ABSTRACT
The terms social inclusion and exclusion has become natural discourses in which to discuss the uneasy place of Muslims in Western secular society. The exclusion of Muslims in society was further reiterated by the media and some politicians who viewed Muslims in terms of difference, suspicion, otherness and confrontation'. The push from non-Muslim actors such as government and art institutions toward the social inclusion of Muslims has been a positive step in addressing real issues within the Muslim community without removing religion from the conversation. Islamic art encompasses the visual arts produced from the seventh century onwards by people who lived within the territory that was inhabited or ruled by a Muslim population. Current literature in the arts is limited to Islamic arts and contemporary Muslim artists from the Middle East, Indonesia and the Asian subcontinent.
