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In This Month’s Newsletter

– New podcast – Through Uzbekistan: Histories of the Persianate World
– Event: Aga Khan Library Tour and Exhibition – London, 10th April
– The Stafford Mihrab – A Hands On Islamic Art project
– End of the 2026 grant cycle
– Courses at the Arab British Centre

Above: Gur-e-Amir Mausoleum in Samarqand built for Mongol conqueror Timur (November 2025)

This month’s podcast episode takes us through Uzbekistan along the route that The Barakat Trust took on our trip to the country in November 2025. We begin in Tashkent before moving to Samarkand and finishing in Bukhara, exploring a number of architectural sites, crafts and traditions along the way. In our discussion we ask how the richness of Uzbekistan’s cultural heritage came to be considered on the periphery of the Persianate world.

Our guest is Fuchsia Hart the Sarikhani Curator for the Iranian Collection at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. She has written for publications like The Guardian and the Oxford Review of Books, and spoke or lectured at institutions like The Wallace Collection, SOAS, and the Royal Asiatic Society. In 2025, Fuchsia completed her PhD in Asian and Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Oxford with a thesis exploring Fath ‘Ali Shah Qajar’s patronage of the major shrines of Iran and Iraq.  

On Friday 10th April come and join The Barakat Trust for a visit to the Aga Khan Centre in King’s Cross, London. We will be taking a tour of the Library’s special collections with Head Librarian, Dr. Walid Ghali, and then a guided visit of the ongoing exhibition “Canticle of the Birds” on Sufi poetry. Our visit will be followed by a group meal together at Granary Square Brasserie.

The tour at the Aga Khan Centre will last two hours, from 15:00 until 17:00 before we move to the restaurant to eat at 17:30.

Dr Walid Ghali leads the Aga Khan Library. He is a Professor of Arabic and Islamic Studies at The Aga Khan University’s Institute for the Study of Muslim Civilisations (AKU-ISMC) and received his PhD in Arabic Manuscript Traditions from Cairo University in 2012.

This event is ticketed to cover some of the administrative costs and the price of the meal, should you wish to join us. Members of The Barakat Trust can buy a ticket at a discounted rate.

Member’s ticket: Tour ONLY: Free

Non-member’s ticket: Tour ONLY: £10

Member’s ticket: Tour AND Meal: £35

Non-member’s ticket: Tour AND Meal: £50

The Stafford Mihrab – Hands on Islamic Art

Just before Eid, a new mihrab was erected at the Stafford Muslim Community Centre and Mosque, the culmination of a collaborative process that The Barakat Trust is delighted to have been a part of. The Stafford Mihrab is the result of a project called “Interlaced: Islamic Art in British Life” supported by The Barakat Trust’s Hands on Islamic Art project, funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund.  

The project was led by Nadia El Sebai, a member of Stafford’s Muslim community. The aim was to develop a distinct local design identity for interior elements of the Stafford Muslim Community Centre’s new mosque. It all began with a ceramics handling session run by Dr Richard McClary of York University followed by a series of craft workshops held in Stafford to engage local communities with aspects of the shared artistic heritage between the Islamic world and Staffordshire, UK. These were led by Mohamed Younes and Shahed Saleem. Once the final design was agreed upon it was sent to Cairo to the workshop of Atef Kamal on Khayamiyya Street, the district of Cairo famous for its vibrant appliqué craft tradition. The khayamiyya was stitched and put together by hand and there was even a chance to try out the khayamiyya next to a much older mihrab in a zawiya (small prayer space) in Old Cairo. The khayamiyya pieces were transported from Egypt to the UK where assembly began in the new mosque involving community members of all ages, young and old.

The final result is magnificent, and The Barakat Trust is proud to have contributed to such a meaningful project with a great team of designers, artisans, educators and, most importantly, the community members of Stafford.

Thanks to Ethan Jones, Shahed Saleem, and Seif el-Rashidi for the photos.

Our 2026 Grant Cycle closes

From 1st January to 31st March, The Barakat Trust opened its annual grant cycle to provide funding for a diverse range of activities relating to the protection and promotion of cultural heritage in the Islamic world.

Applications are now closed for the remainder of this year. Our 2027 grant round will open on 1st January.

Applicants for this year’s grants cycle can expect to hear back from us at the end of May.

Courses at the Arab British Centre

The Arab British Centre, a close partner of The Barakat Trust, have released their courses for the coming year covering a variety of themes: from embroidery, to belly dancing to calligraphy. These are courses run under the ethos that knowledge should live beyond the textbook and thus they are taught through conversation, practice and shared curiosity. Make sure to sign up for your place.