Forget about the murders, the beheadings, the hostage-takings, the sex slavery, the jihad-martyrdom suicide attacks, the threats, the boasts of imminent conquest, the institutionalized oppression of women and non-Muslims, and the rest — just look at this calligraphy!
More of the endless attempts by the British intelligentsia to compel the British people not to be concerned about jihad, Sharia and Islamization: “New UK museum to help develop image of Islam,” Reuters, March 28, 2015:
Art from the Islamic world will be shown in the heart of the British Museum, instead of on the sidelines, in two new galleries funded by a Malaysian foundation which hopes to offset the image created by Islamic militants.
The museum, which houses one of the world’s largest collections of art and artefacts, said on Thursday it plans to open two new galleries in its south wing devoted to its extensive collection of art from the Islamic world.
Until now works from the collection have been displayed in a gallery tucked away on the north side of the massive building, a long walk from the main entrance.
The two new galleries, which will complement the existing gallery, are being funded for an undisclosed amount by the Albukhary Foundation of Malaysia.
Syed Mokhtar Albukhary, the foundation’s chairman, said there was an urgent need to make people more aware of the value of art and artefacts from the Islamic world, and the threats to this cultural heritage, especially at a time when historic sites in Iraq are under attack by militants of the Islamic State.
“What is happening in the world, demolishing all the Islamic heritage, non-Islamic antiquities, is a bad image,” he said.
“The British Museum … has been building this collection, without them we would not have any history,” he added.
The decision followed what the museum said was the extraordinary success of its 2012 exhibition “Hajj: journey to the heart of Islam” which director Neil MacGregor said had attracted almost 150,000 visitors.
“There was clearly a huge hunger in the public in Britain to know more about the cultures of the Islamic world,” MacGregor told a news conference. “That started us thinking very hard about the importance about thinking about the Islamic world in this way.”…