Arabic-L:AD:News article about Dahesh Books

[Dilworth Parkinson]

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1) Subject:News article about Dahesh Books

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1)
Date: 21 Jun 2006
From:DAHESHBOOKS at aol.com
Subject:News article about Dahesh Books

Sultan of Arabic books

Mike Masri's bookstore carries the largest collection
Of Arabic books in the U.S.

Mike Masri has been a busy man lately, and that's a good thing all  
around.

Masri, 50, is manager of Dahesh Heritage Fine Books in midtown, which  
bills itself as the largest Arabic language bookstore in the country.

Dahesh is unusual in that, although it is named after Saleem Moosa El- 
Ashi, a Lebanese philosopher and poet who took the name Dr. Dahesh as  
his following grew, the bookstore carries hundreds of titles and  
translations of works by Arab authors in a variety of disciplines,  
many with no relation to Islam.
"We sell books written in Arabic on philosophy, poetry, science  
fiction and literature," Masri said. "We have medical books, science  
books and computer science books. We have 300 titles of Arabic  
dictionaries in 85 languages, like French to Arabic, English-Arabic,  
etc."

Dahesh also has English, French, Spanish and Chinese translations of  
works by Arab authors, as well as compact disks and DVDs on a variety  
of topics.
The continuing conflicts in Iraq, Israel and other areas of the  
Middle East seem to have sparked a dramatic increase in people  
interested in learning about Arabic culture and the language itself,  
Masri said.

"We're seeing a lot of demand for Arabic books," he said. "Our  
customers are universities, colleges, public libraries, even people  
from the United Nations and local embassies.

"We sell a lot of books that teach how to speak Arabic languages.  
Hundreds of students come here from schools across the metropolitan  
area, like Columbia, NYU, City College, Fordham, John Jay and Queens  
College.

"Arabic is one of the hottest languages in the world today," he added.
Which makes sense, Masri said.

"How are you going to learn about the culture of the Middle East?" he  
said. "You have to read their literature, their novels, their minds.  
This way you learn how to deal with the culture."

Dahesh Bookstore is an arm of Dahesh Publishing Co. The bloody civil  
war that racked Lebanon in the 1980s prompted the company to move  
from Beirut to New York in 1987.

The company opened a store on W. 58th St. but lost that space and  
moved to a fifth-floor location on nearby Broadway in 2000.

Although troubles in the Middle East seem to be sending business his  
way, Masri is annoyed that the wealth and beauty of a literary  
culture that has produced some of the world's great works - "Arabian  
Nights" dates to the year 820, for instance - is being simplified by  
many in the West to mean all things Islamic.
"Arab culture and history is ancient," he said. "It's not only about  
Islam. There are many great philosophers in the Arab world. Naguib  
Mahfouz won the Nobel Prize for Literature [in 1988].

"I carry hundreds of Arab writers, many of whose work is being  
translated into English because of the demand," he said.

"This is a really unique store in the heart of Manhattan," he said.  
"Hopefully, when we find a nice area, we can reopen on the street  
level."

Originally published on June 12, 2006 Daily News NY

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End of Arabic-L:  21 Jun 2006