KARACHI, Dec 8: A book titled ‘Jerusalem — A Journey Back in Time’ by Dr Iftikhar Salahuddin was launched at the Mohatta Palace Museum on Sunday evening.

Poet Zehra Nigah, in her distinct style, began her speech by praising the pictures (taken by the author) in the book and especially mentioned Islamic architecture. She poeticised that these buildings told true stories of what they’d gone through. The buildings’ images struck up a conversation with their viewers and sometimes protested against the treatment that was meted out to them. This reminded her of two of Allama Iqbal’s poems, Masjid-i-Qurtaba and Zoq-o-Shoq. She said the photographer’s camera may be equipped with latest technology but it still depended on the photographer’s eye.

Ms Nigah said she had seen the historic pictures hanging on the walls of Dr Salahuddin’s clinic. It pleasantly surprised her when she came to know that they were taken by him and that he had a profound interest in history and architecture. She had always admired the people who found time from their profession for other pursuits.

Commenting on the content of the book, Ms Nigah said the book talked about a land where three religions — Judaism, Christianity and Islam — originated. All of them were reflected in a literary sense (adabi aitbaar se) in the book, which read like a travelogue. She insisted that it should be translated into Urdu for those who might not be able to defend themselves against the current wave of terrorism, but were willing to give their lives for the Palestinian cause. At the end of her speech she read out short excerpts from two of Palestinian Christian poet Samiul Qasim’s poems and a couplet by Faiz Ahmed Faiz:

Jis zameen per bhi khula merey lahu ka parcham Lahlahata hai wahan arz-e-Falasteen ka alam Media person and former senator Javed Jabbar said he had known Dr Salahuddin for a long time, and both were spiritually related because their fathers knew each other. The author had taken time in developing the manuscript, deepening his study of the subject, researched it so that it could mature and grow.

He said it was a non-scholastic work because of its episodic nature and should not be treated as a coffee table book. One could not snuggle up with the book in bed. It was not one of those works which could be read in one go; the reader needed to come back to it as it had so many facets of history, faith, geography and personal odyssey.

On the subject of the book, Mr Jabbar said Jerusalem was the city of three revealed religions. Each of them was now riven or split in terms of interpretation. He said there were 22 Arab states and Greece was just one country. Last year more books were translated into Greek than all the books translated into Arabic.

He remarked Jerusalem was just not a sacred place; it was a state of mind. It’s about recapturing the cerebral space of robust intellectual activity. He added the Muslim mind needed to be challenged. The earlier two religions had developed the capacity to question without feeling threatened about it.

Dean and Director of the Institute of Business Administration Dr Ishrat Husain said Dr Salahuddin was fond of travelling, but he was not one of those people who would travel to regions like Europe and the US. He first met him in 1987 in Harare, Zimbabwe and ever since he’d been keeping track of his travels. He lauded the author for bringing about a ‘historical narrative of Jerusalem’.

He congratulated him for doing justice with his camera to the architectural beauty and historical legacy of the city. He touched upon the ‘intellectual honesty’ with which the author had narrated in the book how the Jewish people were mistreated in history.

Dr Husain raised a question in his speech. He asked had anyone wondered why the US senate, which was willing to shut down its government recently, was unanimous when it came to the interests of Israel. The reason for this was that the small Jewish community in the US had invested in its people. The vast number of Nobel, Tony, Pulitzer and Oscar winners was a testimony to that. The community shared its wealth with the lesser privileged among them. Therefore, instead of blaming others for our ills we should also invest in our younger generation.

Dr Salahuddin spoke on the genesis of the book and went down memory lane when a visit to Jerusalem transported him back in time, in history.

He talked about the plight of the Palestinian people and how they, during his visit, told him tales about their hopelessness. It made him decide that one day he’d tell their story to the rest of the world.

He said researching and writing the book was a rewarding experience, and getting it published was a sobering reality.

He dedicated the book to his wife.

Pervez Iqbal and Tarek Khan also spoke.

An exhibition of photographs by the author titled Glimpses of Muslim Architecture was held at the venue as well.