Sufi pictorial takes Islam to children
Madhusree Chatterjee

OImam Ali, can you tell us how far it is to heaven?" asked a group of Muslim pilgrims to which the wise one replied, "Just two steps away. The cover of a new Islamic text reaches out to children worldwide with its witty quips.

A pictorial anthology, 40 Sufi Comics by Bangalore-based entrepreneurs and creative artists Arif and Ali Vakil, has brought anecdotes, fables, lessons and traditions from Islam and Sufism in English for younger generations of Muslims across the world.

The book, recently launched in the capital, is already in use in madrassas across Canada, Australia, Pakistan, Africa and Dubai which have stocked their libraries. "The Islamic Shia Study Centre (ISSC) at West Madrasah in Ontario has included the book in the syllabus", says Ali Vakil. The book has been translated into French, Russian, German and Indonesian.

"We decided to create the pictorial book three years ago. It started as an experiment. We were running a spiritual blog to share with friends and family. And we thought why not put the stories from Islam in the form of a picture book with Islamic texts and share it with the world," maintains Vakil.

Vakil said the seeds of the book were sown during their (brothers Arif and Ali) childhood in Dubai. "We went to school in the morning and a madrassa in the evening to study Islam. Our teachers would narrate stories of faith, wit, love, sacrifice and adventure. The stories stayed with us," the young writer said.

The Vakil brothers have also launched an I-pad app of the book in colour strips. The anthology has culled its texts from Prophetic Traditions in Islam, Nahjul Balag, a collection of sermons from Imam Ali, Sahife Sajjadiya, from Psalms of Islam, Lantern of the Path, a collection of sayings by Imam Jafar Sadiq. Mumbai-based Goodword Islamic Books, one of the biggest publishers of Islamic children books in the country, has published Treasury of Stories From Quran, Tell Me About Islam Series, Quran Stories from Little Heart, Treasured Islamic Tales and Ramadan and Eid Stories. —  IANS

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