Three types of shops gradually shut down: alcohol stores, pork-based food outlets… and bookstores.
- The first two closures seem like a triumph of cultural and religious values—but the third strikes at a deeper concern: our growing disconnect from knowledge
By Khurram Riaz
In European cities where Pakistani communities grow, three types of shops gradually shut down: alcohol stores, pork-based food outlets… and bookstores. The first two closures seem like a triumph of cultural and religious values—but the third strikes at a deeper concern: our growing disconnect from knowledge.
At first glance, these changes appear commendable. Avoiding haram reflects religious identity and moral discipline. But the closing of bookstores reveals a painful irony: we reject physical impurity while tolerating intellectual poverty.
Bookstores don’t close because landlords raise rents—they close when no one buys books. When a community stops reading, its ability to think, question, and evolve declines. Children grow up in a vacuum of ideas. The mind becomes stagnant.
As a nation, Pakistanis abroad have succeeded materially—owning homes, running businesses, sending money home. But intellectually, we have failed to migrate. We didn’t carry with us our thinkers, poets, or scholars—we left our books behind.
We teach our kids how to earn, but not how to reflect. We teach them to avoid alcohol and pork, but not to embrace ilm. Religion becomes ritual; education becomes transactional. Thought dies in silence.
When bookstores close, societies suffer:
Domain Decline
Religion Becomes surface-level
Education Lacks critical thinking
Language Weakens (Urdu, Arabic, etc.)
Parenting focuses on money, not minds
Society Shifts from rational to reactive
To reverse this, we must:
- Buy and read books at home
- Make libraries part of family life
- Encourage dialogue, not just preaching
- Add intellectual sessions in mosques
- Celebrate writers as we do businessmen
The true meaning of Islamic migration is not just avoiding haram foods—it’s carrying forward our tradition of thought. Islam began with the word “Iqra”—Read. If our presence shuts down bookstores, then we’ve lost that message.
Let’s not let bookshops die in the shadow of halal meat stores. Let’s ensure that wherever Pakistanis go, knowledge flourishes, not fades.
Read: How Reading Shapes the Brain
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The writer is Bachelor of Engineering (B.E.) focused in Electrical and Electronics Engineering from EME College, NUST.
Courtesy: LinkedIn
