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Karimi Library's main hall |
Malegaon: Owen Meredith says, “It
is, however, not to the museum, or the lecture-room, or the
drawing-school, but to the library, that we must go for the
completion of our humanity. It is books that bear from age to age
the intellectual wealth of the world.” Mark Twain says, “The man
who does not read good books has no advantage over the man who
can't read them.” It is only if such lessons are forgotten that a
management would turn a blind eye to institutions like Karimi
Library, which was founded well over 115 years ago and could have
easily been converted into a model and extraordinary hub of
knowledge and research by now.
However, thanks to the current President of Anjuman-e-Islam
(Mumbai), Dr Zahir Qazi, his close aide Moinulhaq Chowdhary and
other members who, using the huge amount
of money donated by Haji Abdur Razzaq Kalsekar, made it a priority
to give the much needed facelift to the Karimi Libray, located
inside the Anjuman's VT premises in South Mumbai. After this
move, it now looks certain that the library, which was lying
moribund and disused for over four decades, would regain its lost
glory.
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It seems that the faith of the
founders of the Karimi
Library surpassed that of the people who intentionally or
unintentionally pushed this literary heritage to an imminent
annihilation. This is perhaps why the thought to save the library
came into the mind of President of the Anjuman Dr. Zahir Qazi. |
Exact date of establishment of the library having a legendary
literary history is not clear. But on the basis of an annual
report dated August 05, 1898 of the Anjuman, noted scholar Shamim
Tariq estimates that it was founded sometimes in 1897 at the
behest of Qazi Abdul Karim Pulbandari who wanted to honour the
appointment of his friend Qazi Kabeeruddin at the Anjuman. Unlike
the date, motives behind establishment of the library are loud and
clear.
“The library should have all books in Urdu, Persian and Arabic
languages. But at the same time, it should also have a special
budget of at least rupees 1000 for books in English and Gujarati.
Once ready, it should be made accessible to Muslims free of cost”,
Shamim Tariq quotes Qazi Abdul Kareem as writing in one of his
communiqués to the Anjuman. Qazi Kareem also promised in his
letter to take care of the entire fund needed for purchase of the
books, basic infrastructure and furniture.
It was the time when Justice Badruddin Tyebji, the visionary
founder of the Anjuman, was its president and who had in his team
equally visionary people to assist him. They all gave such an
impressive shape to the Karimi Library that it soon became darling
of the researchers and scholars, and also the ordinary readers.
Not only in terms of infrastructure but in terms of collection of
books too the library was unique and was regarded as one of the
best. But, like Anjuman-e-Islam, the Karimi Library also could not earn favour
of the Nawabs and Rulers of the erstwhile Princely States who
otherwise were
donating regular amounts to other institutions for their smooth running.
Post independence the situation worsened even more and to run the
library any further became difficult for the management. Soon
Karimi Library was removed from the priority list of the people at
the helm of the affairs in ‘70s. Not very long after this, the
library saw its doors closed and the huge collection of the books
abandoned like leftover scrap papers and at the mercy of termites.
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A committee headed by Moinulhaq
Chowdhary was formed in 2009 which immediately began the
renovation work to give a new life to the Karmi Library. After an effort of six months
and some artistic maneuver by Moinulhaq Chowdhary the library got
total facelift. |
However, it seems that the faith of the founders of the Karimi
Library surpassed that of the people who intentionally or
unintentionally pushed this literary heritage to an imminent
annihilation. This is perhaps why the thought to save the library
came into the mind of President of the Anjuman Dr. Zahir Qazi. He
formed a committee in 2009 headed by Moinulhaq Chowdhary which
immediately began the renovation work to give a new life to the
library. After an effort of six months and some artistic maneuver
by Moinulhaq Chowdhary the library got total
facelift. In next six months, they began the tough task of
restoring the huge collection of the books.
“After a sustained labour of more than six months we could save
about 7800 books. Of them only 1400 are in good condition. To
restore the rest, we are trying everything in our hands and using
all means and help from the professionals”, Shamim Tariq who is
tirelessly working for revival of the Karimi Library and
restoration of the books said to ummid.com.
Covering wide-ranging topics, the restored books - in over half a
dozen languages including Urdu, Arabic Persian, Gujarati,
Sanskrit, Sindhi, Malyali and even Marathi, are rarest of rare.
Most of them are published well over 150-200 years before. A
testimony of the secular outlook of the library founders, the
collection also includes the books on all faiths including
Hinduism written in Urdu and Persian languages. And, the library
has already started impressing its visitors.
“A golden collection! Very precious, very valuable!! Looking at
these books, magazines, journals and newspapers I can only imagine
what the library would have been in its original avatar”, Prof
Asghar Abbas, former Head of the Urdu Department, Aligrah Muslim
University (AMU) said after his recent visit to the library.
Prof Asghar’s remarks are sufficient to state that the Karimi
Library is on course to regain its lost glory. But, the question
which perhaps will always remain unanswered is, who actually is
responsible for such a huge loss to the community’s valuable
literary asset? Ironically, far from finding an answer to this question, the
management due to the damages of more than forty years to the
library cannot even estimate, what was the exact number of
books it originally had, and how much of this
total is destroyed, stolen or gifted away.
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