Emirati writes first-ever book on Masafi, documents history
Saeed Saif Mohammed Khalof Al Mehrzi, a resident of Masafi for generations, has writen his first book ‘Masafi, Satoor Min Madhi (Masafi, Lines From The Past)’
The mega event for book lovers, the 40th edition of Sharjah International Book Fair (SIBF), is one of the great opportunities for new and mature writers to launch their new books.
Since the last two weeks, many books have been launched at the SIBF in different languages by writers who have flown from different parts of the world to meet and greet their fans and bibliographers.
The book fair has also witnessed the first launch of an Emirati writer’s book – ‘Masafi, Satoor Min Madhi (Masafi, Lines From The Past)’ – with the passion of preserving the history of his village and one of the important parts of the country, Masafi.
The writer has writen a complete history of the area and made the first-ever writen document with authentic information and a series of pictures about people, houses, writen documents, postal stamps, passports and others.
Saeed Saif Mohammed Khalof Al Mehrzi, a resident of the Masafi area for generations, has writen his first book ‘Masafi, Satoor Min Madhi (Masafi, Lines From The Past)’ and launched it at the SIBF 2021 this weekend.
The book, published by Hamdan Bin Mohammed Heritage Center (HHC), will be available for purchase next week throughout the UAE at Maraya Printing, Publishing & Distribution.
Talking to Gulf Today, Saeed Al Mehrzi said that the book is all about the history, past and present of one of the most important areas of the UAE, Masafi, located in the North of the country , which has a deep-rooted history. “The village is located on high altitude giving a pleasant weather throughout the year and this book covers the past of over 100 years and tells the tale of its people living in old times and how these people trade and what,” he said.
He also pointed out that it took him over four years to collect all the necessary information for this book. “For my research on this, I visited not only libraries in Sharjah, Fujairah, Dubai and Abu Dhabi but also visited the National Library UK in London as before the union, the British were here. Many Englishmen took pictures of this area on their routine visits besides capturing the photographic records of other parts of the Gulf.
I referred to many books as well as met elders of the area and from other emirates to collect verbal narratives on Masafi and compiled them into a historic book,” he said.
Masafi village is one of the oldest habitats in the area and is an important geographical location with abundance of fresh natural water, fertile land and surrounded by mountains. The weather and water helped people produce fruits like dates, mangoes, and others besides farming livestock for their livelihood.
“Throughout Masafi, still one can find the remains of many watchtowers in good conditions besides farms cultivated in the area. People used to grow vegetables and fruits to cater for their needs.
“This book also talks about the people of the past and how they used to visit souqs in Sharjah and Dubai to trade their fresh produce with local customers and buy their necessities from there. At that time people travelled on camelback and even walked –– it took days to cross the mountain area to reach Sharjah and Dubai,” he said.
“A good part of the books is dedicated to the people of the area and their lifestyle, especially before the construction of proper roads and installation of electricity. Life before electricity was very much different than today and through various sources we now know how difficult were the times our previous generation went through,” he said.
The book also covers the historic visits of Sheikh Zayed and other leaders to Masafi. “The village now is a huge recreational site for locals as well as residents especially on national holidays like National Day.
“Thousands throng Masafi and its adjacent wadis; they enjoy their time in the mountains with pleasant weather,” he added.
However, the atractions in Masafi include water springs, wadis, high mountains, a well-preserved fort and watchtowers and most importantly the Friday Market, where area growers regularly bring their fresh produce for visitors from all over the country.