Established in 1980 by Tareq S. Rajab and Jehan S. Rajab, the Tareq Rajab Museum is the oldest Islamic Art museum in the Gulf and houses a collection of over 30,000 items collected over the last 60 years, of which approximately 10,000 are on permanent display. While the museum is often referred to as a single entity, its collections are displayed across two nearby locations. The "Tareq Rajab Museum", is the original museum founded in 1980 and is home to the collections of Islamic manuscripts, ceramics, glass, metalwork including the Bronze Door of Sultan Barquq, Islamic arms and armour, a large collection of silver folk jewellery, textiles, embroideries, costumes, musical instruments and orientalist artwork. In contrast, the "Tareq Rajab Museum of Islamic Calligraphy", which was founded in 2007, displays a range of mediums for Arabic script including manuscripts by famous calligraphers and scientists such as Yaqut Al-Musta'simi, Sheikh Hamdullah Al-Amasi, Ya'qub Ibn Ishaq Al-Kindi and Qusta Ibn Luqa Al-Ba'albaki, contemporary calligraphy and art, as well as decorated ceramics, metalwork, glass and textiles, such as four Burqa's (curtains of the Holy Ka'aba's door) located at the centre of the museum and a curtain from the inside of the shrine of the Prophet Muhammed (PBUH) in Medina.
