Arabic History and Art (Hansard, 18 February 1991)

§ 27. Mr. Dalyell
To ask the Minister for the Arts what funds are available for the study of Arabic history and art.

§ The Minister for the Arts (Mr. Tim Renton)
No funds are allocated specifically by the Office of Arts and Libraries for the study of Arabic history and art.

§ Mr. Dalyell
I should like to ask the Minister a question, of which I have given him notice. What response has he made to Professor Akbar Ahmed of Cambridge about the squandering of our legacy of scholarship in the Arab languages and the study of Arab history? Could the Minister say anything about the removal of the famous Islamic collection in Kuwait? May not it be just as well that that has been taken elsewhere temporarily, simply because of the pounding that Kuwait may well receive in a land battle?

§ Mr. Renton
On the hon. Gentleman's first point, I am not aware of any squandering of the funding that is needed for Arabic studies at the universities or the university museums. Funding for the universities and the university museums is a matter for my right hon. and learned Friend the Secretary of State for Education and Science. I understand that allocations are made by the Universities Funding Council to individual universities in answer to specific bids. Such allocations will, of course, include Arabic studies.
In answer to the hon. Gentleman's second point, it is, alas, sadly true that the contents of the Kuwait museum of Islamic antiquities have been removed by the Iraqis. It is one of the finest collections of Islamic art in the world. For the hon. Gentleman in any sense to take any comfort in the fact that that collection has been taken elsewhere is absolutely astonishing. It is an example of Iraqi pillage and of the despoiling of Kuwait.