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By Abdul Ma’lik Mujahid
Book Publishing has never been an easy job, especially in this era. The trend of book reading is waning day-by-day, and the publishing houses are experiencing a significant decrease in sales in the last couple of years.
Riyadh is not only the capital of Kingdom of Saudi Arabia but also known as the “Cradle of Knowledge”, as it has many universities, educational complexes, institutes, mosques and jaliyaats. Millions of male and female students around the globe have memorized the Noble Qur’an from various institutes in Riyadh. In short, it goes without any question that Riyadh is the hub of Islamic knowledge, education and trade of Islamic books among the Muslim world.
An annual book fair was held in Riyadh during the first 10 days of March 2017. A large number of publishing houses took part in this book fair. There is a tradition to honor a country every year by selecting it as a special guest and this year, Malaysia was nominated as the guest country.
It was a great honor to take part in this book fair, as the number of participants was larger than expected. Darussalam has been participating in this book fair since the start. All praises are due to Allah (SWT), Who blessed Darussalam again and made us take part in this book fair this year.
I was also there to attend this magnificent event. The exhibition hall is located near the “Exit Number 10 of King Abdullah Road” in Riyadh. Proper safety measures were taken to secure the premises, and the security staff was also very polite and cooperative. As soon as you cross the security barriers a marvelous exhibition hall with hundreds of booths welcomes you.
Like every year, the publishers brought their latest books with them. Even though people nowadays read books on their computers and tablets, the crowd in this book fair was enough to prove that book reading is still alive.
Another compelling feature of this book fair was its attendees — who were mostly Saudis or you can say 90% participants were Saudis. Pakistanis, Indians and people from other countries were lesser in the count because the books presented in this fair were in the Arabic language. Saudi ladies who were dominant in count attended the book with zeal and zest. Even though Allah (SWT) has blessed the Arabs with the enormous wealth they are still following their Islamic traditions as 90% of their women were wearing hijabs and veils. The way in which the customers bought their desired books fervently proved my anticipation wrong that people have left reading books.
With the blessings of Almighty Allah! Darussalam is following latest publishing trends with excellent quality and outlooks. A majority of our books are published in four colors now; while, our professional designers are adding liveliness to content. Darussalam has published more than 1,500 books in various languages, and a lot more is yet to come with the prayers of its well-wishers and blessings of Allah (SWT).
It has been an honor for us to publish the translation of the Noble Qur’an. It has been observed that the majority of people who converted to Islam were inspired by the teachings of the Noble Qur’an. Again, it is all due to the blessings of Almighty Allah, Who enable us to complete the translation of the Noble Qur’an in the Gujarati language, this year. It is going through the process of printing right now and will be available in the market soon, InshaAllah. With this, we are delighted to announce that, we have published the translation of Noble Qur’an in 26 languages.
Particularly Darussalam is the first Islamic publishing house in the Muslim world to digitalize its books. For this, a sister concern of Darussalam with the name of “Dtech Systems” has been established. The director of Dtech Systems, Talha Mujahid, has done his M.Sc from UCL — a renowned university in London. He is tackling the challenges of IT industry smartly. A team of young IT professionals is working under his supervision in Darussalam’s Lahore (Pakistan) office. Dtech Systems has ably converted more than 500 eBooks so far. Now people can read the authentic content of Darussalam on their computers and smartphones. Talha is taking guidance from his elder brothers Akasha Mujahid and Abdul Ghaffar Mujahid, who are highly qualified and experts in their relevant fields. Further, they spend their time with their father to discuss the ongoing problems and take guidance from him.
Abdul Ghaffar is responsible for the accounts and administration works, while Akasha deals with Darussalam Pakistan. Following the footprints of his ancestors, Akasha has proved himself in the field of calligraphy as well.
It is not an easy task to keep the lamps of knowledge lit continuously by presenting new books in market. It is all due to the blessings of Almighty Allah and the efforts of the people working at Darussalam that we are fulfilling marketing needs. People want to know about the truth behind Islam, its history and Qur’an. Darussalam is utilizing its assets to quench the thirst of such seekers of truth by providing them with most authentic and quality publications.
Darussalam is now 25 years old. Darussalam also is the only institute who has made electronic devices and toys for the children to teach them Islam in an easy way. Our Pen Qur’an has made it very easy to learn and recite the Noble Qur’an without assistance. A device named, “Salatee (My Prayer)” was introduced a few days back. This device is essential for every Muslim home and especially for the Muslim children to learn the prayer. Dhuha International School – Ar-Riyadh has appreciated this device due to its nominal price and easy to operate interface.
