Remarkable personalities

It is not difficult to find good books. If not available in our own language, one can find translations from other languages. However, the reading culture nosedived with the advent of electronic and social media.

It is now common to see young and old socialising through their smart phones. Then came animated films. While some are cute stories for children many are of a more violent nature, with all hell breaking loose left, right and centre.

In the Western world many books become bestsellers and their authors make millions, especially if their books’ film rights are sold. Unfortunately, in Pakistan many authors only manage to get 1,000 or 2,000 copies of their works published, out of which they have 50 copies to distribute free of cost. In the days of my youth, there used to be libraries in all areas, and they always used to be busy and well visited. I can still well remember the rush on one of the days when Ibne Safi’s, my favourite author of fiction, new book came out.

Recently, while suffering from a bout of flu, I managed to read the book ‘Meetings with Remarkable Muslims’, edited by Barney Rogerson and Rose Baring and published by Eland Publishing Ltd, London. In this book a number of people – not necessarily professional authors – from all walks of life described their individual experiences of meeting ordinary but remarkable Muslims. It was the cover of the book that initially caught my eye. It shows the interior of a mosque with a Tuareg Imam standing in it.

During a trip, my colleagues and I went to Timbuktu, Gao, Mopti and Bamako in Mali (West Africa) and visited those very mosques. Niger River in Mali originates in Guinea (West Africa) and flows north through Mali. It reaches Timbuktu, the old trade centre of the Arabs of North Africa and the Africans of the South, after about a 1,000 km. The Arabs used to trade salt and cloth among other things in exchange for gold and silver, etc. It became a great centre of learning and at one time the university there had about 25,000 students from all over the world. After Timbuktu, the river takes a turn southwards.

Nowadays, the first medium-sized city along its banks is Gao. As the story goes, Ahmad Baba, a religious scholar from Gao, was banished to Morocco by the then rulers.

We were greatly impressed by the old historical mosques and the Islamic culture we found in Timbuktu. There was a building housing many old and original manuscripts, some of which had never even been examined. The building was the Ahmad Baba Centre. After HH Karim Aga Khan was requested, the mosques and the centre were renovated and a small plane was also donated by him to transport tourists and supplies between Bamako and Timbuktu.

On our second visit to Timbuktu, we met our own remarkable Muslim – a polite, well-spoken guide, Abdur Rehman. He spoke English, French, Arabic as well as the local language. He offered to show us around the historical places. We all developed a liking for him and we all started having meals with together. He arranged for our stay at the only economical hotel available. During the course of our stay we got to know him quite well and discussed the possibility of helping him construct a guest house with eight rooms. We thought it would provide employment to some local families and get Rehman a regular income other than what he made as a guide.

A Dutch friend, Henk, paid $4,000 for two pieces of land measuring 35 x 70 metres each. The plans for the guest house were then drawn up by Engineer Alvi and Engineer Khizar in Islamabad. As hardworking and full of initiatives as Abdur Rehman was, the construction of the guest house soon got under way. He came to Islamabad for about a month, learnt to prepare some Pakistani dishes and returned home with many kinds of local spices. Friends from Dubai donated kitchen equipment and dining room furniture and on one of our next visits we were pleased to see that the guest house was up and running. With further hard work he slowly managed to expand the hotel to a 32-room space. This was our particular experience of meeting a remarkable Muslim.

Coming back to the book. It is a collection of 39 writers’ experiences of meeting Muslims from all parts of the world; from Morocco to India. What shines through the book is the common humanity shared by both the authors as well as the subjects about the need to learn, to love, to protect, to enjoy and to make sense of life. Writing about the book Piers Moore Ede in Traveller says: “Best of all is the subtlety with which this message is put across. None of these pieces stoop to lambast the West. Rather, their tactic is simply to portray the Muslim World as it is and to allow the reader to make up his or her own mind. The result is a gem.”

Following are some more reviews of this excellent book. “…..what this deliciously varied anthology does…is to affirm that the love affair between British writers and the Islamic world is far from over. And for as long as there are writers willing and able to remind us that a brighter side to our dealings with Islam, then the peddlars of those ‘lies, half-truths and manufactured fears’ won’t have it all their own way – The Spectator.” Anthony Sattin in The Sunday Times Magazine said, “….a sparkling array of talent …. In a collection that shows how vibrant and relevant travel writing can be.” “This is indeed a remarkable book, conveying the diversity and humanity of Muslims with style and grace. It proves that if we overlook, or look down on the ordinary, we diminish ourselves and the world – Ziauddin Sardar in The Independent.”

“It goes without saying, of course, that this book is well-timed, but its value extends further. It is a deeply lovable work, and has in fact become a treasured possession – Bradley Winterton in Taipei Times.” “…the book is a breathless, exciting narrative, and I have rarely come across such compelling travel writing. The collection sheds light on the dynamics that animate contemporary Muslim societies, but each piece is a gripping read in its own right – Gamul Nkrumah in Al-Ahram Weekly Online.”

Email: dr.a.quadeer.khan@gmail.com