India's old Muslim library to go digital

Monday 02 Nov 2015 - 13:16 Makkah mean time-20-1-1437

The library history of supporting education and information was recalled by 85-year-old Abdul GaniSani. Image from OnIslam

Mumbai, (IINA) - Revealing the old treasures in one of the oldest libraries in the world history, Deccan Muslim Institute of Pune, in the western Maharashtra state of India, is going through renovation process to restore rare books in digital version, some as old as 150 years, OnIslam reported.
"The library was established in 1915 in a small rented room near MG Road Pune. Since then it has been shifted many times finally settling here near Azam campus," Mohammed Asif Shaikh, principal of Institute, told The Times of India on Sunday.
"It's the largest Urdu library in the state. It has over 30,000 books, of which 20,000 are in Urdu."
Deccan Muslim Institute celebrated 100 years on Friday with explanations on the history of why Bhagwad Gita and the Guru Granth Sahib in Urdu and the Qur'an Sharif in Marathi were the most sought after books.
Through its history, it has served as a monument of Islamic history, scholarships information centre, medical welfare centre, self-help group centre, marriage bureau, language centre, career guidance cell and research centre.
The library history of supporting education and information was recalled by 85 year-old Abdul Gani Sani.
"All of us who came here were good friends. We used to discuss about religion, politics and society. Nowadays, the generation with all its technology is so busy that they don't have time to debate about society and its problems," Gani added.
"The library has Urdu versions of many ancient Hindu scriptures like the Bhagwad Gita, the Mahabharata, the Ramayana, has the entire Guru Granth Sahib in Urdu and also has the Bible in Urdu,"
"We also have the Qur'an Sharif in Marathi, Hindi, English and Urdu. People from one community used to read books of the other as they were eager to understand each other better."
SM/IINA

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