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Dubai-based Juma Al Majid Centre for Culture and Heritage is embarking on a major mission to protect and preserve the invaluable collection of old books and rare manuscripts in Hyderabad.
The centre has signed a memorandum of understanding ( MoU ) with two organizations in Hyderabad – Idare-e-Adabiyaat-e-Urdu and Jamia Nizamia for digitization of nearly 5,500 books in Arabic, Persian and Urdu languages. Juma Al Majid centre will scan and save the books and manuscripts on CDs to preserve them for posterity. Some of the books date back to 15th and 16th century and are seen as valuable link between the present and past, especially with reference to the historically close cultural links between India, Persia and Arab countries.
The secretary of Idara-e-Adabiyaat, Prof Maghni Tabassum, said that under the MoU, the centre will make two CDs of every book and manuscript, one of which will be kept in Hyderabad and the other at the Juma Al Majid Centre in Dubai for research purposes.
The centre, which has undertaken similar projects in many other countries, decided to preserve the dying books and manuscripts after some scholars from Hyderabad visited the organization.
The scholars brought the issue to the notice of the centre’s founder, Juma Al Majid, and sough his help in their preservation. Later, the centre sent a team to India and they decided to take up the work.
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