Tahawi Books: Our Story
Introduction
We started Tahawi Books in 2003 in my mother’s lounge, from where it operated for nearly 7 years, supplying much needed Arabic Books to ulama and tullab throughout the world.
While we now operate out of a large store in Overport, Durban, we still strive to provide a personalised experience and are always ready to advise on which books and prints are suited to you.
Creating the Love of Reading in Our Children
The love of reading was instilled in me by my beloved mother (May Allah Ta’ala keep her with good health) from the tender age of 6 or 7. She would constantly encourage us to read and would try to find books that interest us.
After my elder brother and I repeatedly read every book we had at home, she began taking us to a local public library. We would borrow 14 books each, to read over a fortnight, averaging a book a day. Our school librarian recognised our passion for reading and would allow us to fill a bag, containing up to 50 books, to tide us through the school holidays.
In High School, Allah Ta’ala blessed me with focusing on Islamic Literature, resulting in me devouring every Islamic Book I could get my hands on. After going through the extensive collection my father had at home, I borrowed books from the school library and friends, but it was never enough.
Darul Uloom Azadville
After completing matric, the most blessed period of my life began: the 6 years I spent at Darul Uloom Azaadville.
Ml Abdullah Dhabelia had just joined the Madrasah as a teacher and recognised the love I had for books and research. He carefully nurtured this passion, frequently giving me issues to research, so that I could learn how to use the library.
The librarian at the time didn’t allow first year students to use the library without written permission from their form teacher, which I had to obtain. Despite being one used to frequenting libraries since childhood, I was lost, as everything was in Arabic and I had no one to guide me. I could probably author a book on my many blunders and slip-ups on the path to learning how to use books!
In my second year, the teacher now appointed as librarian didn’t have much time for the library, so he handed me the key, giving me unrestricted access to what was a garden of Jannah for me.
Ml Abdullah Dhabelia was appointed librarian the following year and not only allowed me to keep the library key, but also permitted me to open the library at any time, thereby giving students access to the library right until late at night.
The library became my home, with my normal schedule being to only leave it around 2am each morning. Whenever Shaykh al-Hadith, Mawlana Fazlur Rahman Azmi sahib asked about a book in any class, I would find the book in the library and leave it on his desk for him. He lovingly labelled me: “Kutub Khana ka kira” ie. "Worm of the library" or "Bookworm”.
Why Tahawi Books was started?
As my stay in Madrasah drew to an end, my worry was “how am I going to access books once I leave Madrasah?”
Like most students, I was always broke. With the little spending I got, I would purchase books, but I couldn’t even afford one big set of books, forget thinking of building a personal library. There were no bookstores in SA importing a wide range of books from the Arab World. Some would bring a handful of titles by air and have to sell them at really high prices to cover the costs. Most ulama/students would buy their books during Umrah and bring them back in their luggage.
After completing in Azaadville, I studied in Mauritania for a few months, at the Mahzarah (Madrasah) of Sh Murabit al-Hajj, in addition to studies with a few ulama in the capital Nouakchott. My flights were via Cairo and I was amazed at the huge range of Arabic Books in Cairo at low prices.
Cairo seemed the perfect place to source books and this was an opportunity from Allah Ta’ala for me to serve the din by providing ulama and tullab with much needed books.
On my return to South Africa, a number of students from Madrasah Hamidiyyah in Overport, Durban expressed interest in ordering books, resulting in our first shipment from Cairo arriving in 2003 and thus “Tahawi Books” was born.
2003 until 2026
I then visited the Cairo Book Fair annually for the next 15 odd years, staying for up to 2 weeks each time, much of it spent hunting for rare books.
We gradually moved most of our orders directly to Beirut, due to it being the Arabic Book Printing Hub, however we still visit the Cairo Fair every few years.
Tahawi Books ran out of my parent’s lounge right until 2010, when I finally rented a home of my own, from where the bookstore could operate until 2018 when Tahawi Books moved to our current premises in Overport.
Our Team
I handle purchases, designing the catalogue, online sales and queries, while Mawlana Muhammad Usama does all the instore work, including sales and packing orders.
We make up the “Tahawi Books Team”, however Tahawi Books is only operating due to the grace of Allah Ta’ala who has allowed us to weather the many storms and who continues to take service from us.
I then have to thank my parents: My mother for her patience with me taking over her lounge for extended periods and my father, without whom Tahawi Books would have closed down decades ago. May Allah Ta’ala grant him a long life with afiyah and reward him greatly.
Then my elder brother who has been a great source of support; my wife and children, who are always assisting me. May Allah Ta’ala reward them all greatly.
The reality though is that Tahawi Books relies on the large number of ulama, students and institutes who have been supporting us over the past 23 years. Without your support, duas and kind words, we would have thrown in the towel a long time ago.
May Allah Ta’ala greatly reward all who have played even the smallest role in the success of this endeavour.
Our Mission
Our objective isn’t to just make books available, rather it is to educate the ummah, especially the ulama and tullab on the value and benefit of each book, so that they could appreciate these works and benefit from the priceless gems they contain.
We strive to stock both “high-quality best prints” as well as “affordable good prints” of books, pointing out the pros and cons of each, so that buyers could make an informed decision on which print is more suited to them.
We didn’t create just another online bookstore. Rather, we tried to create a resource, from which you could first learn which books are suited to your needs and then find and acquire the most suitable prints of them.