Meet the people who integrated the worlds of Islam and art

The brains behind the first English Islamic art magazine talk of their experience.

KARACHI:

A pioneer in the field, Arts and the Islamic World was the first English language Islamic art magazine of its kind in England.

In a seminar organised by ArtNow at the Karachi Literature Festival, Jalal Uddin Ahmed, former editor of Arts and the Islamic World, spoke of running a magazine many thought would prove to be a colossal failure. “We were told ‘there is no market for art books’ and that we could not succeed in this field,” said Ahmed. “We were told ‘there is no such thing as the art of the Islamic world, but 18 years and 36 issues later, I think it was not a bad idea.”

In 1954, Ahmed also published a book, Art in Pakistan. “After seven years of independence, we didn’t have an art movement,” he said. “The book had no significance other than documenting the art - it served merely as a record.”

Accompanying Ahmed was his wife, Azra Ahmed, and Zafar Malik - the three of whom made up the editing team at the magazine.



Despite having no training in editing or art, Azra, a science student, edited all the articles in the journal. “Science taught me to look at the salient and the core,” she explained. “The whole learning process enriched my life. I feel that in the process of living, everything becomes less important. Once you do something important, it enriches your life. With the magazine, I experienced a joy which will remain with me throughout my life.”

Arts and the Islamic World art director Zafar Malik referred to the two as his mentors. “I was the naysayer of the group,” he recalled. “I said if we do not have £50,000 we can’t start a magazine. Jalal sahab looked at me and said, ‘well I only have £13 and seven pence and we are publishing a magazine with that. That put me in my place.”

He claimed the magazine created a space for discussion and debates, showcasing a number of artists, thereby helping them in the art world. “The magazine wasn’t about Islamic art, it was about art from the Islamic world,” he explained. “There were no galleries at the time showing art from the Muslim world.”

Along with profiling the artists, the magazine also profiled countries such as Pakistan, Bangladesh and Bahrain - countries that, at the time, did not have a functioning art scene. Malik recalled this as his favorite part of the magazine.

“Dubai has Christie’s and Sotheby’s but they don’t produce and promote local art,” said Malik. “Pakistan is great in that way. I can’t think of another place that is doing as much in the art world as Pakistan is.

Ahmed recalled the extraordinary efforts of his wife and Malik to pull everything together. “They put based the magazine on the feedback we received and worked with a wide variety of people in different regions,” he reminisced fondly. “Zafar maintained the quality from the first issue to the last issue and Azra read each and every word of the magazine.”

Published in The Express Tribune, February 8^th, 2014.