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| About Goodwords |
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Saniyasnain Khan brings out children’s
books on Islam, in English |
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His distributor in Singapore calls them the Harry Potter books on Islam. Soon, one of his books My First Quran could become part of a catalogue recommended to teachers in British schools.
New Delhi-based Saniyasnain Khan, founder of Goodword Books, is perhaps the only publisher in India who brings out children's books on Islam, in English. Originally known as Al-Risala, Goodword Books has over a hundred distributors in over 20 countries.
A couple of years ago, Urdu translations started selling in Pakistan. His largest market is the US.
In January, a teacher of Priestmead Middle School in Middlesex, UK, sent an email to Khan. "I am trying to make our Muslim children feel that their faith is accepted in school ...(I would like to) ask permission to use your Little Hearts books as part of a school assembly in the UK," she wrote.
"Children get a lot of negative information about Islam. There is a big need to give them the right picture so that they grow up to be peace-loving individuals," feels Khan.
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Goodword's Tell Me series is very popular as is the Goodnight Stories From The Quran. A young parent from Malaysia who picked up one of the books at the Pakistan International Airport wrote to Khan: "I believe that with the current world condition, stories for the little hearts are very important.
It is my hope that these stories will reach out to non-Muslims as well, and become as popular and accepted as Cinderella stories!" Sadia Khan, a 22-year-old student at Jamia Millia Islamia who has authored three of the books, including ABC of Quran, says, "We are trying a more reasonable and simple approach that children find attractive." God's Grace School in Delhi has prescribed some of these books for its library.
"These books are for children of all faiths. We have group discussions on them and the children are attracted to them because of simple language and illustrations," says Nazira Mahmood, manager of the school.
pallavi.polanki@hindustantimes.com
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Early on in his life, the noted Islamic scholar,
Maulana Wahiduddin Khan, felt the desire to give expression to his positive ideas by establishing
the Islamic Centre in Delhi in 1976 and it was then, with this humble attempt, that the journey towards.
the inception of Goodword began.
The Maulana’s endeavour to present the peace-loving message
of Islam led to the widespread acceptance and popularity of his books. At this point, the need to bring out
high quality children’s books was felt and so the Maulana’s son, Saniyasnain Khan, took the initiative
and founded Goodword Kidz in 1999. This organization has been wholly dedicated to producing meaningful and wholesome
books which lay emphasis on Islamic and moral values.
Islam is the religion of peace and harmony and it
was felt that there was a pressing need to educate the new generation about this. It was felt that if
this new generation could be taught about the real Islamic idealism and other human values, they would
surely become little ambassadors of Islamic goodness.
With this objective in mind, Goodword endeavours
to present books for children which provide a solid foundation of Islamic and moral values through themes carefully
chosen from the Quran and other Islamic sources. In this way children not only learn the ethical values conveyed by the
message of Islam, but they also become stimulated to learn about Islamic ideals when they grow up. Goodword’s books
combine simple texts with imaginative illustrations, it being widely accepted that words and pictures together are
most effective with young readers. Goodword’s aim is not only to make children aware of Islamic values and moral
teachings, but also to make them so enamoured of them that they embody them in their lives.
Besides children’s
books, Goodword also publishes books for adults. These range in subject matter from history, religion and philosophy to
dawah and Arabic learning. Goodword has already produced a vast body of well researched books on Islam and Islamic
history, all written by noted scholars and academicians. The rich collection of books presented by Goodword makes it
a leading name in the publication of meaningful, authentic books on Islam. |
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