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From Dervish Caps to Mecca Coke. Diversity of Islamic religious practice
June 16, 2013 - Dec. 31, 2017 as a special exhibition, since then a part of the permanent exhibition.
Exhibition management: Prof. Dr. Edith Franke and Konstanze Runge, M.A.
The exhibition is located in the rooms of the Religious Studies Collection and provides insights into the often little-noticed, broad diversity of Muslim realities and the religiosity of everyday life in three thematic areas.
Current innovations and regional peculiarities in prayer and pilgrimage practices are addressed in the first part of the exhibition. Objects from the traditional holdings of the Religious Studies Collection, such as amulets and talismans, portray the belief in spirits and the evil eye. Special foods for Lent, such as Mecca cola, find their way into the exhibition, as do traditional garments for the Hajj pilgrimage and pilgrim souvenirs from the Sunni and Shiite traditions.
The mystical side of Islam is presented in the second part of the exhibition with objects from the collection of Prof. Annemarie Schimmel and other exhibits from Turkey and Persia that are remarkable in terms of cultural history. The objects show possibilities of the "journey to God" in different dervish traditions.
In the third section on children's education in Islam, Muslim toys, some of which were developed in Germany, illustrate how girls and boys are educated religiously within the family circle. These range from posters on Islamic child education in Indonesia to colorfully illustrated prayer and Ramadan calendars to Islamic Barbie dolls, board games and a Turkish circumcision garment.
A companion volume to the exhibition has also been published, which you can purchase for €12 (students €10) in the Religious Studies Collection.