Across Iraq by mobile library: One man's journey to rekindle passion for reading in Mosul

From a city rebuilt after the devastation of war, an academic heads out on the road to deliver books and hope for a brighter future

Mosul, Iraq’s second-largest city, was the first to fall into the hands of ISIS during their blitz in mid-2014. Photo: Abdul-Sattar Abdul-Jabar Sultan

In the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, echoes of war still resonate, but an academic has taken a unique approach to healing: a mobile library that rolls through the streets offering a gift of knowledge and hope in a city that is slowly rebuilding its soul.

“Everything we went through, and the people who were swept away by it in Mosul and other parts of Iraq was caused by ignorance,” Abdul-Sattar Abdul-Jabar Sultan, who heads the department of business management at the Catholic University, told The National.

Mosul, Iraq’s second-largest city, was the first to fall into the hands of ISIS during their takeover of 2014-2017. It was the crown jewel of the extremist group’s self-proclaimed "caliphate” in parts of Iraq and Syria.

Prof Sultan blamed "fanaticism and the groups that planted harmful and destructive ideas among us," for the rise of extremism and militant factions after the 2003 US-led invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein.

He believes that education and access to knowledge are essential for postwar recovery and to avoid a repetition of the events of 2014 to 2017. “Today, an educated person is difficult to manipulate or control by any group,” Prof Sultan said.

The initiative, launched in November, focuses on schools and universities where students can borrow or read books during the bus's five-day stays in each stop. It will take the bus beyond Mosul and into other parts of Iraq.

The library has titles on culture, philosophy, social, science and literature. “We set aside religious and political books because it’s not the right time for them [for students] and we keep them only for researchers,” Prof Sultan said.

On the bus, about 1,000 books are neatly organised in wooden shelves inspired by walls dating to the Assyrian Empire and arches from the Abbasid Caliphate. The architecture and monuments belong to the Golden Age of Islam, when Baghdad was a centre of economics and politics, attracting students, poets, scientists and merchants from all over the world.

The sky blue-and-white bus is fitted with solar panels. It provides free internet and computers that allow readers access to millions of books online.

“Nineveh and Baghdad were beacons of knowledge during the Assyrian Empire and the Abbasid era, and for this reason, we strive to make the bus a mobile beacon of knowledge,” said Prof Sultan. Mosul is the provincial capital of Nineveh province.

In October 2016, Iraqi security forces backed by a US-led international coalition launched what was known as the world’s biggest urban battle since the Second World War. They announced the end of combat operations in mid-2017 when they recaptured Mosul. It took six more months to claw back the surrounding areas and announce that ISIS was defeated across Iraq as an effective fighting and political force.

These extremist groups aim to destroy knowledge and culture, the goal is not just to destroy a university or a church but rather to destroy the mind

Professor Abdul-Sattar Abdul-Jabar Sultan,
Head of Business Management at the Catholic University

But the price of victory came with a heavy toll. Tens of thousands died, millions were displaced, and entire towns and neighbourhoods were reduced to rubble during the ISIS ascendancy. The conflict not only left buildings in ruins, but it also disrupted access to education and knowledge by destroying libraries and thousands of books and ancient manuscripts from public libraries and places of worship.

In early 2018, the UN’s cultural agency launched its flagship Revive the Spirit of Mosul initiative, a few months after the declaration of victory over ISIS. The UAE donated $50 million to restore the Al Nouri mosque complex with its distinctive minaret, as well as two nearby churches, Al Saa’a and Al Tahera, which were all vandalised by the extremists.

“It’s not just the destruction of stone; it’s the destruction of minds,” said Prof Sultan. “These extremist groups aim to destroy knowledge and culture, the goal is not just to destroy a university or a church but, rather, to destroy the mind.”

His frequent visits to Germany as a member of the Arab-German Young Academy of Sciences and Humanities in Berlin inspired the idea of the mobile library. He was impressed by the culture of reading there from a young age, which extends beyond school hours.

However, establishing the mobile library was not easy. He recalls the initial hurdles he had to overcome: the lack of funding, finding donors of books and fighting the bureaucracy that prevented importing a bus from Germany – a gift of the academy.

After two years of attempts to find supporters, he managed to raise $30,000, plus $10,000 came from the academy and the rest was provided by other supporters to buy the second-hand 40-passenger bus from a seller on outskirts of Mosul. He then set to work and remodelled it as a library.

So far, the response from the community has been very positive. "I didn't expect people's reaction to the initiative. School principles are requesting we visits and we now have a group of reading enthusiasts who follow us wherever we go," said Prof Sultan.

“When you build a society that is educated scientifically, culturally, and socially, neither politicians, religious figures, nor tribal leaders will be able to deceive or manipulate it,” he said.