Invitation to delight in the written word
RELIGIOUS people have always had a great affinity for words and books. In fact, the three Abrahamic religions – Jews, Christians and Muslims – are referred to in Islamic tradition as the “People of the Book”.
They all share a focus on God as revealed through written words: the Torah for the Jews, the Bible for Christians (including the Torah as the first five books of the Old Testament) and the Qur’an for Muslims.
In the rituals of these religions, books are venerated in a significant and visible way. In a synagogue the Torah, written on ornate scrolls, is kept wrapped and locked in a special cupboard known as the Holy Ark; only those who have been received into the community as adults (through bar or bat mitvah) are allowed to touch the scrolls and to read from them.
The Bible (and especially the Book of the Gospels) is often placed on a special lectern in a Christian church, perhaps with candles lit around it having been carried in procession with hymns and incense. The Qur’an in every Muslim home has a position of honour, always placed on the highest shelf since no other book can be higher than the word of God.
In the Hindu tradition, there is no one specific written scripture but the various myths and legends relayed through the spoken word and now written down are central. For Sikhs a book is hugely important – they talk about their 10 gurus (holy teachers) but the last guru is not a human being who dies, but a book that lives on.
The “Guru Granth Sahib” is in the holiest place of every Sikh temple (“gurdwara”) and special rituals mark when it “wakes up” each morning and is put to bed at night.
I was reflecting on the link between books and religion in the context of Durban’s recent accolade as a Unesco City of Literature.
This award – the first given to an African city – in part honours what has gone before, the many writers who have worked in Durban and have been inspired by our various cultural traditions. But it is also a challenge to the future – what are we doing today to foster writers and encourage reading? (The continued existence of a wide range of well-written local newspapers is one good example).
I therefore hope that people of all faiths (and none) will rise up to this challenge: to write more, to read more and to encourage others to do the same. We have a special duty to do so since, for most of history, it was religious people who promoted writing and taught people to read.
Whether it was rabbinical schools in ghettos in Europe, missionary schools across the world or madrasa schools in our city today, religious tradition is often key to the way in which we learn to read and write.
The Hebrew script survived 2 000 years of oppression (to be revived as a modern-day language in the State of Israel) because of Jewish Scriptures.
The reason there is a standard written form of Arabic is because of the Qur’an. And the kind of English that we hold up as the gold standard originates from a version of the Bible. “The King’s English” is not a reference to the language spoken by the monarch; it refers instead to the vocabulary and grammar used in the first widely circulated English-language translation of the Bible – “The King James Version”.
Many of the curious phrases we use today we owe to translators working over 400 years ago – “the skin of my teeth”, “the powers that be”, “milk and honey” and “holier than thou”.
Religion has also influenced the written form of most African languages since they were first alphabetised by missionaries wanting to create written translations of the Bible. Just up the road in Mariannhill, there is a wonderful museum which shows the role of the missionaries in creating and printing a standardised written form of Zulu. The legacy continues: Zulu tends to be written as long words run together because of the influence of German Trappists; Sotho as short separate words because it was written down by the French Oblates.
At the Denis Hurley Centre we therefore felt that we should come up with an innovative way of promoting literature. At the same time we want to provide economic empowerment to the homeless.
We know people (often older) who have wonderful collections of books that they can no longer accommodate; we know people who would love to read more but cannot afford to buy new books; we have homeless people who are developing skills as salespeople; and we can find venues where books can be sold. All of these connections have been brought together for us by the remarkable Anivesh Singh of Hashtag Books, a publisher, author and bookseller.
He collects unwanted books, sorts them into various categories, works out what will sell and where, and stores them until we are ready for a sale.
(Any especially valuable books he finds are sold on-line and a percentage comes to the Dennis Hurley Centre: www.hashtagbooks.co.za).
Our homeless guys then sell books for R5 to R20 each, at churches, school fêtes, and other community events. Many of them are avid readers, not least because reading is a great cheap form of portable entertainment if you are homeless (and even if you are not!)
One vendor, Kagiso Phihlela, recently sold R400 worth of books in one afternoon on the beachfront. He was interviewed by this paper and explained that he was raising money so he could train as a teacher – within the day he was offered a scholarship by Mancosa!
Our “Booksellers of Mzansi” will also be at the Durban Book Fair this Sunday in Mitchell Park (from 9am to 2pm) along with many other booksellers and bibliophiles. This great celebration of all things bookish will also include the launch of two new local books: The Goodwill Manor by ZP Dala at 10.30am and The Casbah Family Recipe Book at noon. And there will even be chess classes and competitions.
If you have a venue where you think a book sale would do well, contact Stuart@denishurleycentre.org. If you have books that you are willing to donate, contact anivesh@mweb.co.za (please do not bring books to the DHC!)
Let’s all delight in the written word and continue Durban’s great tradition of literature.
Perrier is director of the Denis Hurley Centre