KARACHI, Aug 7: With more than 428,000 books, the Hamdard University library is one of the largest libraries in the city.

Located in Bund Murad Khan, the library, spread over 127,000 square feet, was inaugurated by the then president, Ghulam Ishaq Khan, on Dec 11, 1989.

The chief librarian of Hamdard University, Syed Akhtar Ali, explained that the present library had grown out of the late Hakim Muhammad Said’s personal library. “The late Hakim Muhammad Said had brought some 300 books to Pakistan from India in 1947. The library contained, for the most part, books on Tib, history of medicine and Islamiyat. When the number of books rose to over 75,000 in 1973, Mr Said donated the books to the Hamdard Foundation library.”

On a visit to the library on Saturday, this reporter saw that apart from more than 428,000 books in Arabic, Urdu, Persian and English, the library contained clippings from over 40 newspapers and magazines of the country since 1954 on as many as 1,200 subjects.

“The Hamdard Foundation has published some 300 books. Since it is associated with other universities and organizations all over the world, it receives about 2,100 magazines in exchange for its books,” Mr Ali said. He added that the back numbers of major magazines of the country — some at least 50 years old — were also preserved in well-bound volumes.

He said the Hamdard University library contained no fewer than 1,870 manuscripts. He added that the manuscripts were on the Quran, exegeses of the Quran, Hadith, Fiqah, philosophy, logic, mysticism, the biographies of the prophet, history, travelogues and medicine.

He explained that the 1,600 manuscripts of the Quran were available in 64 languages, adding that the library had 350 translations of the Quran.

He said that in addition to purchasing books of a certain worth every year, Hamdard University also received books from people as donations. “Professor Edward Bishop, Dr Moinul Haq of the Pakistan Historical Society library, Mr Ajaz of Ishaat-i- Quran Society library, Rizwan Ahmed, Shamsul Hasan, Musarrat Hussain Zuberi, Dr Hafiz Mohammad Illyas, Chishti Mujahid and others have donated their collections to the Hamdard University library.”

He said the Hamdard University library contained the manuscripts of the following luminaries: the late Hakim Muhammad Said, Maulana Syed Abul Ala Maudoodi, Abdul Majid Daryabadi, Dr Abdul Salam Khursheed, Mahshar Badayuni, Raees Amrohvi, Mulla Wahidi and Waheeda Nasim.

The chief librarian said that the Hamdard University library had a computerized catalogue of books with the help of which a book could be located without difficulty.