Dar al-Taqwa<\/a> has been a cornerstone of British Muslim life for four decades \u2013 a place where scholars, students and converts have long gathered to browse, talk and connect.<\/p>\nStaff say the shop is the only non-sectarian Islamic bookshop and stocks all kinds of titles from politics and culture, to children\u2019s books and translations of the Qur\u2019an in major languages.<\/p>\n
Since el-Atar\u2019s death in 2022, his widow Noora el-Atar, a 69-year-old Muslim convert from Leeds, has taken over, even giving up her wage and not taking retirement to keep the business afloat.<\/p>\n
The shop has launched a \u00a325,000 fundraiser to cover rent and running costs. \u201cThe bookshop started organically, with no loans, everything came from the community,\u201d she said. \u201cIslam is very wide, that\u2019s why we want the bookshop to be the same.\u201d<\/p>\n
For 40 years, Dar al-Taqwa has stood as a cultural and spiritual hub for the Muslim community in the UK and beyond. Its founder opened the store after recognising the lack of accessible Islamic resources in the UK during the 1980s.<\/p>\n
Dar al-Taqwa has been open at its central London site since 1985. Photograph: Christian Sinibaldi\/The Guardian<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was very ambitious, my husband. He worked very, very hard,\u201d says Noora, who encouraged him to open the shop because of her lifelong love for reading. The couple chose Baker Street for its proximity to London Central mosque and because, at the time, \u201ca lot of international customers, especially Arabs, would come and stay here in the summer, so it was essential for them\u201d.<\/p>\n
The shop, which Noora runs alongside just three part-time staff, began without bank loans, in accordance with Islamic teachings that forbid interest. Instead, the couple relied on community investment and savings. Today, Noora describes the atmosphere as familial: \u201cWe are a family here, we keep customers and they become one of us, as staff.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dar al-Taqwa\u2019s shelves are lined with many books that are rare or out of print. \u201cThere are books you\u2019ll find here that you\u2019ll never find anywhere else,\u201d Noora says proudly.<\/p>\n
Some authors, including the US scholar Hamza Yusuf, have personally donated their works. The shop also sells academic titles from major publishers such as Routledge and Macmillan, and hosts readings and community events. Last year, they launched author sessions and plan to start a book and poetry club. It is even occasionally used to officiate Islamic marriages.<\/p>\n
Longtime staff member Ibrahim Abdirahman Hassan, 60, first visited as a customer before joining the team in 1996. \u201cA lot of people don\u2019t visit because they read online now,\u201d he said. \u201cIn the 90s, people came to buy books.\u201d<\/p>\n
Despite this, he remains attached to the place: \u201cI meet so many interesting people here \u2013 it\u2019s the centre of what\u2019s going on. You get the news when you\u2019re here; if a new book is published, people will tell you.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dar al-Taqwa has welcomed prominent visitors over the years, including Yusuf Islam (Cat Stevens), the British diplomat Gai Eaton, and Prince Ghazi bin Muhammad of Jordan. Yet, its reach goes far beyond London.<\/p>\n
Yusry Yusoff visited the bookshop while on a trip from Malaysia. Photograph: Christian Sinibaldi\/The Guardian<\/p>\n
On a recent visit, Yusry Yusoff, a customer from Malaysia, said he made a point of visiting the bookshop after hearing of its closure the day before his flight home. \u201cIt\u2019s a unique bookstore, not many of them exist \u2013 even in Malaysia,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s not just a bookstore, it\u2019s a melting pot.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople from all over the world come here for the sole purpose of looking for books and the knowledge contained in them. It\u2019s something very important and defines the character of London.\u201d Saddened by the prospect, Yusoff said of the bookshop\u2019s potential closure: \u201cIt would be a great loss.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"London\u2019s oldest independent Islamic bookshop is at risk of closing within a year owing to declining footfall and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":95637,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[412,146,85,46],"class_list":{"0":"post-95636","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-books","8":"tag-books","9":"tag-entertainment","10":"tag-il","11":"tag-israel"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95636","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=95636"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95636\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/95637"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=95636"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=95636"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=95636"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}