‘It might be an important loss’: London’s oldest Islamic bookshop susceptible to closure | London

[ad_1] London’s oldest impartial Islamic bookshop is susceptible to closing inside a yr owing to declining footfall and the rise of on-line procuring platforms.

Based in 1985 by the Egyptian writer Samir el-Atar, Dar al-Taqwa has been a cornerstone of British Muslim life for 4 many years – a spot the place students, college students and converts have lengthy gathered to browse, discuss and join.

Workers say the store is the one non-sectarian Islamic bookshop and shares every kind of titles from politics and tradition, to kids’s books and translations of the Qur’an in main languages.

Since el-Atar’s dying in 2022, his widow Noora el-Atar, a 69-year-old Muslim convert from Leeds, has taken over, even giving up her wage and never taking retirement to maintain the enterprise afloat.

The store has launched a £25,000 fundraiser to cowl lease and working prices. “The bookshop began organically, with no loans, all the things got here from the group,” she stated. “Islam may be very broad, that’s why we wish the bookshop to be the identical.”

For 40 years, Dar al-Taqwa has stood as a cultural and non secular hub for the Muslim group within the UK and past. Its founder opened the shop after recognising the shortage of accessible Islamic assets within the UK in the course of the Nineteen Eighties.

Dar al-Taqwa has been open at its central London web site since 1985. {Photograph}: Christian Sinibaldi/The Guardian “He was very formidable, my husband. He labored very, very onerous,” says Noora, who inspired him to open the store due to her lifelong love for studying. The couple selected Baker Avenue for its proximity to London Central mosque and since, on the time, “loads of worldwide clients, particularly Arabs, would come and keep right here in the summertime, so it was important for them”.

The store, which Noora runs alongside simply three part-time workers, started with out financial institution loans, in accordance with Islamic teachings that forbid curiosity. As an alternative, the couple relied on group funding and financial savings. At this time, Noora describes the ambiance as familial: “We're a household right here, we maintain clients they usually change into considered one of us, as workers.”

Dar al-Taqwa’s cabinets are lined with many books which might be uncommon or out of print. “There are books you’ll discover right here that you simply’ll by no means discover wherever else,” Noora says proudly.

Some authors, together with the US scholar Hamza Yusuf, have personally donated their works. The store additionally sells educational titles from main publishers corresponding to Routledge and Macmillan, and hosts readings and group occasions. Final yr, they launched writer periods and plan to begin a e book and poetry membership. It's even sometimes used to officiate Islamic marriages.

Longtime workers member Ibrahim Abdirahman Hassan, 60, first visited as a buyer earlier than becoming a member of the group in 1996. “Lots of people don’t go to as a result of they learn on-line now,” he stated. “Within the 90s, folks got here to purchase books.”

Regardless of this, he stays hooked up to the place: “I meet so many fascinating folks right here – it’s the centre of what’s occurring. You get the information if you’re right here; if a brand new e book is revealed, folks will inform you.”

Dar al-Taqwa has welcomed distinguished guests over time, together with Yusuf Islam (Cat Stevens), the British diplomat Gai Eaton, and Prince Ghazi bin Muhammad of Jordan. But, its attain goes far past London.

Yusry Yusoff visited the bookshop whereas on a visit from Malaysia. {Photograph}: Christian Sinibaldi/The Guardian On a current go to, Yusry Yusoff, a buyer from Malaysia, stated he made a degree of visiting the bookshop after listening to of its closure the day earlier than his flight residence. “It’s a novel bookstore, not lots of them exist – even in Malaysia,” he stated. “It’s not only a bookstore, it’s a melting pot.

“Individuals from everywhere in the world come right here for the only real objective of in search of books and the information contained in them. It’s one thing crucial and defines the character of London.” Saddened by the prospect, Yusoff stated of the bookshop’s potential closure: “It might be an important loss.”