Daroon-e-Khanna
The 6th Karachi International Book Fair was held in Karachi this week. More than 300 publishers/ booksellers, more than a quarter million visitors over five days. You might have read about the importance of such events, you might have heard about the achievements of the fair and you might have been told about the diversity on offer.
But since more than 70 percent of the stalls were trying to make money by making the readers better Muslims, we concentrated on the free goodies on offer. Here is our alternative tour of the 6th Karachi International Book Fair.
Things We Got For Free
A DVD of the first-ever documentary about Maulana Maududi’s life, produced by Al Khidmat, Jamaat Islami’s charity wing.
A CD of the Jamaat’s current Ameer Maulana Munawar Hassan’s speeches. We accepted it under extreme duress.
Four pamphlets:
- Sins of the Tongue (the Urdu version is called Zaban ka Gunah)
Not what you think. It’s all about Islamic punishments for gossiping and backbiting. - Music: Quran aur Sunnat Mein [Music According to the Quran and Sunnat]
More haraam than you ever thought. It leads to road accidents and zina. - Quaid-e-Azam Speaks
… And it seems he couldn’t utter a sentence without quoting from the Quran or invoking Islam. - How Good is Your Child’s School?
They perform Shakespeare’s plays? They celebrate Halloween? They have sleepovers at their friends’ house? You need to find a more Islamic school.
We were also given a newsletter by the Pakistan Librarians’ Association. Their favourite word seems to be ‘decline.’
One Thing We Thought Was For Free But Wasn’t
A DVD on goras converting to Islam.
We assumed it was for free because we were promised that everything on this particular stall was for free. But then we were told that this DVD was an exception. 80 rupees.
Things We Admired But Found To Be Way Out Of Our Budget
Kaaba Fun Game
Masjid Fun Game
Salat Fun Game
Things We Could Have Got For Free But Didn’t
Complete Quran audio download to our mobile phone. Takes only five minutes to download, we were assured.
Books We Wanted To Buy But Then Looked At The Last Chapter
Two new biographies of Mohammad Bin Qasim, both with happy endings. Dude marries Raja Dahar’s daughter and lives happily ever after. And we thought he was called back, tortured and executed by being sewn alive into a hide and drowned by the then khalifa.
Books We Didn’t Even Know Existed
Collected works of Dale Carnegie (of How to Make Friends and Influence People fame) in Urdu. This was definitely the heftiest volume we have ever seen in the Urdu language.
A new translation of The Brothers Karamazov by a gentleman called Shahid Siddiqi.
One Thing We Did Buy
A funky looking mug which reads ‘Smile, it’s Sunnah.’
Editors Note: Daroon-e-Khanna blogs at Cafe Pyala, where this post first appeared.
I say this is good news. There is a battle of ideas out there. If people read these things then it is our job to write the alternatives in ways that they can read it. Especially in Urdu. All these guys wasting their time writing for Western audiences should wake up and smell the sabz chai!
Good post. I am not disturbed as long as people are reading. What does disturb me is that many of these books distort facts and are absolute lies. E.g., the point on the Mohammad Bin Qasim biographies and how history is changed and massacred. That is what is disturbing, otherwise have no problems with what people read as long as they do.
I am nieither surprised nor disturbed. Anyone who has ever been to a Pakistani bookshop (which are always full of people) knows this already. Pakistanis DO read. And this is what they read. This is what sells. Its is the English speaking classes that do not know what is happening, otherwise it is a very ‘literate’ debate in Pakistan.
Hey, I want a copy of the complete works of Dale Carneigie in Urdu. Then, I am all set for life!
Great post. Real funny. Real scary also.