IRAQ: An intellectual center and source of spells reduced to ashes

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Before it was attacked, I used to spend many Friday afternoons at the used-book market in Mutanabi Street (right).

After the war, different book titles that were forbidden during Saddam Hussein’s time flourished there. These include religious books and ones which we call spiritual books, dealing with sorcery and other kinds of white magic. Photocopies of these books were expensive before the war, but an original copy could start at 1 million Iraqi dinars ($840) and reach up to 7 million ($5,900) Iraqi dinars or more.

One vendor told me that he used to sell these books secretly, because Hussein’s ‘regime was afraid that the stuff inside these books could be used against him and his thugs.’

The market vanished when a curfew was imposed between 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. on Fridays to protect the people walking to mosque from car bombers. But because of security improvements, the curfew was lifted, which gave me hope that the market would come back.

For me it was a joyful thought to return to my old habit of visiting Mutanabi Street on Fridays, because even if I don’t need to buy a book, I go there searching for whatever rare ones I may find. My idea was simple. I wanted to visit the market again and write something about the increasing number of people who like to obtain and read spiritual books.

When I got there, I was shocked because I found that there is no Mutanabi Street any more. Piles of rubble, sand, dust and garbage -- that’s what I found there. Due to its historical importance, the government promised to rebuild the market after a suicide truck bomber killed more than 30 people there on March 5 last year. The contractors started work a year ago, but have achieved little since then.

‘They are very lazy. They work two or three hours daily,’ said Hussein, 22, who works in a bookstore that survived the blast.

I went looking for the famous Shahbandar cafe, where intellectuals would meet for tea and debate. The front has been rebuilt but it is still charred inside. There were a few vendors left selling used English books, but nothing to suggest that Mutanabi Street will rise again from the ashes. Just piles of burned pages and a bad smell.

— Usama Redha in Baghdad