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.
Interesting read. I think the book fair is still a good idea. I also enjoyed visiting it and am glad it is happening. Although I also found the excess of religious material and books disturbing. Not that I have anything against it, but, please, there is so much else to read about.
@Shahran. Man, first read what is written in the post. Specially about Carniege. Also, if the “highlight” of the event was Kamal Rizvi showing up, then even for this Alif-Noon fan, it must b=have been quite a boring event. Is that the best you can come up with. There is plenty of Urdu literature to be proud of, the Jamaati propaganda stuff that is talked about here is NOT literature, even if it is in Urdu!
Besides that, I enjoyed the post greatly. But like others, I a also not disturbed at all. Just intrigued. And, yes, I too already knew that this religious mumbo jumbo sells. Not just in Pakistan but everywhere, including in USA.
I totally disagree with the author on this blog and I think the title saying what Pakistanis are reading is not appropriate. It seems that this was blog from a English Speaking / Enlightened Moderated section who is always apologetic when it comes to mention the great Urdu Literature.
The author failed to mention the positive highlights of the event.
Check this long line.
http://on.fb.me/iavQRP
1. For the first time, 7 indian publisher were invited and their stalls were packed with visitors.
2. Pakistan’s famous actor / writer Kamal Ahmed Rizvi was there with his new collection of his dramas “Sheeshay Ka Maseeha” was there.
http://on.fb.me/dMnwY0
3. There were stalls where you had Mushtaq Ahmed Yousufi’s works. I am not sure why the author failed to mention that probably he may have heard about him as most of our so called “English Speaking Elite” does not know who he is.
It is probably due to his bias against Urdu Literature which is observed from his concern on not finding a Dale Carnegie book and not mentioning.
Hey, why is everybody getting so uptight. The author does not say whether it is good or bad. Just gives an ‘alternative’ tour of what he/she saw. Its the booksellers choice to sell what they want, the bookbuyers right to buy what they want, and the author’s right to think what he/she does. Get over it, guys. And, yes, Smile. Its Sunnah.
There is rise of fundamentalism everywhere in the world. East or West. Balance view is the only answer to this insanity.
I agree with some of the authors that distortion of facts in the history is disturbing. At one level it reflects the need to create myths about past. We should not underestimate the destructive power of myths. Serbs were exploited by clergy and their fascist government on the basis of myths about how in past both catholics and turks had oppressed them hunderd years ago. Result was heinous genocide in Balkans. If we are consciously hiding the ugly facts in our history the result would be fake sense of morality and myth about being victims with no need to take any responsibility for our actions and make any amends.
People are reading Islamic books is in its own not a problem in its own. And the assertion by someone that its a supply demand issue is also need examination.
Islamic books? written by whome? is there healthy debate on various point of views or are we under attack of “certain” islamic ideology. Are alternate views on islamic history being discussed cause even on death of prophet there are alternate views available. The problem is that there is no internal debate on what is wrong with various “islamic ideologies” and we are hostage to extremist view which equates dissent with their point of view as blasphemy. we sure don’t want books encouraging stoning of women in our streets.
The quality of work is the issue. what are masses consuming in name of Islamic literature? Is supply of alternate point of view is being controlled directly or indirectly? are the masses being brainwashed. If the literature is doing as good of a job as our media then sure there is lot to worry about. Cause we are not building a nation that is capable of any serious and rigorous reflection on real issues.