Persian Ramayana, Arabic Gita preserved

http://www.deccan.com/home/homedetails.asp
Hyderabad, Sept. 24: In this age of religious bigotry,many Muslim organisations of the State are workingtirelessly to preserve rare Hindu scriptures. The117-year-old Dairatul Maarif treasures its copy of theArabic version of the Bhagawad Gita, probably the onlyone of its kind in the world. Similarly valued is thePersian Ramayana, estimated to be more than 600 yearsold, which is kept in the library-cum-research centreof the 132-year-old Jamia Nizamia.The Arabic Gita and the Persian Ramayana are merelytwo among the 200-odd rare Hindu religious manuscriptsand books preserved in various Muslim researchinstitutes including madarasas. These organisationstake great care of such manuscripts. The organisationsuse state-of-the-art methods to protect them forposterity. Several manuscripts been digitised and theCD versions are available for scholars of comparativereligion.The Arabic version of the Holy Gita, known as Al Kita,is about 100 years old. The Jamia Nizamia, a deemeduniversity with international recognition, alsopossesses a 500-year-old manuscript of the Mahabharatain Persian. Both these documents have been laminatedand preserved by Nizamia. “They are invaluable,” saidSyed Akbar Nizamuddin, chancellor of Jamia Nizamia.“The Mahabharata manuscript is in bad shape and wehave now carefully hand-laminated it. We have alsomicro-filmed and digitised the scriptures.” Al Kita was published by Dairatul Maarif in thebeginning of the last century on the request of anoble from Kolkata. Its pirated editions are availablein the Gulf countries. Another valuable possession ofthe Daira is the Arabic version of RabindranathTagore’s great Geetanjali.“There’s nothing comm-unal about knowledge,” MuftiKhaleel Ahmad, the grand mufti and vice-chancellor ofthe Nizamia, told this correspondent. “Only people arecommunal. Reading books of different religionsenha-nces one’s understanding. No religion teacheshatred,” the Mufti said.Dozens of researchers visit these libraries to studythe rare documents. The Islamic Academy of ComparativeReligion also has in its possession score of Hindureligious books, including 188 Upanishads, four Vedas,Bhagawad Gi-ta, Valmiki Ramayana, Ma-nusmriti andseveral Pura-nas. It also possesses 30 Bibles inHebrew, Arabic, Urdu, Telugu and Greek. “Luckily, our books are still in good condition,” saidM. Asifuddin, president of IACR. “We have been takinggreat care to preserve them.” Another city Muslimorganisation labouriously preserving Hindu scripturesis the Iqbal Academy. It has rare copies of the Gitaand Mahabharata. The Asafia Library and the HEH NizamTrust’s Library have several Hindu scriptures in Urdu,Persian and Arabic. “Study of different religionswill help prevent misconceptions, hatred andmistrust,” said secretary of the All-India MuslimPer-sonal Law Board Abdul Rahim Qureshi.“We can eradicate social evils by promoting religiousvalues,” Queshi said. Hafiz Shujath Hussain, aresearch scholar poring over the Al Kita, said it washeartening to see Muslim organisations preserve suchrare manuscripts. “We have to take care to keep themsafe for ever,” he said.