Picture Story: Cairo International Book Fair 2010

Bismillah

One of my most memorable childhood memories was taking the trip to the library with my mother to get an official library card. I was a regular at our local community library and went there nearly every day of the summer break for many years, mastering the art of reading and walking. The library was my home away from home. The highlight of every week was receiving my BookIt reading award certificate and then going to Pizza Hut for my prize and my dream job at the age of seven became to be a librarian.

Some famous lines of poetry say,

What a great speaker and companion the book is!

You can seclude yourself with it if your friends bore you;

It does not reveal your secrets, and is not arrogant,

And you can gain from it wisdom and uprightness.

Of the greatest things I was looking forward to after moving to Cairo was their annual book fair. Every student I met here has told me how it is an amazing experience and how every year it seems to get better māshā'Allāh.

The Cairo International Book Fair (or the ma`ardh in Arabic) is the oldest and largest book fair in the Arab world. It takes place every year around mid or late January for about two weeks near Al-Azhar University in Madinat Nasr. It has nearly 3000 exhibits and is estimated to attract more than two million visitors. http://www.cairobookfair.org/

After making a total of five trips in less than two weeks, this book fair has jumped to the top of my list of the best things I've experienced in young life after visiting the House of Allāh and the masjid of the Prophet (alayhi salaatu wa salaam), wa lillahil hamd. The reason it affected me so much was not because of the amount of books or my excitement to finally purchase some classic works, but it was seeing the eagerness of men, women and children to increase their knowledge. It was the happiness I felt of being just another lover of books in the company of thousands. It moved my heart to see, albeit a small portion of this Ummah, following the first revelation of Allāh: Read!

My most memorable moment was when my friends and I were trying to find some books by Shaykh Sayid Al-'Aafaani (hafidhahullah). We asked the clerk at the stall if they carried any of his books, to which he said no, and then we asked him if he knew where we could find those books. The clerk started thinking and then out of nowhere an older man who was also looking at some books turns to us and says, “I'm Sayid 'Aafaani, you can find that book in building number four at so-and-so stall.” My friends and I simply stared in shock for a good five seconds without saying a word. Finally, one of us snapped out of it and she asked him for directions to the building which he kindly gave us. I happened to see him on Thursday when I went to his stall again, he was visited by many brothers and what I loved most was that he was always making dhikr when he wasn't speaking. May Allāh preserve him and the scholars!

Shaykh Abu Eesa Niamatullah who I also happened to pass at the book fair shares his experience:

It is quite simply mind-boggling. Effectively all of the world’s Arabic book publishers come down for a couple of weeks with all their key stock and all their latest releases, prints, authenticated versions etc.

It’s nothing but books, books, and then more wonderful, amazing, gratifying, delightful…books. Seriously, it’s the playground of the scholars (and there are plenty of them walking round, it’s like spotting the celebrity!) and when you enter and walk around, you start to really feel like a kid again in a sweet shop.

The other wonderful aspect to the fair is the amount of people. Thousands! And most of them very “practising” masha’Allāh which really adds a great feel to the place as a whole.

And so I just wanted to say that this is the greatest show I’ve ever seen where you can just pick up any book you’ve dreamt of, for excellent prices, in one place at the one time.

And now…to display the goods :) A simple warning to my fellow book worms before you scroll down: you may begin to salivate.