Saving all that the city holds holy

Showing that religious differences can be cast aside to achieve interfaith harmony, one organisation has taken it upon itself to respectfully dispose of worn or torn pages of religious texts from all faiths.

For over four decades, Anjuman-e-Tahaffuz-e-Muqaddas Auraq or the Society for Preservation of the Holy Pages has been collecting torn and worn-out copies or pages of the Holy Quran, as well as worse-for-wear sacred texts of minorities, for safe burial at sea.

In the ocean, the water dissolves the ink and paper and the scriptures become part of the environment.

"People from Christian, Hindu, Sikh and other communities come to us with their worn-out, torn and damaged religious books and artefacts. We provide them our services to safely hand over these sacred items to the sea," says Anjuman-e-Tahaffuz-e-Muqaddas Auraq founder Haji Qasim in an interview with The Express Tribune.

"People do not want to see scriptures of their religion going in the trash," he explains.

At the same time, the society has amassed a collection of historical books on various subjects from other religions due to the material that has poured in over the years. Qasim says the organisation also plans to set up a museum to house these books and artefacts soon.

Sharing the start of the journey for the safe burial of holy pages, Qasim narrates that he belongs to a family from the Memon community where religion plays an important part in daily life. "I used to work as a crockery dealer in the Khori Garden area of downtown Karachi," he recalls.

Qasim adds that since childhood, he has been very particular about saving any page having the name of Allah and His Prophet from the trash. "I wanted to protect these sacred papers. Allah Almighty listened to my prayers."

Qasim reveals he started collecting sacred pages on the sidewalk near the wall next to the mosque in Khori Garden in 1986. He, along with other volunteers would respectfully carry these pages from the Holy Quran and other religious books and periodicals in sacks. They would then load the material on a truck and head to the Keamari Boat Basin.

"We used to rent a boat for Rs200 to haul the sacks loaded with torn copies and pages of the Holy Quran, religious books and pages of Urdu newspapers, bearing calligraphy, and 'cool' them in the deep sea," he says.

He points out that if these books or pages are buried in the ground, there remains the danger of desecration, adding religious texts are safely disposed of at sea. "This is locally referred to as 'cooling off'.

This practice continued for many years. In 1997, the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) gave the Anjuman a place in Ranchhore Lines and a truck to continue their sacred duty. "We would drive the truck to mosques and other places to collect sacred papers from there," he says.

Haji Qasim adds that in 1991, KPT provided the organisation with the facility of a ship. Its journey has been ongoing ever since. "Once a month, we transport the sacks to this ship by truck. Then they are taken to the deep sea and cooled."

With a hint of gratitude in his tone, the organisation's founder states that with the help of Alamgir Trust and other philanthropists, they now have three trucks and some vehicles in which the holy books and papers are collected from all over the city. "Every month, 100 tonnes of sacred leaves are cooled in the sea.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 11^th, 2022.