-jabr and al-muqabala, placed first by the editors of the 1939 Cairo edition among the scientific books they chose to publish.
The Muqaddima — Ibn Khaldun's prolegomenon on the nature of civilisation, group feeling (asabiyya), dynasties, crafts and sciences.
Ihya' 'Ulum al-Din — Al-Ghazali's work in four quarters of forty books: worship, daily life, the destroyers and the saviours.

Living Islam

The call to prayer (adhan) — The public call to prayer in a fixed formula: Allahu akbar, the two testimonies, 'hurry to prayer' and 'hurry to success', with an added phrase at dawn.
Eid al-Fitr — The festival closing Ramadan on 1 Shawwal: the Eid prayer, zakat al-fitr, feasts and visits.
Iftar — The meal that breaks the fast at sunset in Ramadan, gathering family and neighbours; many open it with dates.
Hajj — The journey to the Sacred House at Mecca to perform its rites, one of the five pillars for those who are able.
Honouring the guest — Honouring the guest among the Arabs: welcome without questions, generosity without pretence, and the host sharing his food.
Memorising the Qur'an (hifz) — Learning the whole Qur'an by heart.

Today

Organisation of Islamic Cooperation — An intergovernmental body of Muslim-majority states, seated in Jeddah, which describes itself as the collective voice of the Muslim world.
The Sabri Brothers (1958 CE · 1377 AH†) — The Pakistani qawwali ensemble known for 'Tajdar-e-Haram'.
Junoon (1990 CE · 1410 AH†) — Pakistan's pioneering 'Sufi rock' band, known for 'Sayyoni'.
Native Deen (2000 CE · 1421 AH†) — An American nasheed trio whose albums are heard in Islamic schools across the US.
Raihan (1993 CE · 1413 AH†) — The Malaysian group that shaped the nasyid genre; their album Puji-Pujian brought it into the mainstream in Southeast Asia.
Ajr al-mithl (customary wage) — The wage that work of the same kind earns by custom.

Made

Goldsmiths' dust — The ash found in goldsmiths' workshops, holding unknown gold or silver; the schools of law differ on selling it.
Suftaja (bill of exchange) — A written note letting a sum lent in one town be repaid in another.
Horse colours in Timurid painting — Timurid manuscript painters gave horses distinct colours and markings, which Fayed reads as evidence of real horse types in Samarkand, Herat and Shiraz.
Bakdash (1885 CE · 1302 AH†) — A famous ice-cream parlour in Damascus's al-Hamidiyah souq since 1885, known for its pounded mastic ice cream.
El-Fishawy Café (1773 CE · 1187 AH†) — The oldest café in Cairo's Khan el-Khalili (c. 1773), open day and night for two and a half centuries.
Le Café de la Mosquée de Paris (1926 CE · 1344 AH†) — The café-restaurant and hammam in the garden of the Grand Mosque of Paris (1926).