ISIS Burns 8000 Rare Books and Manuscripts in Mosul
Riyadh Mohammed ("Yahoo! Finance," February 23, 2015)
While the world was watching the Academy Awards ceremony, the people of
Mosul were watching a different show. They were horrified to see ISIS members
burn the Mosul public library. Among the many thousands of books it housed,
more than 8,000 rare old books and manuscripts were burned.
“ISIS militants bombed the Mosul Public Library. They used improvised
explosive devices,” said Ghanim al-Ta'an, the director of the library. Notables
in Mosul tried to persuade ISIS members to spare the library, but they
failed.
The former assistant director of the library Qusai All Faraj said that the
Mosul Public Library was established in 1921, the same year that saw the
birth of the modern Iraq. Among its lost collections were manuscripts from
the eighteenth century, Syriac books printed in Iraq's first printing house
in the nineteenth century, books from the Ottoman era, Iraqi newspapers from
the early twentieth century and some old antiques like an astrolabe and
sand glass used by ancient Arabs. The library had hosted the personal
libraries of more than 100 notable families from Mosul over the last century.
During the US led invasion of Iraq in 2003, the library was looted and
destroyed by mobs. However, the people living nearby managed to save most of
its collections and rich families bought back the stolen books and they were
returned to the library, All Faraj added.
“900 years ago, the books of the Arab philosopher Averroes were collected
before his eyes...and burned. One of his students started crying while
witnessing the burning. Averroes told him... the ideas have wings...but I cry
today over our situation,” said Rayan al-Hadidi, an activist and a blogger
from Mosul. Al-Hadidi said that a state of anger and sorrow are dominating
Mosul now. Even the library's website was suspended.
“What a pity! We used to go to the library in the 1970s. It was one of the
greatest landmarks of Mosul. I still remember the special pieces of paper
where the books’ names were listed alphabetically,” said Akil Kata who left
Mosul to exile years ago.
On the same day the library was destroyed, ISIS abolished another old
church in Mosul: the church of Mary the Virgin. The Mosul University Theater
was
burned as well, according to eyewitnesses. In al-Anbar province, Western
Iraq, the ISIS campaign of burning books has managed to destroy 100,000
titles, according to local officials. Last December, ISIS burned Mosul
University’s central library.
Iraq, the cradle of civilization, the birthplace of agriculture and writing
and the home of the Sumerian, Akkadian, Assyrian, Babylonian and Arab
civilizations had never witnessed such an assault on its rich cultural heritage
since the Mongol era in the Middle Ages.
Last week, a debate in Washington and Baghdad became heated over when, how
and who will liberate Mosul. A plan was announced to liberate the city in
April or May by more than 20,000 US trained Iraqi soldiers. Either way, and
supposing everything will go well and ISIS will be defeated easily which is
never the case in reality, that means the people of Mosul will still have
to wait for another two to three months.
Until then, Mosul will probably have not a single sign of its rich history
left standing.
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