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Library and Information Science
in the Middle East and North Africa
Global Studies in Libraries
and Information

Edited by Ian M. Johnson
Editorial Board
Johannes Britz (South Africa/U.S.A)
Barbara Ford (U.S.A.)
Peter Lor (South Africa)
Kay Raseroka (Botswana)
Abdus Sattar Chaudry (Pakistan/Kuwait)
Kerry Smith (Australia)
Anna Maria Tammaro (Italy)
Volume 3
Library and Information
Science in the Middle
East and North Africa

Edited by Amanda B. Click, Sumayya Ahmed,
Jacob Hill, and John D. Martin III
ISBN 978-3-11-034172-0
e-ISBN (PDF) 978-3-11-034178-2
e-ISBN (EPUB) 978-3-11-039641-6
ISSN 2195-0199
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A CIP catalog record for this book has been applied for at the Library of Congress.
Bibliographic information published by the Deutsche Nationalbibliothek

The Deutsche Nationalbibliothek lists this publication in the Deutsche
Nationalbibliografie; detailed bibliographic data are available on the
Internet at http://dnb.dnb.de.
© 2016 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston

Typesetting: Lumina Datamatics
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About IFLA
www.ifla.org
IFLA (The International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions) is

the leading international body representing the interests of library and informa-
tion services and their users. It is the global voice of the library and information
profession. IFLA provides information specialists throughout the world with a
forum for exchanging ideas and promoting international cooperation, research,
and development in all fields of library activity and information service. IFLA
is one of the means through which libraries, information centres, and informa-
tion professionals worldwide can formulate their goals, exert their influence as
a group, protect their interests, and find solutions to global problems.
IFLA’s aims, objectives, and professional programme can only be fulfilled
with the co-operation and active involvement of its members and affiliates.
Currently, approximately 1,600 associations, institutions and individuals, from
widely divergent cultural backgrounds, are working together to further the goals
of the Federation and to promote librarianship on a global level. Through its
formal membership, IFLA directly or indirectly represents some 500,000 library
and information professionals worldwide.
IFLA pursues its aims through a variety of channels, including the publica-
tion of a major journal, as well as guidelines, reports and monographs on a wide
range of topics. IFLA organizes workshops and seminars around the world to
enhance professional practice and increase awareness of the growing importance
of libraries in the digital age. All this is done in collaboration with a number of
other non-governmental organizations, funding bodies and international agencies
such as UNESCO and WIPO. IFLANET, the Federation’s website, is a prime source
of information about IFLA, its policies and activities: www.ifla.org.
Library and information professionals gather annually at the IFLA World
Library and Information Congress, held in August each year in cities around
the world.
IFLA was founded in Edinburgh, Scotland, in 1927 at an international con-
ference of national library directors. IFLA was registered in the Netherlands in
1971. The Koninklijke Bibliotheek (Royal Library), the national library of the
Netherlands, in The Hague, generously provides the facilities for our headquar-
ters. Regional offices are located in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; Pretoria, South Africa;
and Singapore IFLA also has four Language Centres whose role it is to contri-
bute to more effective communication within the relevant language commu-
nities – Arabic, Chinese, French (in Africa), and Russian.
Acknowledgements
The editors appreciate the support of the University of North Carolina at Chapel
Hill School of Information and Library Science. We would also like express our
gratitude to Dr. Barbara Moran, Louis Round Wilson Distinguished Professor
and leader of the ELIME-21 program, for her invaluable guidance throughout the
process of creating this volume. Thank you also to Boyd Holmes, for his expert
indexing.
Contents
List of Tables, Figures, and Appendices  IX
Amanda B. Click
Introduction  XI
Christof Galli
1 Arab Book Publishing  1
Sumayya Ahmed
2 For a Morocco that Reads: The Crisis of Reading and Recent Initiatives
to Revive Libraries and Reading in Morocco  28
Samir Hachani
3 A Bird’s Eye View of Two Open Access Experiences in Algeria: CERIST’s
Webreview and Dépôt numérique de l’Université d’Alger I  46
Anaïs Salamon
4 Academic Librarianship and Coercion: A Case Study in the Occupied
Palestinian Territories  63
Daphne Flanagan and Frieda Wiebe

5 American-style Academic Libraries in the Gulf Region  87
Meggan Houlihan, Christine Furno, and Jayme Spencer

6 Information Literacy in the Middle East: A Case Study of the American
University in Cairo and the American University of Sharjah  113
Janet Martin
7 Aligning Library Services to the Emerging Online Capability
of Emirati Students  138
Patricia A. Wand
8 Correlating Information Centers to Emerging Knowledge-based
Economies  156
Evelyn H. Daniel, Lokman I. Meho, and Barbara B. Moran

9 Education for Library and Information Science
in the Arab States  173
VIII  Contents
Amanda B. Click, Josiah Drewry, and Mahmoud Khalifa

10 Library and Information Science Research in the Arab World:
A Systematic Review 2004–2013  235
Blake Robinson
11 Addressing Bias in the Cataloging and Classification of Arabic and
Islamic Materials: Approaches from Domain Analysis  255
Jordan M. Scepanski and Yaşar Tonta

12 Library Collaboration in the Middle East and North Africa  270
Walid Ghali
13 The State of Manuscript Digitization Projects in Some Egyptian
Libraries and Their Challenges  302
Contributors  319
Index  325
List of Tables, Figures, and Appendices
Table 1.1 Number of records for books in Middle Eastern languages from
OCLC/WorldCat, –  
Table 1.2 Reading habits of Arab publics  
Table 1.3 National book production, Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Egypt,
–  
Table 1.4 National book production, Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia,
–  
Table 1.5 Percentages of Dewey subject classes of legal deposit totals in
Tunisia, –  
Table 1.6 Number of publishers in selected Arab countries,   
Table 1.7 Book pricing ranges, selected categories  
Table 1.8 Membership of Arab States in international copyright
treaties  
Table 1.9 Arab states’ IDI rankings and values,   
Table 1.10 IT Indicators for Arab countries  
Table 3.1 World Internet usage and population statistics from Internet
World Stats  
Table 3.2 Ratio of open access articles in each journal in Webreview  
Table 4.1 Library, date of foundation, and location  
Table 4.2 Collections, floor area, staff, and number of students  
Table 4.3 Geographical mobility and job stability  
Table 4.4 Gender repartition  
Table 4.5 Degree(s) earned and position held  
Table 4.6 Academic trajectory of Palestinian library professionals  
Table 4.7 Daily tasks and duties, and position held  
Table 8.1 Knowledge Economy Index (KEI) for eight Gulf countries,
comparing  and   
Table 8.2 Number of information centers (libraries and museums), Gulf
Countries  
Table 8.3 Number of persons per information center, Gulf Countries  
Table 8.4 Comparing Gulf Countries to select Western knowledge-based
economies regarding the number of people per information
center  
Table 9.1 LIS programs in the Arab States offering at least a bachelor’s
degree in the field  
Table 10.1 All journal titles included in the systematic review  
X  List of Tables, Figures, and Appendices
Table 10.2 Number of Arab world-related articles, top and international

journals  
Table 10.3 Research by geographical location, top and international
journals  
Table 10.4 Most common research topics, top and international
journals  
Figure 8.1 Four interactive pillars of Knowledge Economies  

Figure 8.2 Comparing number of information centers, Gulf Countries  
Figure 9.1 Number of LIS programs founded per decade,
-present  
Figure 10.1 Number of Arab world-related articles by year, top and interna-
tional journals  
Figure 10.2 Author country affiliations, top and international journals  
Figure 10.3 Author country affiliations, Arab journals  
Appendix 4.1 Survey Instrument  

Appendix 12.1 Library Consortia Questionnaire  
Appendix 12.2 Library Associations Questionnaire  
Appendix 12.3 Library Cooperation Questionnaire  
Appendix 12.4 Library Consortia in the Middle East and North Africa  
Appendix 12.5 Library Associations in the Middle East and North Africa  
Appendix 12.6 Other Organizations and Institutions Promoting Library
Collaboration in the Middle East and North Africa  
Amanda B. Click
Introduction
In 2011, the School of Information and Library Science at the University of
North Carolina at Chapel Hill admitted the first of four doctoral fellows funded
by a grant awarded by the U.S. Institute of Museum and Library Services. This
grant, titled ‘Educating Librarians in the Middle East: Building Bridges for the
21st Century (ELIME-21)’, focused on creating professional development and
educational opportunities for information professionals interested in the library
and information services in or focused on the Middle East and North Africa
(MENA). As the fellows pursued our own research interests related to library
and information science (LIS) in this region, we felt that a new volume raising
awareness of the state of the field in the 21st century would be a valuable
addition to the English-language LIS literature. We proposed Library and
Information Science in the Middle East and North Africa as part of the IFLA/De
Gruyter ‘Global Studies in Libraries and Information’ series. The volume is
edited by the ELIME-21 fellows, and contains the work of 21 authors with
regional expertise.
We are delighted with the range and quality of the contributions in this
volume. These 13 chapters provide thorough investigations of key topics from
cataloging to information literacy to library cooperation, written by experts in the
field from the Middle East, North Africa, and North America. From individual
country case studies to research covering the whole region, this volume contributes
to a “big picture” understanding of LIS in the modern Middle East and North Africa.
Defining this region is a complex task, and the authors whose work is
included in Library and Information Science in the Middle East and North Africa
chose to do so in different ways. Some included all the members of the League
of Arab States: Algeria, Bahrain, Comoros, Djibouti, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait,
Lebanon, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia,
Somalia, Sudan, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates, Yemen, and Syria (although it
is currently suspended from the League). Other authors chose to include Turkey,
Iran and Afghanistan, or exclude sub-Saharan African countries. Some chapters
focus on a specific country or sub-region, such as the countries that make up
the Gulf Cooperation Council.
Several chapters offer in-depth regional overviews. Christof Galli covers
book publishing in the region, including issues of pricing, censorship,
distribution, and copyright. His chapter, “Publishing in the Middle East and
North Africa,” closes with a discussion of the fledgling Arabic e-book market.
“Education for Library and Information Science in the Arab States,” by Evelyn
XII  Amanda B. Click
Daniel, Lokman Meho, and Barbara Moran, provides in-depth information about
LIS education by sub-region. The authors note that remarkable growth has
taken place since LIS education became widespread in MENA fewer than fifty
years ago. The chapter includes historical detail and a comprehensive list of the
LIS programs that offer at least a bachelor’s degree. Jordan Scepanski and Yaşar
Tonta explore library collaboration, including consortia, associations, and other
institutions and organizations that promote library cooperation. Collecting data
via literature review, personal communications, and online questionnaires, the
authors were able to compile a directory of LIS consortia, associations, and
other organizations in MENA.
Other chapters use country case studies to explore the state of LIS in the
region, including topics such as information literacy, knowledge-based economies,
manuscript digitization, and open access. Editor Sumayya Ahmed tackles the
“crisis of reading” in Morocco, and describes several organizations and programs
designed to promote reading. She points out that reading in public is not a
common activity in Moroccan culture and these inspired initiatives strive to change
this perception, focusing on populations including children in rural areas and
urban commuters on public transportation. “Information Literacy in the Middle
East: A Case Study of the American University in Cairo and the American University
of Sharjah,” by Meggan Houlihan, Christine Furno, and Jayme Spencer, outlines
the development of information literacy programs at two respected American-style
universities in the Middle East. These programs might serve as models for other
regional universities wishing to implement or improve information literacy training
in their libraries. Daphne Flanagan and Frieda Wiebe’s “American-style Academic
Libraries in the Gulf Region” provides a detailed exploration of both branch
campuses of U.S. universities, and private universities accredited by U.S. agencies.
The chapter includes information about universities and libraries in Qatar, the
United Arab Emirates, and Saudi Arabia, countries in which this education model
has become particularly popular. Patricia Wand’s chapter on information centers
and knowledge-based economies focuses on the Gulf countries as well. Following a
discussion of the foundations of knowledge-based economies, she makes the
connection to information centers and uses this framework to consider the current
situations in Bahrain, Iran, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, United Arab
Emirates and Yemen. In “A Bird’s Eye View of Two Open Access Experiences in
Algeria: CERIST’s Webreview and Dépôt numérique de l’Université d’Alger I,”
Samir Hachani gives an overview of open access with an emphasis on issues in the
developing world. The chapter includes detailed information about two open
access initiatives in Algeria. Based on his own experiences and a survey of local
experts, Walid Ghali covers manuscript digitization projects in Egyptian libraries.
Introduction  XIII
The chapter discusses bibliographic and image databases, manuscript portals, and
specific projects at institutions like Al Azhar Mosque and Bibliotheca Alexandrina.
This volume contains original research on topics as varied as the overall
state of recent LIS research in MENA, and the use of digital technologies
by Emirati students. Josiah Drewry, Mahmoud Khalifa, and I conducted a
systematic review of the LIS literature to explore the research conducted about
MENA, and by authors affiliated with institutions in the region. The study
revealed interesting issues related to language, author collaboration, and the
effects of political and social upheaval on research. Anaïs Salamon surveyed
academic library professionals working in the occupied Palestinian Territories.
Her chapter, “Academic Librarianship and Coercion: A Case Study in the
Occupied Palestinian Territories,” profiles Palestinian academic library staff and
explores the impact of the occupation on academic libraries and librarianship.
“Aligning Library Services to the Emerging Online Capability of Emirati
Students,” based on Janet Martin’s doctoral thesis research, looks at the extent
to which Emirati students use digital technologies and how skillful and
confident they are in the use of these technologies. Martin shares her findings
and outlines the implications for library services. Blake Robinson’s chapter
provides a thorough analysis of bias in the cataloging and classification of
Arabic and Islamic materials. He discusses Edward Said’s Orientalism and Sanford
Berman’s Prejudices and Antipathies, and offers Birger Hjørland’s theory of
domain analysis as a framework in which to address bias.
We hope that LIS educators and practitioners from an Arabic cataloger in
Toronto to a LIS professor in Tunis will find something of value in Library and
Information Science in the Middle East and North Africa, but this volume will also
provide new insights for anyone throughout the world who has an interest in
how this dynamic region is developing.
Christof Galli
1 Arab Book Publishing
Introduction
In a 1975 article in MELA Notes, David Partington, then Middle East librarian at
Harvard College, attempted to estimate the number of publications produced
in the Middle East (all the Arabic-speaking countries and Turkey, Iran, and
Afghanistan). In one of his tabulations (Partington, 1975, p. 17) he estimated
that an average of “about 30 percent of total Middle Eastern production is in
subjects outside of a liberal collecting policy. By liberal collecting policy I mean
most of the books in literature, linguistics, humanities, and the social science
works applicable to the native countries” (Partington, 1975, p. 15). He “regard[s
as] ‘non-collectable’ subjects: generalities, trade, transport, mathematics, natural
sciences, medical sciences, industries, agriculture, domestic science, commercial
techniques, games & sports” (p. 15).
Today, very few collection policies for academic libraries, especially not at a
tier – one research institution like Harvard, would systematically exclude materials
in these fields from their Middle East collections. Whereas area studies, during the
first two thirds of the twentieth century, became a way to support the “universali-
zation of the social sciences” by providing “concrete data to bear on generalization
and theory” (Mitchell, 2004, p. 85), paradigmatic shifts which occurred under the
influence of poststructuralist and postcolonial theoretical developments have
increasingly eroded these disciplinary strictures and limitations. The goal is a
reconfigured and “re-envisaged, cosmopolitan area studies that seeks to provincia-
lize universal western knowledge claims to become more inclusive of, as well
as relevant to, the concerns of people in the majority world” (Hörschelmann &
Stenning, 2008, p. 355). This approach has triggered increased demand for the
acquisition of a broader thematic palette of published materials from the Global
South, and consequently, the Arab Middle East, in order to document and make
accessible the cultural and scientific output of this region. The scope of this
endeavor clearly goes beyond the above-mentioned “liberal collecting policy” of
40 years ago to include publications covering the whole gamut of life experience
reflected in the published output. Hazen (2009) writes of today’s scholarship:
[c]ross-disciplinary inquiry, participatory learning, an obsession with primary resources

and original documentation in all formats, and hybrid methodologies are increasingly the
norm…. Newly minted centers, institutes, programs, and initiatives today provide homes
for interdisciplinary scholarship, even as traditional departments remain strong (pp. 5–6).
2  Christof Galli
Amid these trends, which apply closely to the field of Middle Eastern studies,
librarians will have to find ways, financial restrictions notwithstanding, to
acquire materials to build research-level collections of materials from markets
such as the Arabic publishing arena, which ranges from the Arabian Peninsula
to the western reaches of North Africa. To live up to the challenge of efficiently
capturing the materials to ‘feed’ the emerging methodological trends in scholar-
ship and teaching, we have to understand the workings of the regional book
publishing and distribution sector.
Previous studies have examined Arab publishing from the perspective of
libraries with the intent to determine at which level relevant materials of the
available output from the region was to be acquired. Hopwood (1972) and Par-
tington (1975) both found that production of “collectable” materials was increas-
ing and that budgets should be increased to acquire more comprehensively from
all countries in the Middle East. Hirsch (2007) notes the emergence of varying
levels of need for core collections which address immediate curricular and
instructional requirements on the one hand and for research collections which
are geared towards long-term, primary-source-oriented faculty- and graduate-
level research on the other hand.
Reflecting sustained scholarly and policy interest in the Middle East both
pre- and post-September 11, 2001, Arabic book holdings in U.S. libraries have
doubled between 1992 and 2007 (see Table 1.1). Even so, in 2007, the number of
books from Arab countries was about half of those from regions with compar-
able populations (200–600 million): about one eighth from Western Europe
(even excluding those from the United Kingdom); 40% of Eastern Europe; and
about half of Latin America. Arabic books slightly exceeded those from South-
east Asia and their number was about twice as high as the one for books from
Sub-Saharan Africa (Kurzman, 2014).
Tab. .: Number of records for books in Middle Eastern languages from OCLC/WorldCat,
– (Kurzman, ).
Year Arabic Hebrew Persian Turkish All Languages

Records Records Records Records Records
1992     ,

1993     ,
1994     ,
1995     ,
1996     ,
1997     ,
1998     ,
1 Arab Book Publishing  3
Tab. 1.1: (continued)
Year Arabic Hebrew Persian Turkish All Languages

Records Records Records Records Records
1999     ,

2000 ,    ,
2001 ,    ,
2002 ,    ,
2003 ,    ,
2004 ,    ,
2005 ,    ,
2006 ,    ,
2007 ,    ,
This chapter proposes to provide a snapshot of book publishing in the Arab

world at the beginning of the second decade of the 21st century, which for the
purpose of this study includes Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kingdom of
Saudi Arabia (KSA), Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Oman, Palestine, Qatar,
Syria, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates (UAE), and Yemen. The goal of this chapter
is to provide academic librarians with an understanding of the industry, its chal-
lenges and emerging trends. The chapter begins with descriptions of the number
and types of books published, and then describes the particular challenges in
the areas of distribution, pricing, censorship and copyright that negatively affect
book publishing. It ends with a brief description of nascent Arabic e-publishing
initiatives.
The Arabic language, one the United Nations six official languages (United
Nations, 2015), constitutes a powerful unifying force which has produced a
measure of cultural cohesion in an otherwise geographically and politically frac-
tured region. In fact, in the region’s sociopolitical quest to define and build
national and state identities, Arabic has formed an important “cornerstone”
(Suleiman, 2006, p. 125) and has been championed as a “bond of identity, over
religion” by sociopolitical movements and activists (p. 126). With its over 300
million speakers,¹ the Arabic speaking demographic seems to harbor formidable
potential for both producing and consuming cultural output in considerable
quantities. Increasingly, users of online social media services in the Arab region,
such as Twitter and Facebook, use Arabic as their language of choice. The number
1 Lewis et al. (2014) give a total of 273 million speakers. Internet World Stats (2014) gives
379 million.
of tweets in Arabic and originating in the Arab world increased from 62.1% in 2012
to 75% in 2014 in the Arab region, and postings on Facebook and the use its
Arabic interface is on the rise (Mohammed Bin Rashid School of Government
[MBRSG] 2012, 2014a). Arabic, then, continues to function as a major world lan-
guage, and the Arab book markets with their base in more than 300 million speak-
ers has enormous potential for both print and digital publications.
Reading
Awareness of socio-economic and educational indicators and behaviors help in
determining the parameters of the market which librarians have to probe in
order to cover the areas and subjects in which relevant societal discourses take
place, thereby allowing for successful documentation of cultural and scientific
output of Arab societies. Furthermore, reader behavior and attitudes are of inter-
est to publishers and help them shape their programming and marketing strate-
gies. Two such indicators are literacy, and, closely related, reading behavior.
Low literacy rates have been a scourge in the region for many years and progress
in remediating the situation has been difficult. At the beginning of the 21st
century, there were “over 70 million illiterates out of a population of 280 million”
in the Arab region, and this is the situation even after a concerted effort which
reduced illiteracy from 48.7% in 1990 to 38.5% in 2000 (UNESCO-Beirut, 2003,
p. 12). For 2015, UNESCO projects a 79.2% combined male/female literacy rate for
the Arab States, leaving an illiterate adult population (15 years+) of 47.6 million,
66.8% of which are female (UNESCO, 2013, pp. 27–28).
The reading habits of literate populations have only been studied scantily
(see Table 1.2). The unprovable claim (Caldwell, 2012) that Arabs read “6 minutes
a year,” spread by, among others, the Arab Thought Foundation (Arab Thought
Foundation, 2011, p. 500) is hardly a ‘real’ measure for the reading habits of a
300-million-people public. A recent survey by the NextPage Foundation presents
a more detailed and richer (but not an entirely reliable or clear) picture of the
reading public in Egypt, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia, and Morocco (NextPage,
2007a) and Algeria, Jordan, Palestine, and Syria (NextPage, 2007b). Both surveys
focus on literate adults aged 15–65 in a variety of socio-economic groups. The
survey has found that, with the exception of Egypt and Saudi Arabia, a larger
share than expected of literate people do not read (Harabi, 2007, p. 14). In addi-
tion, any readers read for only an hour a day or less, reading is limited to school
without aiming to turn pupils into life-long readers, and once they complete
school, adults stop reading at age 19 or earlier and often do not read significantly
again (Harabi, 2007, p. 14).
The findings indicate that solid portions of surveyed readers read books,
albeit to a lesser degree than newspapers and magazines which serve as source
for information on current events, politics, and news (NextPage, 2007a, 2007b).
The preferred reading language is Arabic for books and serials. Saudi and Egyp-
tian readers indicated that they equally liked Arabic for reading books and
reading online; Algerian, Moroccan and Tunisian readers indicated their pre-
ference for French when reading online whereas Lebanese readers preferred
English for online reading. English is the second most read language in Syria,
Jordan and Palestine, an activity mostly undertaken with the goal of improving
language competency. Readers in Lebanon, Tunisia, and Morocco indicated a
higher incidence of reading French books than other countries. The majority of
book-readers are interested in (Islamic) devotional literature (Qur’an, tafsir,
sirah, etc.), but also in literature. Responses indicate that a majority of readers
who bought books during the 12 months preceding the survey did not purchase
translated titles. Surprisingly, a relatively small portion of surveyed readers
attend book fairs. One cannot help but note the rather narrow spectrum of
reading preferences mentioned by survey participants. One commentator of the
survey attributes this paucity of topics to a poor variety in the supply of titles
from other Arab countries caused by lack of trade in publishing rights between
Arab publishers, high tariffs, and distribution problems (Habeeb n.d.). A second
commentator notes the same narrow range of interests and similarly attributes
it, on the one hand, to insufficient variety in the supply and marketing strategies
of Arab publishers, but also, on the other hand, to lack in broad-based literacy
(Wile n.d., p. 16).
Tab. .: Reading habits of Arab publics (NextPage, a, b).
Read During Newspapers/ Books Attended % Readers who

Past Year Magazines Book Fair bought book(s), but
(% Readers) not translation(s)
Algeria % % % % %

Egypt % % % % %
Jordan % % % % %
Lebanon % % % % %
Morocco % % % % %
Palestine % % % % %
Saudi Arabia % % % % %
Syria % % % % %
Tunisia % % % % %
Challenges to Statistical Assessments

of Arabic Book Publishing
There are currently no unified reporting mechanisms which would allow the sys-
tematic tracking of the production of books, and Arab publishing as a whole has
been notoriously under-studied and under-documented. Although some local/
national markets have been examined more closely and more extensively than
others, consistent historical and current statistical documentation and analysis
for all the countries or the region are not available. Overall, Arab publishing
remains hard to assess and quantify. There are no reliable mechanisms to gather
figures which could be used to describe the Arab publishing. Available disparate
sources often provide unreliable and contradictory information. It has long been
known that the Arab publishing arena and its target markets are fragmented
along national borders (Abou Zeid, 2014). Despite a unified language there is no
system to create a regional catalog of materials in print. Recent studies derived
figures for the number of books accessible in one online bookseller’s catalog
(Abou Zeid, 2013; Wischenbart & Jarrous, 2012a). This catalog with about 400,000
entries in 2012 is estimated to represent about 80% of all available Arabic titles
published in the region, and covering the production of Lebanon, Syria, Jordan,
Egypt, and Saudi Arabia, but excluding Arabic publications from the Maghreb,
Mauretania, Sudan, Iraq, and Yemen (Wischenbart & Jarrous, 2012b). Recent new
additions to this catalog are estimated to break down as follows:
– 2011: 18,000 new titles, including 2700 translations into Arabic
– 2012: 17,000 new titles, including 2,400 translations into Arabic
– 2013: (till August): 9,700 new titles, among which 1,150 in translation
(Abou-Zeid, 2013, p. 2)
No single source validates these figures independently. The ISBN system might
constitute one way of gathering more precise publishing statistics. The legal
deposit registries in several countries are another possible source of information.
Unfortunately, the implementation of and adherence to the ISBN numbering
system varies widely from country to country. Although acquiring ISBN numbers
is free in most Arab countries, the limited scope for distribution and high shares
of direct sales cause many publishers to see ISBNs as superfluous because they
do not produce any significant advantage for the publisher. The absence of an
ISBN, which would help with large-scale categorization and market assessment,
also makes cross-border book distribution difficult. Furthermore, the lack of sys-
tematic ISBN numbering impedes the creation of a unified, functioning book dis-
tribution system (Eschweiler & Goehler, 2010, pp. 196–197). Some publishers shun
ISBNs because they fear that increased market transparency could “facilitate the
control of official entities over the flow of books and the publishing business in
the Arab world” (Eschweiler & Goehler, 2010, p. 197). Especially in countries with
strict censorship regimes, ISBN numbers are often only issued after the books
have been scrutinized and approved (Al Qasimi, 2011, p. 339). Some local book
distributors have developed their own, often competing and incoherent, coding
systems, but overall these attempts have created additional complications and
cannot serve as a trusted basis for the intra- and inter-country trade of Arabic
books (Eschweiler & Goehler, 2010, p. 197) or the creation of a supra-national or
regional book tracking system.
National Depositories
Several countries in the region have legal deposit regulations which could serve
as a source for data on publishing in the respective country. While only a small
number of countries have consistently collected deposited materials and pub-
lished the bibliographies, they do provide a source of reliable statistical informa-
tion for parts of the Arab World. Tab. 1.3 summarizes figures which were obtained
directly from the countries’ culture ministries’ agencies which monitor publishing
or oversee the legal deposit organizations.
Tab. .: National book production, Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Egypt, –.²
2006 2007 2008 2009 2010
Egypt , , , , ,

Jordan , , , , ,
Lebanon , , , , ,
Syria   ,  ,
U.A.E.³ n/a n/a n/a  
Three North African countries, Algeria, Tunisia, and Morocco have legal deposit
regulations (Lajeunesse & Sène, 2004). Morocco and Tunisia have published
their national bibliographies consistently and have made them accessible, albeit
in different form and to a different extent, on the Web portals of their national
2 Figures collected by Salah Chebaro, CEO of neelwafurat, obtained from Dr. Ruediger Wischen-
bart in personal communication, 9 September 2014
3 U.A.E. numbers (Wischenbart, 2012a)
libraries. Morocco’s national bibliography is available in searchable form back

to 2007; Tunisia’s is available back to 1984 in PDF format, with each issue con-
taining summary tables for Arabic materials and materials in other languages.
The figures in Tab. 1.4 below have been extracted from two online sources from
the Moroccan National Library and the Tunisian National Library respectively.⁴,⁵
Recent figures for Algeria, the third North African country with a legal deposit
law, were only available for January to March and May to June of 2011.⁶
Tab. .: National book production, Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia, – (DKWT ,
a, f, ; Algerian National Library, N.D.; BNRM ).
2010 2011 2012
Algeria–Arabic – , –
Algeria–Other –  –
Morocco–Arabic  , ,
Morocco–Other   
Tunisia–Arabic ,  
Tunisia–Other   
The Subject Profiles of Arabic Book Publishing

It is hard to assess what subject categories dominate in the overall Arab publish-
ing arena (see Table 1.6 for the number of publishers in selected countries).
National bibliographies often offer a rough subject breakdown. Tunisia’s summary
tables break down the legal deposit statistics by top-level Dewey classes and also
indicate the number of school and children’s books. Tab. 1.5 shows these groups
as percentages of the annual totals.
4 Morocco ; searches were conducted in the Bibliographie nationale segment of the database
using ‘year-of-publication’ AND Fascicule=tout AND Langue (‘Arabe’ and combined ‘Français/
Anglais/Espagnol’): http://opac.bnrm.ma:8000/cgi-bin/gw_2011_1_4_4/chameleon?sessionid=
2014090800350518409&skin=bnrm&lng=fr&inst=consortium&function=EXTERNAL_CONTENT&
externalurl=http%3a%2f%2fopac.bnrm.ma%3a8000%2fgw_2011_1_4_4%2fhtml%2fbnrm%2ffr%
2fsearch_screens%2fsearch_screen_bibliography_form.html
5 Tunisia: http://www.bibliotheque.nat.tn/channels/espace-professionnel/bibliographie-natio-
nale/27/0.html ; individual files for annual national bibliography compilations contain summary
tables.
6 Algeria: http://www.biblionat.dz/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&id=143:
2011-03-01-18-47-48&Itemid=126
Tab. .: Percentages of Dewey subject classes of legal deposit totals in Tunisia, –
(DKWT , a, f, ).
1992–2003⁷ 2010 2011 2012
All Arabic Other Arabic Other Arabic Other
Children’s Books n/a .% .% .% .% .% .%

School books n/a .% .% .% .% .% .%
Generalities % .% .% .% .% .% .%
Philosophy/Psychology % .% .% .% .% .% .%
Religion % .% .% .% .% .% .%
Social Sciences % .% .% .% .% .% .%
Languages – .% .% .% .% .% .%
Natural Sciences/Maths % .% .% .% .% .% .%
Applied Sciences % .% .% .% .% .% .%
Arts % .% .% .% .% .% .%
Literature % .% .% .% .% .% .%
Geography, History % .% .% .% .% .% .%
Studies have shown that, throughout the Arab world, religious books constitute
17% of all books published in Arab countries, compared to about 5% worldwide.
This has been attributed to subsidies from mosques and pious foundations that
may promote their production and make them more affordable for low-income
readers (Schwartz et al. 2009, p. 8).
The second-highest sellers are novels, with original titles selling better than
translations. Third-best are children’s books with educational, non-fiction content.
Lebanese children’s books sell well in the Gulf Cooperation Council countries, but
not in North Africa where, at an average price of $4 per copy, children’s books are
too expensive for most residents. Largest sales are to educational institutions
(e.g., schools, ministries), and original publications are preferred over transla-
tions. Cookbooks and original astrology sell well also. Numbers for translated self-
help books are on the rise (Abou-Zeid, 2014, pp. 100–101).
Translations
The dearth of statistics makes it difficult to provide a clear picture of the current
state of Arabic translation activities in the Arab world. However, the statistics
7 Source: http://book-fair.com/pdf/buchmesse/buchmarkt_tunesien_e.pdf ; Languages counted

in Literature.
which exist indicate that Arabic translations of foreign language books consti-
tute a small portion of the publishing output in the region. A 2007 mostly attitudi-
nal survey of publishers and translators in five Arab countries (Egypt, Lebanon,
Morocco, Saudi Arabia, Syria) examined the production of, and demand for,
translations in the countries in the survey as well as the industries and corporate
and public strategies and policies related to translation activities (Harabi, 2007,
p. 6). A lack of qualified translators in four of the surveyed countries is one main
reason for a sparse output of translations. Of the five countries, only Lebanon has
institutions of higher learning which offer translation degrees, among them
St. Joseph University and the Lebanese University which have separate schools for
translation studies (Harabi, 2007, p. 52). Morocco is home to the École Supérieure
Roi Fahd de Traduction in Tangier which offers complete translation training.
In addition, some professional associations have started to address the formation
of specialized translators (Harabi, 2007, 75, p. 84). On the other hand, Morocco
lacks up-to-date publishing equipment, and public financial support and private
funding are sparse (Harabi, 2009, p. 210). In Egypt, there is no scarcity of transla-
tors, but there is a significant lack of quality and absence of specialization (Harabi,
2007, pp. 29–30). Deterioration of Egypt’s system of higher and professional educa-
tion has led to a situation where the profession of translator has become “a job
without clear criteria” (Harabi, 2007, p. 32). Translations produced in Lebanon are
generally considered as being of superior quality (Harabi, 2007, p. 42).
In most countries, private publishers decide what translations get marketed.
The weak state of the Arabic translation industry is also attributed to weak
domestic demand in all the surveyed countries except Saudi Arabia (Harabi,
2009, p. 211). In Saudi Arabia, many institutions of the public sector as well as
financial, commercial and health-related entities produce documentation in
English but need to translate it into Arabic to be able to maintain effective com-
munication with the public. Since the language of instruction in Saudi universi-
ties for the natural sciences, medicine, and engineering is English, these sub-
jects need very little Arabic translation. Subjects like accounting, economics, law,
and agriculture are taught in Arabic and thus require more Arabic translation
(Harabi, 2007, p. 103). In Lebanon, the government does not have a program to
foster or promote the translation of foreign works. In several countries, cultural
centers of foreign countries fund translations of works by authors from their coun-
tries. In Lebanon, for instance, the French Cultural Center promotes translations
as part of its Programme d’Aide à la Publication (PAP) (Harabi, 2007, p. 48). In
Morocco, French, German, and American and other cultural centers promote and
sponsor novels and other books from their respective countries for translation into
Arabic, a practice, which according to experts interviewed for the survey, might
be considered a “form of post-colonialism” [sic] as the decision about what to
publish is not sufficiently democratic (Harabi, 2007, p. 81). The French Cultural
Center also subsidizes 6–7 translations per year in Syria (Harabi, 2007, p. 148),
empirically selecting titles designated by local publishers and educational institu-
tions⁸ (Harabi, 2007, p. 154). In Morocco, the decision about what to translate is
often taken by researchers and authors (Harabi, 2007, p. 81). It is noteworthy
that in Morocco, during the period for which the researchers gathered data
(1980–2002), about one third of all translations are of works written by authors of
Moroccan origin. This is attributed to the fact that many Moroccan writers writing
in French live in France and, if successful, target the readership in their country of
origin with an Arabic translation (Harabi, 2007, p. 77). In Saudi Arabia, commer-
cial publishers as well as public institutions and non-profits produce translations.
The publishing of Arabic translations in Saudi Arabia is highly concentrated
among private publishers (Obeikan Bookshop, Mars Publishing House, Jarir, and
Knowledge for Humanities Development) with 600 books between 1992–2004;
and two public sector publishers, King Saud University and the Institute of Public
Administration with 157 books during the same period (Harabi, 2007, p. 124).
Whereas Arabic translation activities are often geared towards the domestic market,
publishers in Egypt or Lebanon especially target foreign markets, particularly the
Gulf economies. In all countries, the highest share of translations occurs in subjects
like history, politics, and religion (Islam). Only in Morocco does the highest number
(about 25%) of translations falls to literary works (Harabi, 2007, p. 78).
In Lebanon, publishers usually acquire world Arabic rights for a title together
with the digital rights. Royalties for translated titles are between 5–8% of the local
retail price (children’s books 5%–6%). The seller of the rights obtains the royalties
of the first print run as an advance. E-book rights for the translation are 25% of the
retail price (Abou-Zeid, 2014, p. 102).
Scientific Publishing
The establishment of the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology
(KAUST) in Saudi Arabia, Education City in Qatar with campuses of several major
US universities, and Abu Dhabi’s Masdar Initiative have changed the context for
science research in the Arab Middle East. A research report by Thomson Reuters
(Adams et al. 2011) studies a group of countries including Bahrain, Egypt, Iran,
Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Turkey, UAE,
8 Since this survey was conducted before the outbreak of the Syrian civil war, this practice may
no longer be applied today. Ay data cited here about Syria may just serve historical purposes.
and Yemen. These countries increased their scientific publication output from less
than 2% to more than 4% of the Thomson Reuters-indexed output between 2000
and 2009. Total world output indexed in the same source increased from 760,000
to 1.16m publications in the same period. During this period the output of the
Middle Eastern group was growing faster than the one of the Asia-Pacific group. A
more recent tally which examined the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC)
shows that Qatar has increased its output from 41 articles in 2000 to 576 in 2012
(The Royal Society, 2014). By comparison, Iran published 1,343 articles in 2000
and 23,885 in 2012; Turkey netted 24,562 publications in 2012. In comparison,
global output indexed by Thomson Reuters increased from 931,000 in 2000 to
1.27 million. Within the OIC, Iran, Turkey, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and
Pakistan account for 77% of articles published in this group.
If we compare the impact of the region’s publications in all fields as mea-
sured by Thomson Reuters’ calculations⁹ we find that none of them reaches
parity with what would be considered the global top 1% for 2000–2009: Iran
reaches .48%, Turkey .37%, Jordan .28%, Egypt .26% and Saudi Arabia .25%. Only
in the field of mathematics do Iran (1.7%), Saudi Arabia (1.5%), Jordan (1.5%), and
Egypt (1%) reach or surpass this threshold. In engineering, Turkey (1.5%) and Iran
(1.3%) produced significantly cited output. The recent Royal Society study indi-
cates that in 2012, Lebanon and Saudi Arabia had impact factors of 1.05% and
.95% respectively, thus leading the way in OIC before Indonesia with .91% but
below the world average of 1.23% (The Royal Society, 2014). Lebanon’s score may
be reflective of the fact that smaller countries engage in more internationally colla-
borative research ventures whose output gets cited more frequently.
Distribution
Most titles are produced in print runs of 1,000–3,000 copies (Abou-Zeid, 2013,
p. 2). In Jordan, publishers release between 10–20 titles per year with runs of
1,000 copies. About 3,000 new trade titles are released in Lebanon every year
with print runs of 1,000–3,000 copies, rarely 5,000 for some expected best-
sellers. In the Lebanese book industry, local sales represent only 10% of the
total production. Lebanon and Egypt produce together about 80% of the total of
Arabic books published annually in the Arab world.
9 Publications which rank in the top 1% by citations for their field and year of publication are
considered ‘highly cited’ (Adams et al. 2011)
Tab. .: Number of publishers in selected Arab countries,  (Ittihad al-Nashirin al-Arab, ).
Government Commercial Total
Egypt   

Iraq   
Jordan   
Kuwait   
Lebanon   
Libya   
Mauritania   
Palestine (Gaza Strip)   
Tunisia   
Saudi Arabia   
Syria   
Small print runs are the result of one of the Arab publishing arena’s greatest
challenges: the lack of a uniform book distribution system. A 2005 study ana-
lyzed the reach and size of 150 print titles on various topics by well-known and
little known authors in the Egyptian book market. This study found that the top
10% of the titles got distributed widely and could be located at most points-of-
sale; the bottom 10% of the titles could not be located anywhere in the market;
the remaining 80% were only available within a 5 kilometer radius of the pub-
lisher’s domicile or the author’s home (Al Qasimi, 2011).
International book distribution in the Arab Middle East takes place in a
highly fractured commercial environment, and has none of the advantages of a
unified market. Different tax codes in each country, varying shipping methods,
and widely differing demand in the regions of this wide-ranging market make it
impossible to develop an infrastructure which would allow for the effective dif-
fusion of books through one distributor. Rather, there are publishers and distri-
butors operating in every national market. Publishers who sell their books in
several countries have to employ individual distributors in every market. This
lack of distribution infrastructure also has disadvantageous effects for authors
who publish their books in their own country. These books often do not reach
other markets. (Schwartz et al. 2009, pp. 11–15). This continuing lack of an effec-
tive distribution system is seen as a result of the poor performance of the Arab
book market. Since book prices remain low, they are offered with little “retailing
finesse” and often arrive in poor condition. Due to low prices, authors’ incomes
are low and publishers’ profit margin is slim. Low prices also reflect limited
buying power. Publishers have little room for capturing margins and re-investing
in retailing value added. As a result, book industry participants tend to use short-
cuts where possible to save transaction costs. Publishers form mutual agreements
for distribution of their titles, taking over, in many cases, assortments from part-
nering publishers. Small retailers buy directly from publishers or authors from
whom they can obtain better discounts (Eschweiler & Goehler, 2010, p. 196).
Drawing a distinction between publishers, distributors and retailers becomes
impossible. The only publishers with strong export connections to other countries
in the region are from the Levant, with those from Lebanon in the lead, followed
by those from Syria and Jordan (Eschweiler & Goehler, 2010, p. 199).
Distribution to end-users is equally problematic. Largely limited to urban
areas, bookstores are scarce and unevenly distributed in the Arab world. There
is no “reasonable relationship between the degree of urbanization and rural
book sales: Even in countries where large portions of the population still live
outside big cities, the availability of books is limited to metro areas” (Eschweiler
& Goehler, 2010, p. 197). Although telecommunications infrastructures in many
Arab countries are equipped for online retailing, book sales over the Internet are
very low. Credit cards are not widely available and the public’s resistance to
e-commerce hinder significant developments of online distribution. Neelwafurat,
one of the leading e-commerce bookshops, handles only about 6,000 orders per
year which do not add up to a critical mass (Escheweiler & Goehler, 2010, p. 200).
Bookstores in urban areas can be divided into three main categories:
– International retail chains (e.g. Virgin, W.H. Smith): Type I
– National chain store (e.g. Jarir, Mutanabbi): Type II
– Small, family-owned bookstores: Type III (Eschweiler & Goehler, 2010, p. 198)
In Type I stores, books are only one of many types of products sold as part of
a whole spectrum of entertainment products. Many books for sale in chain
stores are in English. A limited assortment of Arabic books in the categories of
self-help, political literature, fiction, and children’s books are also available.
The market-leader Type II bookstore, Jarir in Saudi Arabia, evolved from a
stand-alone store to a chain with multiple sales outlets. Jarir also publishes its
own titles and, if successful, exports them. However, other Type II bookstores,
according to a recent study, often carry relative high debt (Eschweiler & Goehler,
2010, p. 198). Type III, family-owned and operated bookstores, typically suffer
most from inadequate book distribution because they end up with large stocks of
unsold books and cannot get access to new and trendy issues in a timely manner
because distribution channels are non-existent (Eschweiler & Goehler, 2010,
p. 198). The only market with a relatively satisfactory bookstore network is
Lebanon. One study finds 40 point-of-sales in Lebanon which specialize in
books or cultural goods and about 100 point-of-sales with a separate book
department. A second study counts 321, however this figure includes stores
which, besides books, also sell stationary, electronics, etc. (Abou-Zeid, 2014,
p. 96). In the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries, Bahrain has five book-
stores, Saudi Arabia about 100 small point-of-sales and three chain stores, Kuwait
seven bookshops, Oman three, Qatar five, and UAE about 60 small units and 3
chain stores (Abou-Zeid, 2013). Many of these stores also offer foreign-language
books, often in much larger numbers than Arabic books (Abou-Zeid, 2013).
Confronted with a fractured regional legal environment, the absence of a “pan-
Arab distribution infrastructure,” and insufficient retail outlets, publishers are
hard-pressed to identify different distribution channels in every national market if
they want to sell their books outside their home country. Book fairs have proved to
be the only efficient way to distribute and market books in the Arab world (Eschwei-
ler & Goehler, 2010, p. 197). The fairs constitute a market place where publishers
can meet local booksellers, collect their orders, and, in addition, directly sell their
books to schools, libraries, and the public. For individual buyers, book fairs repre-
sent the most efficient way to buy books in the absence of bookshops in their local
settings. In addition, publishers may offer a broader set of titles because books can
reach the fairs without passing through the hands of the censor (e.g., in the GCC).
Pricing
Book prices in all Arab markets are below the average for more developed markets
(see Table 1.7 for selected pricing ranges). Publishers will multiply their production
costs by 6 or 7 to determine the selling price. Books in more developed markets sell
at 8–10 times the production costs (Abou-Zeid, 2013). Market studies attribute low
Arab book prices to three factors:
– Low-interest commodity status: “Due to inefficient and high-cost distribu-
tion structures books are doomed to become low-interest items,” often
delivered in “poor product condition” and “with little retailing finesse”
(Eschweiler & Goehler, 2010, p. 195). Prices are 60%–70% lower than in
more developed economies where the average price is estimated at $17
(Eschweiler & Goehler, 2010, p. 195).
– Low purchasing power: Low prices also reflect low purchasing power;
higher-priced books would exceed affordability in even larger segments of
the regional population.
– Piracy: Piracy affects book prices because if book prices are too high, pirat-
ing becomes more likely.
Low prices and attempts to keep production costs low lead to economize on
editorial expenses. Arab publishers in general cannot afford the salaries for
qualified book editors and traditionally have not reviewed submitted texts to
improve or correct them. Publishers see themselves as intermediaries between

authors and printers, an attitude which impinges on the quality of literary pro-
duction and potentially on the sale of foreign rights (Abou-Zeid, 2013).
Hard covers are uncommon in general literature, and various paperback
formats are the rule. The exceptions are religious books which are often hard-
bound and frequently leather-bound. Other hard-bound categories include
children’s picture books, dictionaries, cookbooks, and coffee-table books.
Tab. .: Book pricing ranges, selected categories (Abou-Zeid, , p. ).
Type Price
Fiction (over 200 pp) $–

Fiction (under 200 pp) $–
Nonfiction $–
Cookbooks (small) $–
Cookbooks (large paperbacks or hardcover) $–
Children’s books (hardcover) $–
Children’s books (paperback) $–
E-books –% of printed price
Censorship
Censorship is exercised for moral, religious and political reasons throughout the
Arab World. Arab censors can impact the trajectory of a publication at its origin
by impeding its printing, by banning it and preventing its distribution, or by
blocking it from entering a country. In many countries, books have to be sub-
mitted to the censorship authority before they are printed (Abou-Zeid, 2013).
Sexual impropriety is a frequent reason for banning a book. In the case of Salwa
Nu’aymi’s Burhan al-asal,¹⁰ an advance review in the press caused it to be
banned from several Middle Eastern book fairs without the censors having seen
it (Schwartz et al. 2009, p. 4). Religious authorities, such as al-Azhar in Egypt,
sometimes recommends books to be banned (Schwartz et al. 2009, p. 4). Saudi
Arabia and Kuwait implement strict censorship regimes, and on various occa-
sions have banned significant portions of publishers’ output from being exhib-
ited at the Riyadh and Kuwait book fairs (Schwartz et al. 2009, p. 5).
10 The narrator of the novel (translated into English as The Proof of the Honey) interweaves folk-
tales, personal memories, and stories from friends into an exploration of female sexuality,
desire, and love in the context of Arab culture and society.
Coping with censorship can take three forms: the publisher accepts that a
work is banned in certain markets; the publishers attempt to modify sensitive
details in the book; or the publisher rejects publication of the work outright.
Lebanese publishers tend to take the risk of censorship with works of famous
authors, knowing that if the book is banned in one market it will sell more copies
in another. With less-known or new authors, and with common titles, they might
suggest modifications but give the author the final say. Lebanese publishers
also cannot ignore the strict censorship regimes imposed in their major markets,
especially in Saudi Arabia and other GCC countries. The existence of different
censorship regulations forces Lebanese publishers to heed a variety of criteria
if they want to introduce their publications in other Arab countries. Further com-
plicating this issue is the fact that censorship criteria are rarely clearly set. A
special case is children’s literature. With its 28 million people, Saudi Arabia
represents one of the most important markets for this genre. To avoid losing this
market, publishers exclude from their publications any content that could lead to
a ban in Saudi Arabia, even if the content is allowed or relevant in Lebanon
(Abou-Zeid 2013).
Lebanese publishers do not submit to censorship review before publishing,
but printed books with sensitive political content that is perceived to potentially
raise sectarian tensions may subsequently be banned.
Copyright and Intellectual Property Rights

Tab. .: Membership of Arab States in international copyright treaties (adapted from Houissa,
)
Arab Berne UCC Geneva Rome WTO/TRIPS WIPO

Convention Convention
Algeria Signed April ,  August , April , Observer –
 
Bahrain Signed March ,  – January , January , December ,
  
Egypt – June ,  – – June , –

Iraq Signed n/a – – Observer –
Jordan Signed July ,  – – April , April ,
 
Kuwait Signed December , – – January , –
 
(continued)
Arab Berne UCC Geneva Rome WTO/TRIPS WIPO

Convention Convention
Lebanon – September , October , August , Observer –

  
Libya Signed September , – – Observer –

Morocco Signed June ,  May ,  – January , July , 

Oman Signed July ,  – – November , September ,
 
Qatar Signed July ,  – – January , October ,
 
Saudi Signed March , July ,  – December –
Arabia  , 
Syria Signed June ,  – May , Observer –

Tunisia Signed December , June , – March , –
  
United Signed July ,  – January , April , July , 
Arab  
Emirates
Yemen – July ,  – – June ,  –
Most Arab countries have signed the Arab Convention for the Protection of
Copyright, which was ratified by the conference of Arab Ministers of Cultural
Affairs in Baghdad in 1981. The Convention’s goal was to create a “unified Arab
system of copyright protection” (Houissa, 2014, p. 295). Granting a general copy-
right protection over the duration of the author’s life plus 50 years after the
author’s death, the Arab Convention contains commonly stipulated principles
and rules found in international treaties, but leaves three major determinants
to the member states’ national laws:
– The copyright registration rules;
– the criminal penalties for infringement; and
– the protection of the rights of national authors against infringement in their
own countries.
Many Arab states have a viable legal framework in place to effectively prosecute
copyright infringement (for a detailed listing of national copyright legislation,
see Houissa, 2014, p. 305), a fact borne out by an increasing number of cases
and precedents (Houissa, 2014, p. 297). See Table 1.8 for summary of copyright
legislation in Arab countries.
Most Arab states have become parties of the Berne Convention for the Pro-
tection of Literary and Artistic Works (Berne Convention). In addition, many
countries in the region have joined the World Trade Organization (WTO) and
consequently are under obligation to shape their copyright laws such that they
conform to international standards (Harabi, 2009, p. 213). Trade-Related Aspects
of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS), which introduced intellectual property
rights into the international trading system in 1994, integrates all aspects of the
Berne Convention and adds enforcement mechanisms through trade sanctions
if national laws fail to address intellectual property and copyright protection
adequately or if they vary too much from the minimum standards laid down by
the Berne Convention and TRIPS (Kevin Smith, email to author, 12 September
2014).¹¹ The Universal Copyright Convention (UCC) was developed by UNESCO
in 1952 (revised 1971, effective 1974) as an alternative to the Berne Convention.
The Rome Convention for the Protection of Performers, Producers of Phono-
grams and Broadcasting Organizations (effective 1961) aims to protect works
produced with new audiovisual technologies. Lastly, the World Intellectual
Property Organization Copyright Treaty (WIPO) (adopted 1996, effective 2002)
provides additional protections for works involving information technologies
such as computer code, databases, etc. (Houissa, 2014, pp. 295–296).
Despite this evolving judicial framework, piracy remains an endemic problem
affecting the viability and development of the Arab book publishing sector.
Although the loss of revenue because of piracy is not clearly and systematically
documented, existing estimates indicate that it is significant. Smith (1996, p. 566)
puts the loss to the book publishing industry in the Middle East and the Mediter-
ranean (including Turkey) at $65.7 million. The International Intellectual Property
Alliance (IIPA) has compiled estimates of losses caused by piracy. For 2007,
Egypt reported an estimated loss of $32 million due to book piracy, Lebanon’s
estimate for 2005 was $4 million, and KSA’s loss for the same year was put at $10
million (The International Intellectual Property Alliance, 2014).
Piracy harms publishers twofold: Firstly, when books are pirated in a differ-
ent regional market as a result of the absence of a functioning international
distribution system. A network of pirated publications and academic texts,
which brings these items into other markets in the Arab world, profits from the
absence of legal distribution channels. Secondly, local publishers suffer when
foreign publishers with whom they enter into partnerships regard the region,
because of excessive piracy, with mistrust and consequently impose harsh con-
11 The author would like to thank Kevin Smith, J.D., Scholarly Communications Officer at Duke
University Libraries, for his clarifications.
ditions on local partners (Abou-Zeid, 2014, p. 98). Often, piracy not only affects
the external markets. Pirated works are also present in the original markets. This
occurs frequently in Egypt and may reflect the public’s low purchasing power.
Arabic e-Publishing
Driven by an impressive demographic and a rapidly evolving communication
infrastructure, Arab e-publishing is perceived as an emerging economic oppor-
tunity. Kulesz (2011b) points out that:
In the Arab World digital publishing is highly incipient. The Arabic language represents a very
powerful cohesive force, which may give rise to electronic platforms with transnational reach,
but which at the same time […] involves numerous challenges. Of course, none of these chal-
lenges is unsurmountable; in fact, the proliferation of blogs and the eagerness of digital
content demonstrated by a section of the population indicate the potential that exists (p. 58).
Organizations like the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) and

market research firms have been watching the development of the necessary
infrastructure to deliver e-commerce services in the Arab region. In a regional
analysis of the ITC Development Index (IDI),¹² the Arab States rank fifth out of
six world regions, with an average IDI value of 4.55 (Tab. 1.9). They fall below
the world average of 4.77, as do Asia/Pacific (4.57) and Africa (2.31). Other
regions are above the world average (Europe 7.14; CIS Region 5.33; Americas
4.86) (International Telecommunications Union [ITU] 2014, p. 84).
Tab. .: Arab states’ IDI rankings and values,  (ITU, , p. ).
Regional Rank 2013 Global Rank 2013 IDI 2013
Bahrain   .
UAE   .
Qatar   .
Saudi Arabia   .
Oman   .
Lebanon   .
12 The Information and Communications Technologies (ICT) Development Index (IDI) is designed to
create a globally valid measure for “the level and evolution over time of ICT developments in countries
and relative to other countries” as well as the digital divide between countries with different levels of
ICT development (ITU, 2013, p. 17). It is composed of three sub-indexes, the access sub-index, the use
sub-index (both weighted at 40%) and the skills index (weighted at 20%) (ITU, 2013, p. 21).
Regional Rank 2013 Global Rank 2013 IDI 2013
Jordan   .
Egypt   .
Morocco   .
Tunisia   .
Palestine   .
Syria   .
Algeria   .
Sudan   .
Yemen   .
Djibouti   .
Mauritania   .
The intra-regional ranking of Arab states reflects the income disparities in the
region. The top-ranking country of the 166 countries for which the IDI has been
calculated is Denmark with an IDI value, in 2013, of 8.86, closely followed by
the Republic of Korea with 8.85 (ITU, 2014, p. 42). In the country rankings of the
Arab countries, Bahrain is at the top with an IDI of 7.4 (see Tab. 1.9), followed
by UAE, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Oman, all oil-rich, high-income economies,
and UAE (+14 ranks), Qatar (+8 ranks) and Oman (+9 ranks) recorded the largest
improvements in global rankings (ITU, 2014, p. 88).
The ITU states that “affordability remains the main barrier to Internet access
at home in many developing countries” (ITU, 2014, p. 107) Both fixed and mobile
broadband services are essential for delivering access to today’s information offer-
ings. Fixed broadband remains a critical service for high-capacity, high-speed,
reliable Internet access. Only 3% of global IP traffic was on mobile networks at
the end of 2013 (ITU, 2014, p. 114). Prices of fixed-broadband plans fell from an
average of 94.5% of gross national income per capita (GNI p. c.) in 2008 to 18.2%
of GNI p.c. in 2013. In the Arab States region, the average price for entry-level fixed
broadband amounts to 4.1% of GNI p.c., compared to 1.4% in Europe and 135.8%
in Africa (ITU, 2014, pp. 114–116). The differences inside the region are wide,
however, with the GCC countries and Tunisia (1.68% of GNI p.c.) having the most
affordable fixed-broadband prices. Kuwait has the most affordable plan with
0.37% of GNI p.c. and Mauritania has the highest, corresponding to 23.7% of GNI
p.c in 2013 (Tab. 1.10). Mobile-broadband prices are on average below the 5% of
GNI p.c. in the Arab States (ITU, 2014, p. 129). This makes this service relatively
affordable and an expected 25% expected penetration rate for the Arab States by
the end of 2014 is not surprising (ITU, 2014, p. 129).
Tab. .: IT Indicators for Arab countries (ITU, ).
GNI p.c. Adult Fixed Prepaid Mobile % households % households % using % Wired
literacy rate Broadband Broadband Internet 2013 computer 2013 Internet Broadband
Prices as % (500MB/1GB) as Subs
of GNI p.c. % of GNI p.c.ᵃ
Algeria  . . no data .  . .

Bahrain  . . ./.    .

Egypt  . . ./. . . . .
Iraq  no data no data ./. no data no data no data no data
Jordan  . . ./. . . . .
Kuwait  . ./.
Lebanon  . . ./. . . . 
Libya  no data no data ./ no data no data no data no data
Morocco  . . ./.    .
Oman  . . ./. . . . .
Qatar  . . ./. . . . .
Saudi Arabia  . . ./. . . . .
Syria . no data no data . . . .
Tunisia  . . ./. . . . .
United Arab Emirates   . ./. . .  .
Yemen  . no data ./. . .  .
ᵃ The 500MB option is handset-based, the 1 GB option is copputer-based.

A further component to be considered in a successful e-publishing ecosystem is

the presence of reliable devices. For books this would be smartphones, tablets,
laptops and desktop computers, in combination with software and applications
to facilitate reading e-books. Some of the initial difficulties with rendering and
displaying Arabic fonts on a broad range of devices (Kulesz, 2011b, p. 61) have
been mostly eliminated but ownership of devices suited to read e-books is
limited to the wealthiest group of consumers (Kulesz, 2011b, pp. 62–63).
Furthermore, the events of the Arab Spring have elevated the Arab public’s
awareness, and, where possible, use of online social media services in their
Arabic interfaces and for communication in Arabic. Their level of use can thus
serve as an indicator of readiness for the acceptance of electronically delivered
publications, including books. Qatar has the highest Facebook penetration
(60%) (MBRSG, 2014a, p. 27), followed by UAE, Jordan, Lebanon, Bahrain, and
Tunisia. Egypt, with a penetration of 22.4%, has the highest number of users in
the region (24%). About three quarters of these users post in Arabic (MBRSG,
2014a, p. 31). The highest number of users for Twitter is from Saudi Arabia and
Egypt: 40% of ‘tweets’ from the Arab region are from KSA, 17% from Egypt.
Whereas Saudi Arabia’s Twitter penetration is one of the highest in the region
(8.07%), Egypt’s rate is only 1.26%. Kuwait has the highest penetration (11.38%),
but produces only 10% of the ‘tweets’ (MBRSG, 2014a, p. 32, p. 34). An addi-
tional factor in assessing the ecology of ITC is the acceptance of e-commerce
transactions by consumers. Arab consumers are unwilling or reluctant to conduct
online purchases: only 32% of Arab consumers habitually buy things online, com-
pared to 62% in the United Kingdom (Kulesz, 2011b, pp. 63–64). A more recent
survey confirms these finding (MBRSG, 2014b, p. 8): 64% of respondents say that
they have never purchased a book online. Whether these behaviors are because of
the limited availability of credit cards or a general reluctance on the part of consu-
mers to conduct e-commerce transactions remains to be seen.
There are companies which are starting to distribute Arabic e-books on a
broader scale. Examples are al-Manhal and Rufoof. There also attempts to
develop reader apps for Arabic e-content on smartphones. One example is
Sanabil Med (Kulesz, 2011b, p. 65).
The fundamental challenges of inefficient distribution and censorship in
the region could to some extent be mitigated through electronic technology.
Although there were some early entrants into the arena of electronic publishing
in the Arab world, there still remain issues to be addressed. Arabic e-books have
been available since 2011 in Lebanon. Many publishers have a good number of
their catalogs available in digital format, although print editions of a title still
outsell digital editions by at least a factor of 10, and piracy of electronic books is
not less severe than the piracy of printed items (Abou-Zeid, 2014). The most
widely used platform seems to be the iPad, followed by Android, then PC. E-
readers such as Kindle and Nook do not support ePub3 for Arabic which means
that only Arabic books in pdf format can be read on these devices (Abou Zeid,
2013, p. 99). Kindle may apply the Unicode, which is compatible with the Arabic
script starting in 2014.
Conclusion
The persistence of print publishing means that librarians must continue to collect
and pay attention to publishing developments in this type of material. The frac-
tured environment and lack of unified distribution mechanisms, a situation that is
only exacerbated by ongoing turmoil in the region will require libraries to main-
tain a presence in several markets to capture relevant output. Relationships with
local vendors and publication houses will continue to be necessary for the fore-
seeable future. On the other hand, improvements to infrastructure in parts of the
Arab world, and interest among Arab publishing houses in developing their
e-publication divisions suggest that there may be significant changes to the pub-
lishing industry in the years to come.
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Received: 16th November 2014

Final version received: 2nd September 2015
Accepted: 22nd September 2015
Sumayya Ahmed
2 For a Morocco that Reads: The Crisis of
Reading and Recent Initiatives to Revive
Libraries and Reading in Morocco
Introduction
The North African country of Morocco has been called the “Arab exception” to
the revolutionary changes that took place throughout North Africa and the Middle
East because of the ability of its government to have diminished, so far, the
potency of protests with cursory reforms (Dalmasso, 2012; Lalami, 2011). It could
be argued, however, that an energy similar to that which went into deposing dic-
tators in its neighboring countries is now being leveraged in Morocco for the
cause of reading and libraries. This is evidenced by the presence of five active
pro-reading initiatives in the country that seek to re-engage the Moroccan public
with books. While reading may seem far away from revolution, Barton (2009)
argues that literacy is “at the heart of much of current social change” because it
“structures knowledge and enables communication,” and that studies of literacy
provide “a powerful lens because literacy is bound up in identity, in power and in
how we act in the world” (pp. 38–39). A concerted effort is currently underway in
Morocco to create and multiply “literacy events” through social campaigns and
grassroots mobilization which is worthy of study because “literacy and society are
bound together and evolve together” (Wagner, 1993, p. 268).
Morocco has had a sense of itself as a distinct cultural and political entity
since the pre-modern period (Wyrtzen, 2008). It simultaneously nurtures an
identity as an African, Muslim, Arab, Berber, and Mediterranean country. Colo-
nization by France in the early twentieth century (1912–1956) and its close proxi-
mity to Europe has also resulted in an intimate understanding of European
customs by large sections of the population. Morocco is a multilingual country
in which at least two varieties of Arabic (standard and dialect), Berber and French
are used throughout the society. However, geographic location (i.e. rural vs.
urban) and level of educational attainment generally determine the degree to
which any one individual is multilingual (Ezzaki, Spratt & Wagner, 1999).
As a country of nearly 33 million people with a median age of 28 (Central
Intelligence Agency, 2014), Morocco struggles with high levels of unemploy-
ment, even amongst educated degree-holders. Its economy, based primarily upon
2 For a Morocco that Reads  29
agriculture and tourism, is “increasingly challenged by globalization” (Wyrtzen,

2008, Independent Morocco section). Moulaison (2011) described Morocco as a
place where “poverty, limited access to education, limited resources, and a funda-
mentally oral culture contribute to a society rich in traditional social networks”
based primarily around the extended family unit (p. 550).
The Crisis of Reading

A “crisis of reading” has been used to describe the current situation in Morocco,
where low levels of reading and the absence of a culture of reading permeates
almost every strata of society. The relatively high levels of illiteracy which are
found in the country are not the main cause of the crisis of reading. Bougroum,
Diagne, Kissami, & Tawil (2007) found a continuing reproduction of youth illit-
eracy in North Africa, noting a reduction in the total percentage of illiterate
people since independence, but an actual overall increase in the “absolute
number of illiterate adults [which] has grown from six to nine million persons”
(p. 4), assumedly because of population growth. However, they believe that
Morocco has actually made progress in battling illiteracy in the past few decades,
and reference the high number of participants in government sponsored literacy
programs as proof.
Agnaou (2004), whose research focus is Moroccan efforts to reduce female
illiteracy, describes the efforts made on the part of the government in the battle
against illiteracy as “great” (p. 1). In 1956, the year Morocco gained its indepen-
dence from France, and 1957, the Moroccan government began two literacy cam-
paigns that “involved more than three million beneficiaries and led to the publi-
cation of Manar al-Maghrib, a specialized newspaper for the neo-literates.”
From 1961 to 1963, selective adult literacy programs targeting rural girls (10 to 15
years old) and agricultural workers were managed by the Ministry of Youth and
Sports and the Ministry of the Interior respectively and benefitted approximately
53,000 people primarily in the Beni Mellal area. The Ministry of the Interior’s
program with agricultural workers was sponsored by UNESCO and supplemen-
ted literacy schools with local radio broadcasts. Agnaou (2004) characterizes this
as a time in Moroccan history where literacy was seen as inherent to building a
new post-colonial social order. Literacy would later be iterated as necessary for
economic development, and then by the 1970s adult illiteracy in Morocco would
cease being “regarded as a disease to be eradicated within a specific time, but
was rather considered as a social phenomenon with multi-facets.” From 1981 to
1985 funds were given to support adult literacy programs that reached 81,000
people. This was followed up in 1986 by a two-year program that was carried out
30  Sumayya Ahmed
in five major cities (Agadir, Casablanca, Fez, Marrakech, and Oujda) and benefited
an estimated 50,000 people. By the 1990s literacy was being connected to gender
inequalities and rural–urban disparities in the country. In 1997, the Adult Literacy
Directorate was established as a body “responsible for the execution of the gov-
ernment’s adult literacy policy” (Agnaou, 2004, pp. 49–52).
In 2004 Morocco adopted what was termed a “literacy and non-formal edu-
cation strategy” that aimed “to integrate literacy programs within all poverty
reduction interventions” (Bougroum et al. 2007, p. 5). Seven years later, a royal
decree, Dahir 1-11-142, brought into creation the National Agency for the Battle
against Illiteracy (l’Agence nationale de lutte contre l’analphabétisme) (Kingdom
of Morocco, 2011). Some of its most recent initiatives have included carrying out
literacy programs in workplaces with illiterate employees of notable Moroccan
companies (Sakhi, 2012). In 2013 the Directorate highlighted the accomplishments
of literacy work in Morocco stating that six million Moroccans have benefitted
from literacy programs in the country, with approximately 735,000 having bene-
fited between 2011 and 2012 alone. The Moroccan government’s literacy efforts
have been supported by technical and financial assistance from UNESCO, the Eur-
opean Union and numerous non-governmental organizations (Binoual, 2013).
Yet, with only an estimated 56 to 62% of its population being literate (United
Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, 2014), illiteracy is a sig-
nificant challenge to the ability of Morocco to make serious strides towards being
a knowledge economy. Significantly, UNESCO’s 2014 Education for All Global
Monitoring Report listed Morocco as one of 21 countries in the world with a “learn-
ing crisis,” whereby less than half of children attending school do not progress
enough to learn the requisite basic skills. This is rendered even more significant
in light of the fact that Wagner (1993) has shown that in the context of Morocco,
early reading had a positive effect on “subsequent reading achievement and on
staying in school” (p. 137).
Among Bougroum et al.’s (2007) suggestions for improving literacy out-
comes in Morocco was “the strengthening of post-literacy environments that
encourage the use of reading and writing skills in daily life” (p. 22), i.e. creating
a culture of reading and writing whereby skills could be utilized and further
developed, or at the very least, not lost. In order for this to happen, literacy cam-
paigns would have to encourage “pleasure” reading by weakening reading’s
tight coupling with practical everyday life matters as currently happens in
literacy campaigns. For example, Bougroum et al. (2007) note that literacy
manuals in Morocco are developed for very specific populations with the goal of
providing know-how relevant to daily chores and occupations. These have
included literacy manuals that focus on agriculture, dairy farming, and fishing.
2 For a Morocco that Reads  31
In some literacy programs literacy is also tightly coupled with religious instruc-
tion (Dardour, 2000).
The tight coupling of reading with the practical, or with school work, is one
aspect of the Moroccan crisis of reading. In a survey done by El Yazami (1998) in
order to develop a better understanding of Moroccan readers, the author called
students, teachers, and others who read by necessity of their social situations,
“readers of the State.” El Yazami’s (1998) Enquête sur la lecture au Maroc [Survey
of reading in Morocco] was carried out in several cities across Morocco (Fes, Casa-
blanca, Tangier, Oujda, Tetouan, Taza, Marrakech, Agadir, and Meknes), with a
sample population of people ranging from age fifteen years and older who could
read and understand French. It excluded monolingual Arabic speakers, although
97% of the sample spoke Arabic at home amongst their families. 50% of them said
that they preferred to read in French (as opposed to Arabic) and it should be noted
that 60.5% of the sample were males. El Yazami’s (1998) survey offered early
insight into the problem of reading in Morocco and highlighted certain trends that
still reverberate in discussions about the reading crisis today, among them:
– The weakness at the state level to address the problem; specifically the small
budget allotted to the Ministry of Culture for this purpose, which leads to an
inability to take a leading role in promoting reading at a national level.
– The fierce “competition” between reading and television viewing in Moroc-
can daily life.
– A frail circulation chain (from publisher to bookstore and library) for books
which contributes to reduced availability.
– The existence of an informal network (family and friends) by which Moroc-
cans learn about and procure reading materials.
– The lack of reading resources for children, from children’s literature to chil-
dren’s space in existing libraries.
– The near absence of a culture of Moroccans giving or receiving books as
gifts.
– The relative high cost of books: Only 14% of the sample found the price of
the book to be “acceptable” (convenable) with 82% calling the price either
“expensive” or “very expensive” (p. 67).
– The absence or weak state of public libraries across the country.
– The importance of Moroccan literature in attracting Moroccan readers.
– The lack of places to read in public (81% of the sample read at home fol-
lowed by 6% who read in the library or in a café) (p. 64).
The lack of public places for reading is intimately linked to the absence or impo-
tence of public libraries in Morocco. Although there are a multitude of archives
and private libraries for historical and academic research in the country, especially
Another random document with
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kuvan nähdessäni voin olla muistamatta hattuani kohottaa, mutta
tuskin olla ajattelematta tai muistamatta vapahtajaani. En voi nauraa
pyhiinvaeltajien hyödyttömille retkille, vaan pikemmin sääliä heitä,
enkä tuomita munkkien viheliäistä elämää, sillä vaikka he ovatkin
harhaan johtuneita käytöksessään, on siinä jotakin hartautta
sittenkin. En ole milloinkaan voinut kuulla Ave-Maria-kellon soivan
tuntematta mielen ylennystä, enkä voi liioin väittää, että kun he
yhdessä kohdassa erehtyvät, minulla olisi oikeus erehtyä vieläkin
enemmän jäädessäni mykkänä heitä halveksimaan. Senpä vuoksi,
kun he omistivat hartaudenharjoituksensa Marialle, osoitin minä
rukoukseni Jumalalle ja oikaisin heidän rukouksessaan esiintyvän
erehdyksen, osoittamalla omani oikeaan.
Juhlallisen kulkueen nähdessäni olen itkenyt liikutuksesta viljavia

kyyneliä, jollaikaa toverini vastustushalun ja ennakkoluulojen
sokaisemina ovat joutuneet sopimattomasti vihastumaan ja
nauramaan. Onhan kieltämättä sekä Kreikan että Rooman, niin hyvin
kuin Afrikankin, kirkoissa juhlallisia muotoja ja menoja, joita
viisaammat hurskaat saattavat kristillisellä tavalla käyttää. Meidän ei
tarvitse tuomita niitä itsestään pahaksi, vaan ainoastaan
taikauskoisuuden aiheuttamiksi houkuttelukeinoiksi ja syöteiksi noille
tietämättömille, jotka katsovat kieroon totuuden kasvoihin eivätkä
epävakaisuudessaan saata pysyä hyveen ahtaassa pisteessä ja
keskuksessa, kallistumatta tai horjumatta ympärystään päin. Samoin
kuin on ollut monta uudistajaa, on myöskin ollut monta uudistusta,
sillä jokaisella maalla on omat tapansa ja menetelmänsä, riippuen
kansallisista harrastuksista, yhteiskunnallisesta järjestyksestä ja
ilmastosta. Muutamissa tapauksissa on uudistus tapahtunut
ankarasti ja äärimmäisyyksiin saakka ulottuen; toisissa rauhallisesti
ja kohtuullisesti, niin että yhteistä omaa ei ole hajoitettu, vaan on
hellävaroin jaettu ja jätetty kunniallisen sovinnon mahdollisuus.
Sellaistapa rauhalliset mielet toivovatkin, ja odottavat ajan vaiheiden
ja Jumalan armon sen saavankin toimeen. Sekin mielipide, joka
tarkastelee nykyisiä vastakohtia noiden kahden äärimmäisyyden
välillä tunteissa ja harrastuksissa, saattaa yhtä hyvillä toiveilla
odottaa niidenkin yhteen sulautumista.
Mutta käydäkseni lähemmäksi itseäni ja liikkuakseni

rajoitetummassa piirissä, ei ole muuta kirkkoa, joka jokaisessa
kohdassa niin sointuisi tuntooni ja jonka uskonkappaleet, järjestys ja
tavat tuntuisivat niin järkeen soveltuvilta ja niin sanoakseni minun
erikoiseen hartauteeni soveltuvilta, kuin se, johon kuulun, Englannin
kirkko. Senpä uskoon olen vannoutunut ja senvuoksi tunnen olevani
kaksinkertaisesti velvoitettu hyväksymään sen opinkappaleet ja
koettamaan noudattaa sen säädöksiä. Mitä sen ulkopuolella on
vähäarvoisempia asioita, noudatan niitä oman yksityisen järkeni
sääntöjen mukaan tai riippuen hartauteni kulloinkin sattuvasta
mielialasta, enkä usko jotakin asiaa senvuoksi, että Luther sen
hyväksyi, tai hylkää toista sen vuoksi, että Kalvin on sen tuominnut.
En tuomitse kaikkea, mitä Tridentin kokous päätti, enkä liioin
hyväksy kaikkia Dorthin synoodin päätöksiä.
Lyhyesti sanoen: siinä, mistä raamattu on vaiti, on kirkko

tekstinäni; mistä taas raamattu puhuu, siinä on jälkimäinen vain
apunani selittämään. Missä taas kumpikin on yhtä vaitelias, en käy
etsimään uskolleni ohjeita Roomasta enempää kuin Genevestäkään,
vaan noudatan oman järkeni neuvoja.
Vastustajamme ovat häpeäkseen aivan väärin väittäneet, niinkuin

me itsekin olemme törkeästi erehtyneet, että uskontomme juontaisi
alkunsa Henrik VIII:sta, joka, vaikka hän irtautuikin paavista, ei siltä
luopunut Rooman uskonnosta eikä saanut aikaan mitään muuta kuin
mitä hänen omat edeltäjänsä olivat toivoneet ja kokeilleet menneinä
aikoina ja mitä Venetsian valtio olisi saattanut yrittää meidän
päivinämme. Mutta yhtä kiittämätöntä on meidän käydä jatkamaan
Rooman piispan ivapuheita ja häpäiseviä herjauksia, sillä häntäkin
kohtaan, koska hän on maallinen ruhtinas, olemme velvolliset
käyttämään soveliasta puhetapaa. Tunnustanhan tosin välillämme
olevan kiihkon syytä: hänen toimestaan olen kirkonkiroukseen
langetettu, ja harhaoppisen nimitys on lievintä, mitä hän minusta
sanoo. — Mikään korva ei sentään ole milloinkaan kuullut minun
nimittävän häntä puolestani Antikristukseksi, synninihmiseksi tai
Baabelin portoksi. Rakkauden tapa on kärsiä kostamatta.
Saarnatuolissa usein käytetyt pilkkapuheet ja herjaukset saattavat
hyvin tehota jokapäiväisiin ihmisiin, joiden korvat ovat herkempiä
puhetulvalle kuin logiikalle; ne eivät kuitenkaan millään tavoin
vahvista ajattelevampien uskovaisten uskoa, nämä kun tietävät, että
hyvää asiaa ei edistetä kiihkolla, vaan se kyllä pitää puolensa
rauhallisessa väittelyssäkin.
En ole milloinkaan voinut loukkaantua keneenkään mielipiteitten

eroavaisuuksien vuoksi enkä suuttua siitä, että jonkun arvostelu ei
ole soveltunut siihen käsitykseen, jota ehkä en itsekään muutaman
päivän perästä enää hyväksyisi. Minulla ei ole neronlahjaa
väitelläkseni uskonnosta, ja usein olen pitänyt viisaimpana välttää
sellaisia väittelyitä, erittäinkin ollessani epäedullisessa asemassa tai
milloin totuus saattaisi kärsiä minun heikon puolustukseni vuoksi.
Siinä, missä tarvitsemme opetusta, on hyödyllistä väitellä itseämme
etevämpien kanssa; jos taas on tarvis lujentaa ja varmistaa
mielipiteitämme, on parempi väitellä sellaisten kanssa, joiden
arvostelukyky on omaamme heikompi, jotta heidän mielipiteistänsä
helpommin saatu voitto kohottaisi ja varmistaisi omaa
mielipidettämme.
Ei jokamies ole sovelias totuuden puolesta taistelemaan eikä
kelvollinen ottamaan taisteluhansikasta vanhurskauden asiassa.
Monet, jotka eivät näitä periaatteita tunne ja jotka ajattelematta
kiivailevat totuuden puolesta, ovat liian äkkipikaisesti ahdistaneet
Erehdyksen joukkoja ja itse joutuneet Totuuden vihollisten saaliiksi.
Voi yhtä täydellisesti omistaa totuuden kuin pitää hallussaan
kaupunkia ja silti joutua antautumaan, minkä vuoksi on parempi
omistaa se rauhassa kuin saattaa se taistelussa vaaraan. Senpä
vuoksi, jos mieleeni joitakin epäilyksiä sattuu, unhotan tai ainakin
siirrän ne tuonnemmaksi, kunnes varmistuneempi arvosteluni ja
miehekkäämmät järkisyyni kykenevät ne voittamaan. Pidän näet
jokaisen omaa järkeä hänen parhaana oppaanaan, joka saadessaan
rauhassa toimia keksii keinon, millä katkaista ne siteet, joilla valheen
viekkaus on kahlehtinut heikomman ja horjuvan arvostelukykymme.
Filosofian kannalta, jolloin totuus näyttää kaksinaamaiselta, ei

kukaan ole eriskummaisempi kuin minä itse, mutta uskonnon
asioissa pysyn mielelläni selvällä tiellä. Ja vaikkakaan en sokeasti,
niin kuitenkin nöyrästi uskoen seuraan kirkon suurta ratasta, jonka
vetämänä liikun, enkä säilytä itselleni mitään omaa liikuntavapautta
aivojeni ahtaammassa piirissä. Siten en jätä mitään tilaa
harhakäsityksille, oppiriidoille ja erehdyksille, ja tällä hetkellä
saattanenkin totuutta loukkaamatta sanoa olevani kaikesta niiden
tartunnasta vapaa. Täytyyhän minun tunnustaa, että aikaisempiin
opintoihini sekoittui pari kolme harhakäsitystä, jotka eivät olleet viime
vuosisadoilta kotoisin, vaan vanhoja ja unohdettuja, niitä, joita
ainoastaan minun kaltaiseni säännöttömyyksiin johtuvat yltiöpäät
jälleen päivänvaloon tuovat. Harhaopit eivät näet häviä esittäjiensä
mukana, vaan ovat Arethusa-joen tapaisia, joka jossakin paikassa
maahan hävittyään jälleen puhkeaa esille toisessa paikassa.
Yleinen kirkolliskokous ei kykene tykkänään tuhoamaan edes yhtä
ainoata harhaoppia, joskin se voi sen siksi hetkeksi sysätä syrjään.
Sillä ajan kierto ja olojen muutokset tuovat sen uudelleen esille,
jolloin se taas kukoistaa, kunnes jälleen tuomitaan. Käypi aivan kuin
sielunvaelluksessa, jos sielu siirtyisi ihmisestä toiseen: jonkun ajan
kuluttua mielipiteet jälleen löytävät henkilöitä ja mieliä,
samankaltaisia kuin nekin, jotka ensiksi herättivät ne eloon.
Saadaksemme jälleen nähdä itsemme, ei meidän tarvitse odottaa
Platon vuotta [jolloin kaikki asiat palaavat entiselleen], sillä ei kukaan
ihminen ole pelkkä itsensä. On ollut monta Diogenesta ja yhtä monta
Timonia, vaikka perin harvoja sen nimisiä; ihmiset eletään uudelleen
ja maailma on samanlainen kuin se oli muinaisinakin aikoina.
Joskaan ei silloin ollut olemassa jonkun ihmisen kaksoisolentoa, on
myöhemmin ollut semmoisia, jotka ovat niin sanoaksemme kuin
hänen uudelleen henkiin herännyt minuutensa.
Ensimmäinen noista harhakäsityksistäni oli se arabialaisten

esittämä, että ihmisten sielut häviävät heidän ruumiittensa mukana,
mutta tulevat viimeisenä päivänä jälleen herätettäviksi. Eipä sillä,
että olisin täysin käsittänyt sielun kuolevaisuutta, mutta jos sellainen
olisi mahdollista (mitä seikkaa filosofia ei ole vääräksi väittänyt,
vaikka kylläkin usko) ja molemmat yhdessä menisivät hautaan,
säilytin siitä kuitenkin saman käsityksen kuin mikä meillä kaikilla on
ruumiista, että se näet on nouseva jälleen. Sehän olisikin mitättömän
luontomme mukaista, jos nukkuisimme pimeydessä viimeiseen
herätyskäskyyn saakka. Vakavasti ajatellessani omaa
arvottomuuttani peräydyin vaatimasta mitään etuoikeutta sielulleni.
Jos vaan sain lopuksikin olla Vapahtajani seurassa, saatoin
kärsivällisesti tyytyä olemaan olemattomana melkeinpä ikuisuuteen
asti.
Toinen harhakäsitys oli Origineen opettama, että Jumala ei ole
leppymätön vihassaan, vaan määrätyn ajan kuluttua vapauttaa
tuomitut sielut kidutuksesta. Tähän erehdykseen jouduin miettiessäni
vakavasti yhtä Jumalan suurista ominaisuuksista: Hänen
laupeuttansa. Tuudittelin itseäni siihen ajatukseen, koska en
huomannut siinä mitään pahaa, jotapaitsi se oli omiansa
käännyttämään minut takaisin äärimmäisestä epätoivosta, johon
synkkämieliset ja mietiskelevät luonteet liiankin helposti joutuvat.
On kolmaskin harhakäsitys, jota en milloinkaan varsinaisesti

kannattanut enkä noudattanut, mutta jonka usein olisin toivonut
olevan sopusoinnussa totuuden kanssa, loukkaamatta uskontoani, ja
se on rukoileminen kuolleitten puolesta. Olin siihen taipuvainen
jonkinlaisesta hyvänsuonnista, jolloin tuskin voin pidättää rukoustani
ystävän puolesta hautauskellojen soidessa tai nähdä hänen
ruumistansa kohottamatta esirukousta hänen sielunsa puolesta.
Ajattelin, että vainaja täten on kauniisti jälkimaailman muistissa,
paljon ylevämmin kuin historiassa.
Noista mielipiteistä en milloinkaan itsepäisesti pitänyt kiinni enkä

liioin yrittänyt ketään houkutella omaan uskooni, enpä edes niinkään
paljoa, että olisin ilmaissut niitä tai väitellyt niistä läheisimmänkään
ystävän kanssa. Minä en siis levittänyt sellaisia käsityksiä toisille
enkä niitä vahvistanut omassakaan mielessäni, vaan annoin niiden
pysyä vireillä omalla voimallansa, lisäämättä uutta polttoainetta,
joten ne huomaamatta itsestänsä sammuivat.
Niinpä nämä mielipiteet, vaikka ovatkin laillisissa kokouksissa

tuomitut, eivät olleet minussa mitään harhaoppeja, vaan pelkästään
erehdyksiä ja ymmärrykseni yksinkertaisia hairahduksia, joihin ei
liittynyt tahtoni turmeltumista. Ei ainoastaan turmeltunut ymmärrys,
vaan myöskin sairaalloiset tunteet on niillä, jotka eivät voi harrastaa
mitään erikoisasiaa joutumatta harhaoppiin tai esittää jotakin
käsitystä, muodostamatta samalla lahkokuntaa. Siinähän oli Luciferin
ensimäisen lankeemuksen kataluus, että hän ei tyytynyt vain
yksinään kulkemaan harhateillä, vaan viekoitteli puolelleen
legioonittain henkiä, ja tämän kokemuksensa mukaisesti hän kiusasi
vain Eevaa, hyvin ymmärtäen synnin kyvyn tarttua muihin ja sen,
että yhden eksyttäminen merkitsi hiljaisuudessa ja johdonmukaisesti
heidän molempain pettämistään.
Että harhakäsityksiä oli ilmestyvä, sitähän jo Kristus ennusti, mutta

että vanhat harhakäsitykset poistettaisiin, siitä meillä ei ole mitään
ennustusta. Ja että harhakäsityksiä täytyy olla, se ei toteudu
ainoastaan meidän kirkossamme, vaan kaikissa muissakin. Ja
harhaoppien joukossa tulee olemaan niistäkin poikkeavia
harhaoppeja. Areiolaisethan eivät ainoastaan eronneet kirkostansa,
vaan olivat erimielisiä keskenäänkin. Ne, jotka ovat taipuvaisia
erimielisyyteen ja luonnostansa aina uutta etsivät, eivät tietystikään
sovellu yhteiselämään eivätkä liioin milloinkaan tyydy yhden
yhdyskunnan järjestykseen ja hallintoon. Siitä syystä he erottuaan
toisista liittyvät keskenäänkin vain heikosti yhteen eivätkä edes tyydy
kirkkonsa yleiseen hajoittamiseen tai jaoitteluun, vaan jakautuvat
sitten itse melkeinpä aivan atomeihin saakka.
Totta on, että erinäiset ihmiset eivät ole milloinkaan olleet vapaita
eriskummaisista mielipiteistä ja käsityksistä. He ovat aina
säilyttäneet jotakin oman kirkkonsa tai minkä tahansa muun kirkon
käsityksen ohella ja yksityiseenkään täysin mukautumatta. Mutta
terve arvostelukyky saattaa näin menetellä herättämättä pahennusta
tai joutumatta harhaoppeihin, sillä onhan, kaikkien
kirkolliskokouksien päätöksistä ja koulukuntien määritelmistä
huolimatta, vielä monta koskematonta ja mieleenjohtumatonta asiaa,
joita rehellinen järki huoleti voi vapaasti käsitellä silti ollen loitolla
kaiken harhaopin piiristä.
Mitä sitten tulee noihin jumaluuden siivekkäihin salaisuuksiin ja

uskonnon hienoimpiin vivahduksiin, jotka ovat suistaneet
pätevämpien päiden aivoja saranoiltaan, eivät ne milloinkaan ole
minun ajuani pingoittaneet. Minun nähdäkseni ei reipas usko
havaitse uskonnossa kylliksi mahdottomuuksia; meidän uskontomme
syvimmät salaisuudet eivät ole ainoastaan saaneet valaistustansa,
vaan myöskin virikettänsä päätelmien ja järjen voimasta. Minä
vaivun mielelläni jonkin salaisuuden tutkimiseen, seuraamaan
järkeäni huippukohtaan asti. Minun yksinäinen virkistyskeinoni onkin
koettaa älyni avulla tutkia kolminaisuuden, Kristuksen
lihaantulemisen ja kuolleistanousemisen monimutkaisia pulmia. Voin
vastata kaikkiin saatanan väitteisiin ja kapinallisen järkeni
muistutuksiin tuolla merkillisellä lauseella, jonka olen oppinut
Tertullianukselta: Certum est, quia impossibile est [Se on varmaa,
koska se on mahdotonta]. Minä tahdon harjoittaa uskoani
vaikeimmassa kohdassa, sillä tavallisten ja näkyväisten asioiden
hyväksyminen ei ole uskoa, vaan opiskelua.
Muutamat uskovat paremmin nähtyänsä Kristuksen haudan; ja

kun he ovat nähneet Punaisen meren, eivät he epäile sen ylitse
kulkemisen ihmettä. Minä sitävastoin onnittelen itseäni ja olen
kiitollinen siitä, etten elänyt ihmetekojen päivinä enkä ole milloinkaan
nähnyt Kristusta enempää kuin hänen opetuslapsiaankaan. En olisi
tahtonut olla noiden israelilaisten mukana, jotka kulkivat Punaisen
meren yli, enkä yksikään Kristuksen potilaista, joille hän ihmeitänsä
teki, sillä uskoni olisi silloin ollut kuin pakolla minuun pantua enkä
silloin olisi voinut iloita siitä suuremmasta siunauksesta, joka on
luvattu niille, jotka uskovat, vaikka eivät näe. Onhan helppo ja pakko
uskoa sitä, mitä silmämme ja aistimme ovat tutkineet. Minä uskon,
että hän oli kuollut ja haudattu ja nousi kuolleista jälleen, ja toivon
mieluummin saavani nähdä hänet kunniassaan kuin katsella häntä
hautakappelissaan tai haudassaan. Eikä siinä olekaan paljoa
uskomista; meillä kun on järki, on tämä uskokin historian ansiota. Ne
vain omistivat rohkean ja ylevän uskon, jotka elivät ennen hänen
tulemistaan, jotka saattoivat epäselvien ennustuksien ja
salaperäisten esikuvien nojalla uskoa ja odottaa näköjään
mahdottomia asioita toteutuviksi.
On totta, että kaikessa lujassa uskossa on terävyytensä tai

yksinkertaisella vertauksella sanoaksemme miekkansa. Mutta näissä
hämärissä kysymyksissä minä mieluummin käytän samaa
vertaussanaa kuin apostoli käyttää, nimittäin kilpeä, jonka suojassa
ymmärtääkseni voi varovainen taistelija säilyä koskemattomana.
Siitä alkaen, kun opin käsittämään, ettemme mitään tiedä, on järkeni
ollut taipuvaisempi uskonalaisuuteen, ja nyt tyydyn ajattelemaan
jotakin salaisuutta, vaatimatta tarkempaa määritelmää, hyväksyen
helpomman ylimalkaisen kuvauksen. Hermes-jumalasta esitetty
allegorinen selitys miellyttää minua verrattomasti enemmän kuin
kaikki jumaluusoppineitten metafyysilliset määritelmät. Missä en voi
tyydyttää järkeni vaatimuksia, siinä mielelläni annan mielikuvitukseni
vapaasti liikehtiä. Yhtä hyvin saattaisin täysin asianmukaisena
hyväksyä väitteen, että anima est angelus hominis, est corpus Dei
[sielu on ihmisen enkeli, Jumalan ruumis] kuin ilmeisenä seikkana,
että Lux est umbra Dei [valo on Jumalan varjo].
Siinä, missä on järjellemme liian syvä hämäryys, on hyvä tyytyä

kuvauksiin, mukailuihin ja ylimalkaiseen hahmoitteluun. Sillä
osoittaessamme järjellemme, kuinka kykenemätön se on selittämään
luonnon näkyviä, ilmeisiä ilmiöitä, se käy nöyremmäksi ja
alistuvaisemmaksi suhteessaan uskon salaisuuksiin. Näin minä
opetan vastahakoista ja kesytöntä järkeäni kumartumaan uskon
viehätykseen. Uskon, että oli jo olemassa puu, jonka hedelmistä
onnettomat esivanhempani maistoivat, vaikka samassa luvussa,
jossa Jumala kieltää siitä syömästä, nimenomaan sanotaan, että
maassa ei vielä kasvanut kasveja, sillä Jumala ei vielä ollut antanut
sataa maan päälle. Lisäksi uskon, että käärme (jos se on
kirjaimellisesti niin ymmärrettävä) muotonsa ja rakenteensa takia
ryömi vatsallansa jo ennen kuin se kirottiin.
Minusta se koetus tyttöjen neitsyyden toteamiseksi, jonka Jumala

määräsi israelilaisille, on sangen epävarma. Kokemus ja historia
opettavat, etteivät ainoastaan monet yksityiset naiset, vaan vieläpä
kokonaiset kansakunnat ovat vapautuneet lasten synnyttämiseen
liittyvästä kirouksesta, jonka Jumala näyttää määränneen koko
ihmissuvulle. Siitä huolimatta uskon, että kaikki tämä on totta, vaikka
tosin järkeni saattaisi vakuuttaa minun olevan väärässä. Tätä en
suinkaan pidä alhaisena puolena uskoa, jos uskomme asian, joka ei
ainoastaan ole järkemme yläpuolella, vaan vieläpä sitä vastaankin ja
aistimiemme todistusten kanssa ristiriidassa.
Sulkeutuessani yksinäisyyteen mielikuvituksessani
(neque enim cum porticus aut me lectulus

accepit, desum mihi),
muistan etten sittenkään ole yksinäni, enkä siis unohda mietiskellä

Jumalaa ja hänen ominaisuuksiansa, etenkin noita kahta valtavaa
ominaisuutta: viisautta ja iankaikkisuutta. Toisella niistä virkistän
ymmärrystäni, toisella taas sitä tyrmistytän. Sillä kuka voi puhua
iankaikkisuudesta, joutumatta virheeseen syypääksi, tai ajatella sitä
hurmautumatta? Aikaa voimme käsittää; sehän on vain viittä päivää
vanhempi kuin me itse, ja sen kohtalo on sama kuin maailman.
Mutta jos on palattava taaksepäin niin pitkälle, että pääsisimme
havaitsemaan alun, tai jos yritämme päästä niin rajattomasti
eteenpäin, että näkisimme lopun, kun kerran vakuutamme, ettei
kumpaakaan ole, panee se järkeni Paavalin järjen tavoin
pysähtymään. Minun filosofiani ei uskalla väittää, että enkelitkään
siihen pystyisivät. Jumala ei ole tehnyt yhtään luotuansa
kykeneväksi häntä käsittämään; se jää hänen oman olemuksensa
etuoikeudeksi. Minä olen se mikä olen oli hänen oma
määritelmänsä, jonka hän antoi Moosekselle, ja se oli lyhyt, omansa
hämmentämään kuolevaista, joka uskalsi kysyä Jumalalta tai pyytää
selitystä, mikä hän oli. Hänpä todella vain on, kaikki muut ovat olleet
ja tulevat olemaan.
Mutta iankaikkisuudessa ei ole mitään eroa aikamuotojen välillä ja

siitä syystä tuo kauhea sana predestinatio [edeltämääräys], joka on
vaivannut niin monta heikkoa päätä käsittämään ja monta viisainta
yrittämään sitä selittää, ei ole Jumalan kannalta mitään edeltäpäin
tietävää tulevaisen kohtalon määräämistä, vaan hänen jo täyttyneen
tahtonsa lopullinen ilmaus samalla hetkellä kuin hän asian päättikin.
Sillä hänen iankaikkisuutensa kannalta, joka on jaksoihin
jakautumaton ja sisältää kaikki alusta loppuun saakka, on viimeinen
pasuuna jo soinut, tuomitut jo liekeissä ja siunatut Aabrahamin
helmaan päässeet. Pietari puhuu vaatimattomasti sanoessaan, että
tuhannen vuotta Jumalan edessä on kuin yksi päivä, sillä
puhuaksemme filosofin tavoin ne ajanhetket, jotka muodostavat
tuhannen vuotta, eivät Jumalan edessä ole edes hetkeäkään. Se,
mikä meille on vielä tulevaa, on hänen iankaikkisuutensa kannalta jo
nykyistä, sillä hänen koko olevaisuutensa on yksi ainoa pysyvä
kokonaisuus, jossa ei ole jatkuvaisuutta, ei osia, ei vaihtelua eikä
jakautumista.
Mitään muuta Jumalan ominaisuutta ei ole, joka enemmän lisäisi

kolminaisuuden salaisuuden pulmaa, — jossa, vaikkakin
suhteellisesti puhumme Isästä ja Pojasta, emme kuitenkaan voi
myöntää toiselle mitään vanhemmuutta. Minua ihmetyttää, kuinka
Aristoteles saattoi pitää maailmaa iankaikkisena tai kuinka hän voi
sovittaa toisiinsa kaksi iankaikkisuutta. Hänen vertauksensa
kolmiosta, joka sisältyy neliöön, saattaa jotenkin valaista sielumme
kolminaista olemusta ja tämä taas Jumalan kolmiyhteyttä, sillä
meissä ei ole kolmea sielua, vaan sielujen kolminaisuus. Meissä on
näet, jollei kolmea eri sielua, kuitenkin toisistaan eroavia sielun
kykyjä, jotka voivat olla ja todella ovatkin erillään eri olioissa, mutta
meissä ovat niin yhdistetyt, että niistä tulee yhden ainoan sielun
olemus. Jos yksi sielu olisi niin täydellinen, että se elähyttäisi kolmea
eri ruumista, olisi siinä jo pikku kolminaisuus: ajatellaanpa
nimenomaan kolme olemusta, jotka eivät ole eroitetut toisistaan
ymmärryksensä puolesta, vaan todellisuudessa kuuluvat sen
yhtenäisyyteen, niin siinä on täydellinen kolminaisuus.
Usein olen ihmetellyt Pythagoraan salaperäisiä ajatuksia ja

numeroiden salaista taikaa. Varoitus, että kavahtaisimme filosofiaa,
on neuvo, jota ei ole noudatettava liian laveassa merkityksessä, sillä
luonnon moninaisuudessa on asioita, joiden otsaan on merkitty
(vaikka tosin ei suurilla kirjaimilla, niin ainakin pikakirjoituksella ja
lyhyillä merkeillä) joitakin piirteitä jumalallisuudesta, jotka
viisaammille riittävät tulisoihduiksi tiedon sokkeloluolissa ja
arvostelukykyisille uskovaisille askelmiksi, heidän päästäkseen
kiipeämään jumaluuden korkeimmille huipuille. Ankarammat filosofi-
koulukunnat eivät milloinkaan saata minua pilkanteollansa
hylkäämään sitä Hermeen filosofista käsitystä, että tämä näkyväinen
maailma on vain näkymättömän kuva, jossa, niinkuin konsanaan
muotokuvassa, asiat eivät ole todellisessa, vaan kuvaannollisessa
hahmossaan, ja niinkuin jäljitellään todellisempiakin olioita tuossa
näkymättömässä tehtaassa.
Toinen Jumalan ominaisuus, jonka tutkimisella virkistän

hurskauttani, on hänen viisautensa, jonka ajattelemisessa tunnen
itseni onnelliseksi. Pelkästään tätä mietiskellessäni en kadu, että
olen saanut oppisivistystä. Se etu, joka minulla siinä on tavallisten
ihmisten rinnalla, ja se tyytyväisyys ja onnellisuus, jonka siitä saan,
on runsas korvaus vaivannäöistäni, olkoonpa ollut niiden aiheena
mikä tiedon ala hyvänsä. Viisaus on Jumalan ihanin ominaisuus.
Kukaan ihminen ei voi sitä saavuttaa, ja kuitenkin Salomo oli
mieluinen Jumalalle, toivoessaan itselleen viisautta.
Jumala on viisas, koska hän tietää kaikki asiat, ja nämä hän tietää,
koska on ne itse tehnyt, mutta hänen suurin tietonsa on sen
käsittäminen, mitä hän ei ole tehnyt, nimittäin itsensä. Ja tämä on
myöskin ihmisen suurin tieto.
Senvuoksi pidän kunniassa omaa ammattiani ja otan vastaan

neuvoja, vieläpä itse paholaiselta. Jos hän olisi paratiisissa esittänyt
sitä, mitä hän esitti Delfoissa, tuntisimme paremmin itsemme
emmekä pelkäisi niin oppia tuntemaan häntä.
Minä tiedän, että Jumala on viisas ja ihmeellinen kaikessa, mitä

tajuamme, mutta verrattomasti ihmeellisempi siinä, mitä emme
käsitä. Sillä me näemme hänet vain välillisesti, kuin heijastuksena tai
varjona. Ymmärryksemme on hämärämpi kuin Mooseksen silmä,
emmekä tiedä mitään hänen jumaluutensa toisista tai alemmista
puolista. Siitä syystä hänen teittensä sokkeloihin kurkisteleminen ei
ole ainoastaan hulluutta ihmisessä, vaan julkeutta yksinpä
enkeleiden puolelta. Hekin ovat, kuten me, hänen palvelijoitansa
eivätkä hänen senaattoreitaan: hänellä ei ole muuta kuin
kolminaisuuden salaperäinen neuvosto, jossa, vaikka siinä onkin
kolme persoonaa, on vain yksi tahto ratkaisemassa ja määräämässä
ilman vastaväitteitä. Sitäpaitsi hän ei tarvitse neuvonantajia: hänen
toimensa eivät johdu harkinnasta, sillä hänen viisautensa tietysti
tietää, mikä on parasta. Hänen älynsä on aina valmiina, täynnä
hyvyyden korkeimpia ja puhtaimpia aatteita; harkinta ja valinta, jotka
meissä ovat kaksi eri asiaa, ovat hänessä yhtenä, ja hänen tekonsa
purkautuvat hänen voimastaan esille hänen tahtonsa ensimmäisellä
kosketuksella.
Nämä ovat metafyysillisiä mietiskelyjä; minun vaatimattomat

mietteeni kulkevat toista uraa ja tyytyvät etsimään ja löytämään niitä
ilmauksia, jotka hän on jättänyt luotuihinsa sekä luonnon
silminnähtäviin ilmiöihin. Näihin salaisuuksiin tunkeutumisessa ei ole
vaaraa, filosofiasta puuttuu sanctum sanctorum [kaikkein pyhin].
Maailma tehtiin luontokappalten asuttavaksi, mutta ihmisen
tutkittavaksi ja katseltavaksi. Sen on järkemme velkaa Jumalalle, ja
siinä suoritettavamme tunnustus siitä, ettemme ole luontokappaleita.
Ilman tätä maailma on vielä niinkuin ei sitä olisikaan ollut, tai niinkuin
se oli ennen kuudetta päivää, jolloin ei vielä ollut luotua olentoa
käsittämässä ja sanomassa, että on maailma. Jumalan viisaus ei
saa suurtakaan kunniaa niiden arki-ihmisten puolelta, jotka vain
tuijottavat ympärilleen ja törkeän kömpelösti ihailevat hänen
tekojaan; ne vain häntä korkeasti ylistävät, jotka ymmärtäväisesti
pyrkien tutkimaan hänen tekojansa ja hartaasti syventymään hänen
luomakuntaansa täyttävät velvollisuutta hurskaasti ja valistuneesti
ihailla Jumalan tekoja.
Ja tämä on melkein ainoa kohta, jossa vähäpätöinen luotu olento
voi yrittää osoittaa kiitollisuuttaan ja jollakin tavoin korvata
Luojalleen, sillä jollei se, joka sanoo »Herra, Herra», tule taivaan
valtakuntaan, vaan se, joka tekee taivaallisen Isän tahdon, niin
täytyy totisesti tahtojemme olla samaa kuin tekomme, ja
aikomustemme kelvata töiden sijasta. Muussa tapauksessa
hurskaatkin toimemme tuottavat meille vain tuskaa, yksinpä
haudassamme, ja parhaimmatkin yrityksemme saattavat meidät, ei
toivomaan, vaan pelkäämään kuolleitten ylösnousemista.
Joka oliolla on vain yksi ensimmäinen syynsä ja neljä toisarvoista

syytä. Toisilla ei ole alkuunpanijaa, kuten esimerkiksi Jumalalla;
toiset ovat aineettomia, kuten enkelit; toisilla ei ole muotoa, kuten
esimerkiksi ensimmäisellä aineella, mutta jokaisella oliolla, joko
luodulla tai luomattomalla, on jokin lopullinen syy ja jokin
nimenomainen päämäärä sekä olemuksellensa että toiminnallensa.
Tätä lopullista syytä minä etsin luonnon ilmiöissä, ja siihen perustuu
Jumalan kaitselmus. Vain hänen taitonsa ilmausta oli luoda niin
kaunis rakenne kuin maailma ja sen olennot, mutta niiden
moninaiset ja erilaiset toimintamuodot edeltäpäin pantuine
päämäärineen ovat Jumalan viisauden aarrekammiosta kotoisin.
Auringon ja kuun pimennyksen syissä, ominaisuuksissa ja
vaikutuksissa on erinomaisia tutkimisen aiheita, mutta kun pyrimme
syvemmälle miettiessämme, miksi hänen kaitselmuksensa on niin
järjestänyt ja määrännyt niiden liikkeet tuossa äärettömässä
kehässä, että ne sattuvat yhteen ja pimittävät toisiaan, on siinä
vieläkin ihastuttavampaa tehtävää järjelle ja jumalallisempi
filosofisen ajattelun esine.
Siitäpä syystä minusta joskus ja joissakin asioissa näyttää

Galenuksen kirjassa De Usu Partium olevan yhtä paljon
jumaluusoppia kuin Suarezin metafysiikassa. Jos Aristoteles olisi
ollut yhtä tiedonhaluinen tämän asian kuin muiden tutkimisessa, ei
hän olisi jättänyt jälkeensä niin epätäydellistä filosofiaa, vaan aivan
täydellisen jumaluusopin.
Natura nihil agit frustra [luonto ei mitään tee turhaan] on ainoa

kiistämätön selviö filosofiassa. Luonnossa ei ole mitään
eriskummaista; ei mitään, joka olisi tarkoitettu täyttämään tyhjiä
paikkoja ja tarpeettomia aloja. Epätäydellisimmissäkin luoduissa
olennoissa ja sellaisissa, joita ei Noakin arkissa säilytetty, vaan joita
on kaikkialla, missä auringon elähdyttävä voima vaikuttaa, koska
niiden siemen ja elämänmahdollisuudet olivat luonnon helmaan
kätkettyjä, näkyy Jumalan töiden viisaus. Siitä piiristä Salomo valitsi
ihailunsa esineet. Mitäpä kaikkea onkaan järjen opittava mehiläisten,
muurahaisten ja hämähäkkien viisaudesta? Kuinka viisas onkaan se
käsi, joka on opettanut niille sellaista, mitä järki ei voi opettaa meille?
Kehittymättömämpi järki hämmästyy nähdessään sellaisia luonnon

suurenmoisia töitä, kuin valaskaloja, norsuja, dromedaareja ja
kameeleja. Nehän ovatkin, sen myönnän, luonnon jättiläisiä ja
majesteetillisia teoksia. Mutta noissa pienissä koneissa on
ihmeellisempää matematiikkaa, ja noiden pienten
luonnonasukkaitten kehittyneisyys ilmaisee vielä selvemmin niiden
luojan viisautta. Kukapa ei ihmettelisi Regiomontanuksen kärpästä
enemmän kuin hänen kotkaansa tai enemmän noiden pienten
hyönteisten ruumiissa toimivia kahta sielua kuin yhtä seetripuun
rungossa?
En ole milloinkaan voinut tyytyä katselemaan noita yleisiä ihmeitä,

jollaisia ovat meren vuoksi ja luode, Niilin tulvehtiminen ja kompassin
neulan kääntyminen pohjoista kohti, vaan olen tavoittanut näiden
veroisia ihmeitä luonnon tutummissa ja enemmän laiminlyödyissä
ilmiöissä, joita kauemmaksi matkustamatta saatan tutkia oman itseni
pienoismaailmassa. Meissä itsessämme ovat ne ihmeet, joita
etsimme ulkopuolelta: koko Afrika ihmeellisine ilmiöineen on meissä;
me juuri olemme sellainen luonnon uhkea ja vaiherikas kappale, että
viisaasti työskentelevä tutkija meissä tapaa yhteen paikkaan
koottuna sen, mitä toiset työläästi löytävät eri tahoilta ja äärettömän
laajalta alalta.
Kahdesta kirjasta siis kokoan jumaluusoppini pääpiirteet: Jumalan

kirjoittaman kirjan ohella on toinen hänen palvelijansa Luonnon
kirjoittama, kaikille yhteinen ja julkinen käsikirjoitus, joka on kaikkien
meidän nähtäväksemme levitetty. Ne, jotka eivät ole nähneet
Jumalaa toisessa, ovat löytäneet hänet toisesta. Tämä jälkimäinen
oli pakanain raamattu ja jumaluusopin väline. Auringon luonnollinen
liike saattoi heidät ihailemaan Jumalaa enemmän kuin sen
yliluonnollinen pysähdys ihmetytti Israelin lapsia, ja luonnon tavalliset
ilmiöt herättivät heissä enemmän ihailua kuin kaikki Jumalan ihmeet
jälkimäisissä. Varmasti pakanat paremmin ymmärsivät tavata ja
lukea noita salaperäisiä kirjaimia kuin me kristityt, jotka
välinpitämättömämmin tarkastelemme näitä tavallisia hieroglyyfejä
emmekä viitsi koota jumalantietoa kedon kukista. Toisaalta en
unohda Jumalaa niin että palvoisin luontoa. Tätä en oppineitten
tavoin määrittele liikunnon ja levon alkuaiheeksi, vaan suoraksi ja
säännölliseksi viivaksi, tarkoin määrätyksi ja jatkuvaksi suunnaksi,
jota myöten Jumalan viisaus on määrännyt luotujen olentojensa
elämän kulkemaan, kunkin erikoislaadun mukaan. Auringon luontona
on tehdä kierroksensa joka päivä sen vuoksi, että Jumala on sen
sille säätänyt, eikä se voi siitä poiketa muutoin kuin sen äänen
voimasta, jolta se ensiksi sai liikuntonsa.
Tätä luonnon kulkua Jumala vain harvoin muuttaa tai keskeyttää.
Hän on, kuten erinomainen taiteilija, niin suunnitellut työnsä, että
juuri tuon teoksensa avulla, tarvitsematta mitään uutta luoda, voi
toimeenpanna salatuimmatkin aikomuksensa. Niinpä hän sulostuttaa
järviä metsillä, säilyttää arkissa luotujansa, vaikka hänen suunsa
henkäys olisi riittänyt yhtä helposti ne uudelleen luomaan. Sillä
Jumala on kuin taitava mittausopin tutkija, joka voisi helpommin ja
yhdellä ainoalla harppinsa vedolla jakaa suoran viivan, ja joka
kuitenkin mieluummin tekee sen ympyrän avulla tai
monimutkaisemmalla tavalla, taiteensa sääntöjen ja ennakolta
määrättyjen perusteitten mukaan.
Tästä säännöstänsä hän kuitenkin joskus poikkeaa osoittaakseen

maailmalle etuoikeutensa, jottei järkemme ylpeydessään panisi
kysymyksenalaiseksi hänen voimaansa ja päättelisi, ettei hän siihen
kykene. Siten nimitän luonnon ilmiöitä Jumalan töiksi, sillä luontokin
on vain Jumalan käsi ja välikappale. Siis Jumalan töiden
omistaminen luonnon toimittamiksi on vain itse tekijän kunnian
siirtämistä hänen työaseellensa. Jos näin voimme hyvällä syyllä
tehdä, antakaamme silloin vasaramme kohottaa päätänsä ja kerskua
rakentaneensa talomme ja ottakoon kynämme itsellensä kunnian
kirjoituksemme laatimisesta.
Minusta Jumalan teoissa on yleensä nähtävissä kauneus, ja

senvuoksi luomakunnan olioissa ei ole minkäänlaista
epämuodostusta olemassa. En ymmärrä, minkä logiikan perusteella
nimitämme rupisammakkoa, karhua tai norsua rumaksi. Niillähän on
ne muodot ja rakenteet, jotka parhaiten ilmaisevat niiden sisällistä
toimintaa, ja ne ovat läpäisseet Jumalan lopullisen tarkastuksen,
joka näki, että kaikki, mitä hän oli tehnyt, oli hyvää ja siis hänen
tahtonsa mukaista, ja joka ei muodottomuuksia suosi, vaan on
järjestyksen ja kauneuden perustus. Ainoastaan n.s.
luonnonoikuissa on epämuotoisuutta, vaikka niissäkin sentään on
jonkinlaista kauneutta. Luonto rakentaa näet niin nerokkaasti
epäsäännöllisetkin osat, että ne joskus käyvät huomattavammiksi
kuin itse päärakennus.
Vielä tarkemmin lausuaksemme, ei ole koskaan ollut mitään

rumaa tai rujomuotoista paitsi kaaos, mutta tässäkään (täsmällisesti
puhuen) ei ollut mitään epämuotoista, koska sillä ei ollutkaan
muotoa. Sitäpaitsi ei se ollut vielä Jumalan äänen hedelmöittävää
vaikutusta kuullut. Luonto ei ole taiteen kanssa ristiriidassa enempää
kuin taidekaan luonnon kanssa. Sillä molemmat ovat Jumalan
kaitselmuksen toimeenpanijoita. Taide on luonnon täydellistymistä.
Jos maailma olisi vielä sellainen kuin se oli kuudentena päivänä, olisi
vielä olemassa kaaos. Luonto on tehnyt yhden maailman, taide
toisen. Lyhyesti sanoen, kaikki asiat ovat taideteoksia, sillä luonto on
Jumalan taidetta.
Tämä on hänen kaitselmuksensa yleinen ja avoin tie, jonka taito ja

uutteruus ovat suureksi osaksi keksineet. Sen vaikutuksia voimme
edeltäpäin määritellä, tarvitsematta siihen oraakkelia. Eikä niiden
edeltäpäin ilmoittaminen ole ennustamista, vaan luonnollisten
seurausten osoittamista. Mutta on toinenkin tie, täynnä mutkia ja
sokkeloita, joista paholaisella ja hengillä ei ole aivan tarkkoja
muistiinpanoja. Ja se on hänen kaitselmuksensa erikoisempi ja
salatumpi puoli ja johtaa yksilöiden ja erikoisolioiden toimia. Me
nimitämme Fortunaksi, onneksi, tätä mutkikasta, kiemurtelevaa
viivaa, jonka kaltaisiksi hän säätää viisautensa suunnittelemia tekoja
oudommalla ja salatummalla tavalla.
Tätä hänen kaitselmuksensa salaista ja monimutkaista
menettelytapaa olen aina ihaillut, enkä voi elämäni vaiheita, minua
kohdanneita tapauksia, vaaroista pelastumisiani ja hyviä sattumuksia
lukea pelkästään onnen oikuiksi, sitä niistä kiittäen, tai hyvän tähteni
suosiosta johtuneiksi. Aabraham olisi voinut ajatella, että oinas oli
joutunut pensaikkoon sattumalta; inhimillinen järki olisi voinut sanoa,
että pelkkä sattuma johdatti Mooseksen ruokovasussansa faaraon
tyttären nähtäväksi. Ja mikä sokkelo onkaan Joosefin historiassa,
joka kykenisi käännyttämään stoalaisenkin!
Varmasti on jokaisenkin elämässä erinäisiä häiriöitä, mutkia ja

survaisuja, joita aluksi voidaan luulla sattumiksi, mutta jotka lopuksi,
tarkoin tutkittuina, osoittautuvat pelkästään Jumalan sormen
johtamiksi. Ei ollut mikään sokea sattuma, joka saattoi kirjeen
harhaan joutumisella ilmi tunnetun ruutisalaliiton. Minä pidän vuonna
1588 saavutettua voittoa sitä suuremmassa arvossa sen ainoan
tapauksen vuoksi, jota vihollisemme sanoivat häpeäksemme ja
onnen puolueellisuudeksi, nimittäin myrskyjen ja vastatuulten.
Kuningas Filip ei kuitenkaan halventanut meidän kansallisuuttamme
sanoessaan lähettäneensä laivastonsa taistelemaan ihmisiä eikä
tuulia vastaan. Missä on huomattavana ilmeinen voimien ero kahden
eri tekijän välillä, voimme järjen päätelmillä luvata voiton
väkevämmälle; jos taas odottamattomia asianhaaroja siihen liittyy ja
aavistamattomia tapauksia väliin sattuu, täytyy näiden tulla sellaisen
tekijän taholta, jonka ei tarvitse noudattaa järkemme päätelmiä ja
jonka käden jälkiä voimme nähdä, niinkuin nähtiin seinälle
ilmestyneessä kirjoituksessa, vaikka emme voikaan huomata
kädenliikkeen alkuunpanijaa. Pienen Hollannin saavuttamaa
vaurautta (kansan, josta Turkin sultaani ylpeästi sanoi: jos he häntä
häiritsisivät, niinkuin espanjalaisia, lähettäisi hän miehensä
lapioineen ja kuokkineen heittämään sen mereen) en voi kokonaan

Library and Information Science in The Middle East and North Africa Amanda B Click Editor Full Chapter

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Middle East and North Africa Amanda

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Bibliographic information published by the Deutsche Nationalbibliothek

© 2016 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston

IFLA (The International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions) is

Daphne Flanagan and Frieda Wiebe

Meggan Houlihan, Christine Furno, and Jayme Spencer

Evelyn H. Daniel, Lokman I. Meho, and Barbara B. Moran

Amanda B. Click, Josiah Drewry, and Mahmoud Khalifa

Jordan M. Scepanski and Yaşar Tonta

Table 10.2 Number of Arab world-related articles, top and international

Figure 8.1 Four interactive pillars of Knowledge Economies  

Appendix 4.1 Survey Instrument  

[c]ross-disciplinary inquiry, participatory learning, an obsession with primary resources

Year Arabic Hebrew Persian Turkish All Languages

1992     ,

Tab. 1.1: (continued)

Year Arabic Hebrew Persian Turkish All Languages

1999     ,

This chapter proposes to provide a snapshot of book publishing in the Arab

Tab. .: Reading habits of Arab publics (NextPage, a, b).

Read During Newspapers/ Books Attended % Readers who

Algeria % % % % %

Challenges to Statistical Assessments

2006 2007 2008 2009 2010

Egypt , , , , ,

libraries. Morocco’s national bibliography is available in searchable form back

2010 2011 2012

The Subject Profiles of Arabic Book Publishing

1992–2003⁷ 2010 2011 2012

All Arabic Other Arabic Other Arabic Other

Children’s Books n/a .% .% .% .% .% .%

7 Source: http://book-fair.com/pdf/buchmesse/buchmarkt_tunesien_e.pdf ; Languages counted

Government Commercial Total

Egypt   

improve or correct them. Publishers see themselves as intermediaries between

Fiction (over 200 pp) $–

Copyright and Intellectual Property Rights

Arab Berne UCC Geneva Rome WTO/TRIPS WIPO

Tab. 1.8: (continued)

Arab Berne UCC Geneva Rome WTO/TRIPS WIPO

Lebanon – September , October , August , Observer –

Organizations like the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) and

Regional Rank 2013 Global Rank 2013 IDI 2013

Tab. 1.9: (continued)

Regional Rank 2013 Global Rank 2013 IDI 2013

Algeria  . . no data .  . .

Bahrain  . . ./.    .

ᵃ The 500MB option is handset-based, the 1 GB option is copputer-based.

A further component to be considered in a successful e-publishing ecosystem is

Received: 16th November 2014

agriculture and tourism, is “increasingly challenged by globalization” (Wyrtzen,

The Crisis of Reading

Juhlallisen kulkueen nähdessäni olen itkenyt liikutuksesta viljavia

Mutta käydäkseni lähemmäksi itseäni ja liikkuakseni

Lyhyesti sanoen: siinä, mistä raamattu on vaiti, on kirkko

Vastustajamme ovat häpeäkseen aivan väärin väittäneet, niinkuin

En ole milloinkaan voinut loukkaantua keneenkään mielipiteitten

Filosofian kannalta, jolloin totuus näyttää kaksinaamaiselta, ei

Ensimmäinen noista harhakäsityksistäni oli se arabialaisten

On kolmaskin harhakäsitys, jota en milloinkaan varsinaisesti

Noista mielipiteistä en milloinkaan itsepäisesti pitänyt kiinni enkä