SHARJAH // Fifty years ago, on the site of what is now an impressive gallery of Islamic innovations, an Emirati legend was born.
"Baeer bala ras", or the tale of "the headless camel", refers to the ghost of an animal who went on to haunt the stall of the butcher who failed to slaughter it properly.
The stall was one of hundreds that made up Sharjah's oldest souq and is now the site of a section of the Sharjah Museum of Islamic Civilisation.
"Stories and legends relating to souqs began here," Abdulaziz al Musallam, director of heritage and culture affairs at Sharjah's Department of Culture and Information, said.
Sharjah's Museums Department is highlighting the facility's past as part of "Museums and Memory", a week-long celebration surrounding International Museum Day on Wednesday.
For Emiratis and residents of Sharjah, a visit to the Museum of Islamic Civilisation is a stroll through the past.
In the two decades before it opened as a museum in 2008, the site was known as Souq al Majarrah - one of Sharjah's first air-conditioned and modernised bazaar-style souqs The museum, which has two 90-metre arcades meeting under a central tower, preserves the souq's arched ceilings and rows of small stalls.
These days, the halls contain more than 5,000 artifacts that shed light on Islamic history, science and art.
The museum, located on the Corniche, is a landmark. The exterior of its dome is covered in 24-carat gold, while the dome's interior has an intricate overhead mosaic showing the night sky with astrological star signs.
Mr al Musallam, 45, remembers the first lemonade he bought from the souq in the 1980s. Earlier, in the 1960s, he would tag along with his father to buy fresh fish.
"I am overcome with a nostalgic feeling whenever I come here with my family," he said.
Before it was modernised in the 1980s, the souq was already more than 150 years old. It was referred to by Europeans as a homeward stop on China's Silk Road and India's Spice Road trade routes.
"It was a hard gum to chew, but we used to like it as children," Mr al Musallam said.
Boats still dock nearby, as they have for hundreds of years, although many of the traditional dhows have been replaced by cargo ships. A fisherman from one of the smaller fishing boats docked within walking distance of the museum still remembers carrying his fish to the stalls.
"We would roam the sea in search of unique fish, and then sell them here," said Abu Ali al Ali, in his 60s. "A few decades ago, when we sold fish, it was really fresh, not like now."
There is no trace of the merchandise that used to be sold at the souq-turned-museum. Vegetables have been replaced by precious items, such as Muslims' treasured kiswa. The 14-metre black cloak, which covers the holy Kaaba in Mecca, is made of silk and cotton and embroidered with Quran verses stitched in golden thread. Every year, the cloak is replaced with a new one that requires 670 kilograms of pure gold for the stitching.
Different Islamic period dress, pottery, and even toys can be found in halls that were once open for business.
"In the first year the museum was open, we kept getting people asking about the souq," Aisha Deemas, the museum's curator, said.
Ms Deemas recalls her mother visiting the souq to buy textiles. There was a lot of bargaining and discussion. "It was quite an interactive experience," she said.
Now everything from cushions to mirrors to different experimental ways of measuring time and mapping the stars can be seen - but all behind secure glass and not to be touched.
"It is interesting to see how people who are from this area and who lived here react when they come inside this souq that has become a museum," she said.
rghazal@thenational.ae
The biog
Name: Fareed Lafta
Age: 40
From: Baghdad, Iraq
Mission: Promote world peace
Favourite poet: Al Mutanabbi
Role models: His parents
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The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
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