A Visit to Islamic Arts Museum, Malaysia

Still remember from my very first trip abroad, to Kuala Lumpur about more than 10 years ago, my friend and I were unable to enter the museum because of one basic mistake: it was closed at that day. We already arrived at the museum complex, and ended up taking selfie. At that time, having internet connection abroad was a luxury. Even I barely remember, did we have smartphones back then? 🤔

Fast forward to the end of 2022, having internet connection is like as basic as water needs. My blurred memory about the museum location had surprised me that actually it's in the middle of the city. I always thought it was somewhere far, outskirt. Alhamdulillah, I enjoyed my time walking from KL Sentral to the museum, about 25 minutes. The weather was nice, not too hot, and rather cloudy. That was totally a different experience from what I did last time. 

Found this building along my way to the museum, KTM Berhad, with Morrish Revival design built by a British colonial architect, Arthur Benison Hubback. This style reminds me of Royal Pavilion in Brighton, UK. 

The entrance ticket for adult is RM 15 and there's discount for students. Many visitors came as group of families, and I also noticed some solo visitors like me as well. I might say the number of foreign visitors were the same as local visitors at that time of my visit. 

I took a lift to the first floor, where the main exhibition was. I skipped the architecture area, and walked straight to the calligraphy area. It divided into several sections, where we could see how Islam and Islamic calligraphy spread from time to time. 

In the Qur'an and Manuscript Gallery, visitors could learn about many types of calligraphy style. There were several early Quran manuscripts with Hijazi style, manuscripts on vellums with Kufic style, and finally more on papers, such as Eastern Kufic, Maghribi, Nasta'liq, Divani, Square Kufic, Thuluth, Naskh,  Muhaqqaq, Riqa', and so on. 

Personally, looking at these old Qur'ans had touched my heart. Thinking about these pages had transcended the time, many ages, and finally able to be seen to many in this museum. The fact that the words are intact, no change from hundreds of year ago, and had brought hidayah to may many people. The calligraphers' efforts from training, to diligently finish the whole Qur'ans. Its beauty in decoration to beautify the sacred words of Allah Swt. 

So proud to see my teacher, Haji Noor Deen's work and several Chinese calligraphers in the China Gallery.

Now that I'm learning calligraphy (an aspiring calligrapher InshaAllah), I feel that I can appreciate these works more than before. Isn't actually amazing to see these works came from thousands of miles away, created a long time ago, and all united by one message: submission, Islam. And now that I could stand there, is a destiny, hopefully I can learn more from those masterpiece. It's not just an inspiration, but energy to practice, to create, and to share that same message. 

Museum shop

The shop is nice! I spent about 30 mins here. It has a wide range of book collections. I'm talking about several shelves, not just small display on table. It sells souvenirs based on the art collections, such as magnets, notebooks, key chains, bookmarks, postcards, etc. It also has original museum merchandise with some calligraphic design rendered on tote bags, and many more. There's a small section that sells general Malaysia-themed souvenirs. But there's one thing you can't miss. 

You can buy real artworks from the artists, which works are shown in the museum collection. There are embroidery, ceramics, calligraphy works, you name it. I might be a bit biased here, because I specifically looked for my teacher's works, and yes there are some! I bought one with the Chinese style calligraphy.

That's all! Next stop, Museum of Future in Dubai, perhaps? 😉 or Museum of Islamic Art in Qatar?