Shahab Ahmed’s What Is Islam? The Importance of Being Islamic (2016) challenges anthropologists, Islamic Studies scholars, art historians and museum practitioners to question the theological assumptions underlying conceptions of Islamic art and material culture. This article analyses three object types key to Ahmed’s analysis – Islamic figural painting, musical instruments and wine bowls – from the vantage point of the collection of the Dutch National Museum of World Cultures. Based on the author’s experience as Assistant Curator for West Asia and North Africa in 2015–2016 and on exhibition developments up until 2019, Ahmed’s framework is demonstrated as a guide for critical interpretations of exhibitions of Islamic art and material culture. This perspective lays bare a tension that contemporary museums struggle with in response to nationalist pressures to integrate Muslim citizens in Western Europe: between a diverse Islamic heritage, on the one hand, and orthodox desires to materially purify the very idea of Islam, on the other.

沙哈卜·艾哈迈德（Shahab Ahmed）的伊斯兰教是什么？伊斯兰教的重要性（2016）挑战人类学家，伊斯兰研究学者，艺术史学家和博物馆从业者质疑伊斯兰艺术和物质文化概念背后的神学假设。本文从荷兰国家世界文化博物馆的收藏的角度分析了艾哈迈德进行分析的三种重要对象类型：伊斯兰雕像绘画，乐器和酒杯。根据作者2015年至2016年担任西亚和北非助理策展人的经验以及直到2019年的展览发展情况，艾哈迈德（Ahmed）的框架被证明是对伊斯兰艺术和物质文化展览进行批判性解释的指南。这种观点暴露了当代博物馆为应对民族主义的压力而在与西欧的穆斯林公民融合的过程中与之抗衡的紧张气氛：