This booklet addresses a very vital issue pertaining to the libraries of academics, scholars and teacher-researchers. These libraries have been painstakingly collected, preserved and made available to researchers in their [owners’] lifetime. The serious and grave question is: what will become of such valuable [both financially and intrinsically] collections after their owners’ demise? What became of the extremely valuable and irreplaceable collections of the great scholars – such as Hafiz Mahmud Shirani, Dr. Muhammad Ayub Qadri and Dr. Ghulam Mustafa Khan? Where are those treasures and how have they been distributed? Often one picks up unique books from footpath vendors [who cannot even read] belonging to the libraries of great scholars.
This is a very vital issue that has been tackled by Moinuddin ‘Aqeel, D.Litt., in his booklet under review. Dr. Aqeel is well-known as an avid book-collector who has amassed an invaluable library of some 30,000 books most of them unique – at great effort and expense during the last fifty years. The future of his books, their preservation and use, and their availability to others has concerned him considering the magnitude of the problem. Our society is not one that favours a ‘book culture’ as books are treated as obsolete items. After great heart-burning and soul-searching, Dr. ‘Aqeel has decided to present his collection to Kyoto University, Japan, which ranks as No. 10 among world universities. A team of Japanese teachers promptly came here to attend to this task. They carefully catalogued, packed and safely transported the entire collection of Dr. ‘Aqeel to Japan personally paying all attendant costs and dealing with bureaucratic hassles. This will be known as the ‘Aqeel Collection and will stimulate research in Urdu and Pakistan Studies in Japan. Their gain is our loss! As a nation claiming to be civilized, this is our shabby treatment of books and bookmen. No doubt other such scholars will also follow suit and gift their collections abroad. Not only is there a ‘brain drain’ but there is also a ‘book drain’. The book ends with a 17-page Appendix “Shelf List of ‘Aqeel Collection” (in English & Roman Urdu). ----- Review by Dr. Syed Munir Wasti