Unidentified Tuareg Artist
Date:
Early 20th Century
Medium:
Copper alloy, nickel, and lead
Size:
Depth: 3 1/2″
Width: 16″
Height: 11 13/16″

This shining case is a metaphor for the light of God’s word as told by the Qu’ran held inside. Interlocking circles continue this meditation on the connection between the celestial and the terrestrial. One inscription reads, “It is Allah Who sustains the heavens and the earth,” while the other repeats the first words of the Qu’ran: “In the name of Allah, the Merciful, the Compassionate.” Tuareg traders, who connected Arab trans-Saharan caravans to the sub-Saharan African market, were converted to Islam by the religious scholar Abd al-Karim al-Maghili at the turn of the 16th century.

Anonymous Gift BMA 2002.142

An Object of Comfort

Transcript

[Aaron Henkin] We spoke about this Koran box with Ulid Khalifi from his home in Ghana. He’s lived and worked with the Tuareg people of Northern Africa, and he sees the tradition of wearing Koran boxes around one’s neck as very much connected to the Tuareg nomadic life.
[Ulid Khalifi] It could be hanging on your chest for weeks and for months. Someone feels comfort in a very challenging environment, and a lot of them go through loneliness and long troubles, and they feel that they are not somehow alone. You need to look at it in a symbolic way towards the spirituality of the Tuareg people being Muslim, but it is not the same interpretation of Islam that you would find in the Middle East or in certain parts of Asia or even in North Africa. It is a reference for teachings when it comes to morality, not when it comes to daily practice, and this is what makes the Tuareg very different than the other three main
schools of thought: Sunni, Shia, and Sufi.