"Rising from the ashes" Why does Iraq's historian collect books?

This article is open to the public. Please donate to support the children in the Myanmarese refugee children's centre.

(Interview: February 2019)

“Let it Be a Book, Rising from the ashes” -Mosul Eye

Do you know that there are people in the world who are suffering from conflict?  I interviewed Mr Omar, a historian from Mosul. He put himself in risk to rebuild the bombarded library.

Introducing Mr Omar

Born in 1986 in the city of Mosul, Republic of Iraq. I was born and raised in the city of Mosul. I am the author of a blog called Mosul Eye and a historian.

As a child, I thought school was a scary place with prison-like buildings and angry teachers. On the day of the elementary school entrance ceremony, I saw the drawings of plants and animals on the school wall. The teachers were kind and my friends were good and I loved school from that day.

The family consists of 12 people, including my parents and 10 siblings. I am the fifth child, with five brothers and five sisters (including me).

What did you do before becoming a historian?

Before becoming a historian, I worked at an electronics store, a grocery store and a bakery. I love reading books and am an interesting historian to learn about the past, especially the history of the Middle East.

Mr Omar's definition of a historian:

I think that a historian is a person who can see the future from the past history (you can see the future while working as a historian).
What we do is do research and write dissertations, exchange and discuss with other scholars, teach history to college students and drink coffee frequently (Note: all historians cannot live without coffee.) I read a lot of books borrowed from the library at night and sometimes write books. I am still studying every day to get my doctorate in Middle Eastern history.

Mr Omar believes that historians have the knowledge and responsibility to change the future. I think that I need to use my knowledge to improve my future and act.

Where is Iraq?

Iraq, or the Republic of Iraq, is a country in the Middle East. It is south of Turkey, west of Iran, and east of Syria. From Japan to the capital of Iraq, Baghdad, it takes about 16 to 17 hours flight with transfer between Dubai and Istanbul. The population is about 38 million. Since Japan's population is about 120 million, it is about one-third the size of Japan.

Where is Mosul?

Mosul is the second-largest city in Iraq, north of Iraq. Mosul has an old history from BC and is a place where trade is active and a variety of races, languages and cultures are mixed. Arabs, Turks, Kurds, Assyrians, Armenians, etc. live here.
Mosul is about 400 km away from the capital, Baghdad. In Japan, it feels like Tokyo-Osaka (about 500km).

Mosul before combat

Introduction to Mosul Eye

Mosul Eye is a blog and website that shows the world of Mosul controlled by ISIS (Islamic State of Iraq and Syria but it is not a real country) around the world. ISIS is an extremist group that interprets Islam independently. There was a lot of violent activities between 2014 and 2017 when ISIS controlled Mosul. Almost all the books inside Mosul University's Central Library were burned down when ISIS bombed the library.

I read the article by Mariko Iīno (click here for the article), and I wanted to do something about the situation in Mosul because I also love reading books. At the school where I attended, I conducted the "Mosul Eye Project", collected books to be donated by students, teachers and parents, and shipped three boxes of books to Iraq.

In this, Mr Omar gave me time to interview him for TANQ-JOB.

When I asked how it was when ISIS was in control of Mosul, it seemed that he didn't want to explain it. On the other hand, Mr Omar asked me about the Pacific war in Japan, but I replied that my great-grandparents who experienced war died before I was born and that I have never heard from a person who knows war directly.  "It's nice not to know war," he said.

There is a lot of news about the battle between ISIS and the Iraqi army in Mosul, so please try and search them up with keywords such as "Operation to regain Mosul". Although the place where it is drawn is different, the animated movie "The Breadwinner" will also be helpful, so please search for it on Netflix.

Since June 2014, when ISIS came to Mosul, Mosul Eye have been reporting the situation of Mosul to the world.

After seeing rumours about ISIS and acting in Mosul, Mr Omar started Mosul Eye anonymously, thinking that if they let ISIS continue, "Mosul's culture would be destroyed" and that "Someone needs to protect the culture for the future generations." But it is an act that puts himself in danger. In other words, Mr Omar is targeted by ISIS.

He knew there were risks, but he acted because he thought that if he did not, his culture, the culture of Mosul would disappear. He says he still wants to go home but can't. Due to that, he is living outside Iraq.

Message from Mr Omar

To everyone in Japan, we are currently running a campaign to gather books from around the world to rebuild Mosul's library. In any language or genre, the books you send will help rebuild Mosul's libraries.
Click here for Mosul Eye website

After you send the books, please Register your donations here.

The Mosul Central Library was the target of many attacks during the battle of Mosul, ISIS bombed and destroyed the library in 2016, burning 700,000 (90%) of the 800,000 books inside. Reconstruction work for the library is mainly driven by students at Mosul University and young people in the city.

Children hear about the reconstruction work at Mosul University Central Library

Inside the Mosul University Central Library destroyed by bombing

Message from Mr Omar

"Make sure that you have the freedom of thought, action, develop, to change.
Make sure that you feel you are free! Many children don’t even have the freedom to think what they want."

There are still people in the world who are suffering from conflict. I hope this article will get you started on thinking about any of these issues.
I hope that this article will increase the number of friends who support the campaign to collect Mosul Eye books in Japan.