The Metropolitan Museum of Art undoubtedly houses the premier Islamic art collection in New York City. From the east coast to the west, here are five American museums with preeminent Islamic art collections: A visit to Islamic galleries of a museum can provide a step towards penetrating the history of a religion and a culture that are often covered in the news but are hardly understood. Islamic art provides perhaps the most accessible expression of the complex civilization. With art from the Islamic world currently in the spotlight of this world-renowned museum, MutualArt surveys which institutions in the United States hold substantial Islamic art collections. The timing could not be better for the country which is home to a large Muslim population. In the midst of the uproar, the Louvre opened its new Islamic wing at the culmination of a decade-long and nearly $126 million project in the biggest change to the museum since the addition of the iconic glass pyramid.

News coverage is dominated by the aftermath of the “Innocence of Muslims” film, the French satirical cartoons and just this week, Egyptian-American journalist Mona Eltahawy’s arrest for vandalizing anti-Muslim subway ads in New York City.

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