By Noor ul Haq,
Recently 4th International Islamic Book Fair was held at Delhi from 1st October to 9thOctober at India Islamic Culture Centre, New Delhi. The book fair was organised by reputed Al Hasanat Books Pvt. Ltd. in collaboration with India Islamic Cultural Centre, supposedly to create awareness and enlighten the Muslim Ummah through the light of Quran, Hadith and other Islamic literature besides generating book reading habit among the tech savvy youth. Stalls from Iran, Pakistan, Beirut, USA, Singapore, Malaysia and other countries, contained books of various languages by different authors touching the chords on different issues. Islamic DVDs, CDs, hijabs and various other garments were also there. People from all walks of life, students, professionals, book lovers and commoners visited the stalls in huge numbers.
Organisers were praised by the people on conducting of the book fair. A welcome step. Surely such acts, steps taken or programs organised are laudable but must be praised to strengthen the will of organisers, so that more and more such Islamic programs, book fairs and other activities are organised in various parts of country. And which in turn will ignite the fresh yet somehow polluted minds of our youth-The Future of Ummah. Our intention must be clear. Our programs, activities, seminars must be organised for the betterment of Ummah and not just for business. And for such good intentions, organisers should make it possible not to include any un-Islamic and useless stuff with a good collection. Is it necessary to include books like ‘Motapa se Najat’ , ‘Jadoogaroon ki Kahaniyan’, ‘MahaRani’, ‘Yoga’, ‘Sex Guide’, ‘One minute Manager’, ‘Shah Rukh Khan-Swaniyah Umri(Biography)’ ,’Aurat aur Mard ki Mohabbat K 100 asool, ‘Kamasutra‘ and more many in an Islamic Book Fair. Seems, no need is there. Make it possible that people from all walks of life can buy, read and get benefitted from such events. Why to include such books in an Islamic event when we can buy such books from other book shops also.
One more problem what can be seen in our events is management of money in terms of book price. Usually expensive books are being sold, which can be obtained from other book stores at a very cheap rate, become a thing of beauty just to add the beautification of book stalls. Shouldn’t we keep books at affordable prices so that all can buy? We should keep it in our mind that our customers not only consist employees, professionals, businessmen and well off but also students and lower class people also. If we are sincere enough to propagate the message of Islam, then we must keep all strata of people in our mind. Let us hope that people at the helm of affairs will consider these and such points just to pull out this ummah from the current dilemma by creating in them a sense of belongingness towards Islam through Quran, Hadith and other authentic literature.
(The author is Zonal Coordinator with a Delhi based Media Research Organisation and a freelance writer)
[Photo Courtesy: Milli Gazette]