Ashmolean Eastern Art Online, Yousef Jameel Centre for Islamic and Asian Art

Eastern Art Online welcomes you to explore its collection of artefacts from the Islamic World on the occasion on Ramadan. Many of these artefacts are on display in the Ashmolean's Islamic Middle East gallery, there is also an Islamic Ceramics trail to follow, an online version the publication Embroideries and Samplers from Islamic Eqypt by Marianne Ellis to explore, as well as other related material to discover on the site.

Ramadan (also known as Ramadhan or Ramzan) is the ninth month in the Islamic calendar and, according to the Qur’an, the month when the revelation to Muhammad began. For Muslims it is a period of prayer, fasting, and charity-giving. As the Islamic calendar is lunar rather than solar, the month of Ramadan changes its location in respect to the Gregorian calendar every year. In 2011, Ramadan falls between 1st and 29th August. The end of the month is marked by the celebrations of ‘Eid al-Fitr (‘Festival of the breaking of the fast’).

For further information about Ramadan, please see the links on the right.