{
  "id": 4548396,
  "title": "Sultan bin Fahad explores historical links between jazz and Islam in solo exhibition",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/08/31/sultan-bin-fahad-explores-historical-links-between-jazz-and-islam-in",
  "topic": "culture",
  "section": "Culture",
  "published": "2026-08-31T02:20:00.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "The National UAE",
    "slug": "the-national-uae",
    "url": "https://www.thenationalnews.com/arts-culture/art-design/2026/08/31/saudi-artist-sultan-bin-fahad-links-jazz-islam-blue-note-exhibition/"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Sultan bin Fahad's solo exhibition, Blue Note, at Leila Heller Gallery in Dubai explores the historical connections between jazz and Islam. One of his pieces, Supreme, features a grand piano and a drum kit arranged on an eight-pointed star, a common Islamic design known as Rub el-Hizb. The painting draws parallels between the rhythm and structure of music and the faith, with its visual musical arrangement said to evoke the essence of jazz.\n\nThe exhibition highlights Coltrane's association with Islam, as his 1965 jazz album, A Love Supreme, carries the words \"A Love Supreme\" and references the Islamic names Ar-Rahman and Ar-Raheem. Coltrane's first wife, Juanita Naima Grubbs, was Muslim, and there were many jazz musicians who converted to Islam, including Yusef Lateef, Art Blakey, and Ahmed Abdul-Malik, whose oil paintings are featured in the exhibition.\n\nThe exhibition also touches on Malcolm X's pilgrimage to Mecca in 1964, which marked his shift from the Nation of Islam to Sunni Islam. Coltrane attended one of Malcolm X's speeches during his visit and expressed admiration for the civil rights activist. These historical connections between jazz and Islam are further emphasized through the displayed records of Dizzy Gillespie, Blakey, and Coltrane, books on jazz and the Civil Rights Movement, and Malcolm X's letter to a friend from prison, which reads \"As Salaam Alaikum, your brother, Malcolm X.\"\n\nBin Fahad's goal is to share and tell a story through his art, connecting the dots between the two seemingly unrelated worlds of jazz and Islam. The exhibition is set to run until September 13 at Leila Heller Gallery.",
  "summary": "Sultan bin Fahad’s Supreme can be perceived as a flattened, two-dimensional stage of a jazz room. The beads-on-canvas piece shows a grand piano on the left, facing a five-piece drum kit. Bass and horn sections are in the foreground. Each part of the band is positioned on an eight-pointed star, a common shape in Islamic design. The octagram – made of two overlapping squares – is known as Rub…",
  "key_points": [
    "Sultan bin Fahad's exhibition 'Blue Note' explores jazz-Islam connections",
    "Supreme painting features piano, drum kit on Islamic Rub el-Hizb star",
    "Coltrane's album 'A Love Supreme' references Islamic names Ar-Rahman, Ar-Raheem"
  ],
  "editors_take": "The exhibition reveals a long-overlooked intersection of jazz and Islam, highlighting shared historical and cultural ties that influenced prominent musicians and civil rights figures.",
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 2,
    "also_reported_by": [
      {
        "outlet": "The National Business",
        "title": "Sultan bin Fahad explores historical links between jazz and Islam in solo exhibition",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/08/31/sultan-bin-fahad-explores-historical-links-between-jazz-and-islam-in-4549369",
        "published": "2026-08-31T02:20:00.000Z"
      }
    ]
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}