Islamic Art Critic & Collector

HIGH WYCOMBE, UNITED KINGDOM

Razwan Baig is a scholar, collector, philanthropist, Islamic art critic and researcher. His Islamic art collection includes items as diverse as textiles and ceramics to Qur’anic manuscripts, and has been shown in several major art museums and international exhibitions.
His interest in Islamic calligraphy began at the age of 12 and he has run workshops and presented on the art of calligraphy since 1994. He completed his qualifcations in History of Art & Archaeology of Islamic world, from the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London.

He has also obtained extensive training in Arabic calligraphy in many different styles from Birkbeck College and The University of Sunderland. Razwan Baig has studied with world renowned calligraphers from Turkey, Baghdad and Pakistan.

​Razwan Baig has also founded a Quran Writing Project named Al-Qalam which will be the first of its kind where members of the public will write each verse of this historic manuscript in calligraphic style.
His collection can be viewed on the website: www.islamicartofcalligraphy.com

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Razwan Baig interviewed by various media outlets.

DR. OKASHA EL DALY

A leading expert in Egyptology and Medieval Arabic - UCL

UNITED KINGDOM

​Dr Okasha El Daly is based in UCL’s Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology, one of the world’s largest collections of artefacts covering thousands of years of ancient Egyptian prehistory and history.
Dr El Daly proved that Arab scholars cracked Egyptian hieroglyphics 1,000 years before Europeans did.
Dr Okasha El Daly of UCL’s Institute of Archaeology, explains:
“For two and a half centuries the study of Egyptology has been dominated by a Euro-centric view, which has virtually ignored over a thousand years of Arabic scholarship and enquiry encouraged by Islam.
​Western culture misinterprets Islam because we think teaching before the Quran is shunned, which isn’t the case. They valued history and assumed that Egypt was a land of science and wisdom and as such they wanted to learn their language to have access to such vast knowledge."

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DR. SAMI DEGIOSA

Curator and leading expert in Islamic Art - ​​Oxford University Khalili Islamic Research Centre

UNITED KINGDOM

​Dr Sami DeGiosa is a curator, linguist, researcher and leading expert in Islamic Art and material culture. He specialises in medieval Egyptian Islamic Art and has lived and worked across the Middle East.
Dr Sami worked as a curator at the British Museum prior to joining the Khalili Islamic Research Centre at Oxford University

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