Abdul Kabeer, Winner of the Sheikh Hamad Award
Doha: The Sheikh Hamad Award for Translation and International Understanding (SHATIU) selects every year a new language in addition to Arabic and English with an aim to encourage translation from and to Arabic as well as cultural exchanges among different nations.
In its 5th edition, the Award selected Malayalam Language to be among the competing languages, and it was for the first time that works published in Malayalam were honoured by an Arab country.
Islamic Publishing House (IPH) won the Sheikh Hamad Award in the category of achievement. Abdul Kabeer, the winner, said: “I have much pleasure and I am proud to have such a prestigious award especially from Qatar and in the name of the Father Amir H H Sheikh Hamad, a visionary ruler who contributed a lot to build a modern country, and fostered cultural relations and understanding between the nations.”
Kabeer praised the role of Sheikh Hamad Award in encouraging writers to contribute to the human civilization and make it rich, fruitful. He said that the Award restored the Islamic heritage of “Wisdom House” of Baghdad.
“It has rebuilt the cultural bridge of the golden age of Islam. Certainly, it will help foster the cultural engagements and understandings between the nations,” he told The Peninsula.
Asked about any other body encouraging cultural exchange between Malayalam and Arabic, Abdul Kabeer said: “This is the first time our language, Malayalam, has been honoured by an Arab country. Although it is a state language and is not as widely spoken as Hindi and Urdu. We feel honoured and much obliged to this generosity.”
He added that the IPH had also won many awards before like Mahatma Gandhi University Award for the production of the Islamic Encyclopaedia, C. N. Ahmed Moulavi Award for the same encyclopedia, cover design award for ‘Road to Makkah’ from the Government Book Development Committee, S. A Kareem Award etc.
In regards to the works presented for the nomination of the Sheikh Hamad Award, Abdul Kabeer pointed out that they offered several works translated from Arabic to Malayalam including; ‘Women on the Wings of Dream’ by Fatema Nernissi; Collection of Contemporary Omani Poems by Hilal Al Hajri; Animals in the Quran by Ahmad Bahjat; The Life of Muhammad by Mohammed Husain Haikal, The Culture of the Preacher by Dr. Yousuful Qardawi and Notes of Preaching and Scholar by Hassan Al-Banna.
“Along these titles, we offered some specimen articles and translations of creative works done by me and published in certain Arabic academic journals and literary magazines,” Abdul Kabeer added.
Asked how he came to know about the Award, Abdul Kabeer said: “First I learned about it from my Palestinian friend Najwan Darvesh, the editor of the cultural section of Al-Araby Al-Jadeed newspaper. It was he who sent me the application form and details of the conditions. Then after a month, a team from the Forum of Arabic and International Relations led by Dr. Hanan Fayadh visited Kerala and conducted a press conference announcing the details of the Award which was widely published in the local media.”
Regarding his career, contributions and languages in which he translates from and to, he pointed out that he is working now with IPH in the capacity of Chief Editor since 2010. Before joining IPH, he was a periodical editor of Madhyamam weekly, a prestigious magazine in Kerala as well as in the Gulf region.
He has also worked for the Ministry of Interior in Qatar between 1987 to 2006 and his carrier is journalism which he practiced since 1970 where he worked as the editor in the Prabodhanam, a socio-cultural-religious weekly magazine where he worked for 15 years.
In the field of translation, he said: “I translate articles as well as literary works from Arabic, English and Urdu,” adding, “I have a regular column in the review supplement of the Omani Al-Tafahom magazine. Every month I review a book published in any of the Indian languages, for this magazine. Also, I write in Nizwa magazine, Oman. My articles and translations have also been published in the Doha Magazine; Al-Arabi magazine, Kuwait; Nawafid, KSA; Al-Araby Al-Jadeed newspaper and Alwatan newspaper, Oman”.
Speaking about the Islamic Publishing House (IPH) and its role in introducing Islamic and Arabic culture, Abdul Kabeer explains that that IPH is an oldest Muslim publishing firm in Kerala, established in 1945. “It was set up to bring out authentic literature on Islam and Muslims. The publishing house was set to celebrate its platinum jubilee this year, but compelled to postpone it due to the coronavirus pandemic.”
Regarding major achievement by IPH he said: “It is a top most and widely-acclaimed publishing house in South India with a more than 1,000 titles in Malayalam language. Some of the major works published by IPH include the serious studies translated from Arabic, English and Urdu such as Tafheemul Quran by Maulana Sayyid Abul A’ala Moudoodi; Hadith Collections such as Saheeh Bukhari, Tirmidhi; autobiographies of Melcome X, Mohamed Ali Clay, Cat Stevenson (Yousuf Islam), Dr. Yousuful Qardawi and Hasan Al Banna; Road to Makkah (Muhammad Asa), Preaching of Islam (T. W. Arnold), Biography of the Prophet, Contemporary Fatwas (Halal and Haram by Dr Yusuf Qaradhawi), Social Justice by Said Qutub, Fiqh-us-Sunnah by Sayyid Saabiq, Animals in the Quran by Ahmad Bahjat, and many other valuable titles.
Abdul Kabeer described the role of IPH, as a role of a cultural ambassador between India and the Arab world as most of the translated works are from Arabic, rendering both classical and modern Arabic works in to the local vernacular.
When asked whether there is a shortage of Arabic and Islamic publication in Malayalam, he stressed that Malayalam is rich with the Islamic books both original and translated ones. The scarcity is in the translations of the creative Arabic works such as modern fictions, poetry, drama and novels.
Abdul Kabeer further underlined that he translated so many Arabic fictions and poems written by eminent writers like Nizar Qabbani, Mahmoud Darvesh, Qasim Haddad, Al Thayib Salih, Saif Al Rahbi, Hilal Al Hajri, Azhar Ahmed, Ghalib Al Halsa. Among the Qatari writers; Bushra Naser, Huda Al Naeimi, Zakiya Malullah and Kulthum Jabr.
He added there were some Arabic-Malayalam dictionaries and IPH published in 2016 a voluminous Arabic-Malayalam dictionary which include more than 1,500 pages. The author of the same dictionary, K. P. F Khan, has completed another reversed one, Malayalam-Arabic-English dictionary.
Abdul Kabeer proudly spoke about the major achievement of IPH which is its Islamic Encyclopaedia project. The 13th volume of which has been released in last October by the renowned film director Adoor Gopala Krishnan who said it will help to eradicate the misunderstandings.
The challenge being faced by IPH is also the completion of this project which needs a huge amount therefore he said IPH wants some philanthropists to sponsor the project for its smooth running.
