Picture via Natheer Halawani
A lot of people haven’t unfortunately heard about this decades-old library in Tripoli up until it got torched today, so I did some research and pulled out old pictures and information about the library and its owner Greek Orthodox Priest Ibrahim Sarrouj.
Al Sa’eh Library was founded in 1970 by the Orthodox Youth movement and consisted of a single room. Few years later, the library published around 10 books. In the early 1980s, they gradually started releasing Orthodox publications. In 1983, Samir Makhoul, Toni Boulos, Ibrahim Sarrouj decided to expand the library and bought the warehouse next to it.
Nowadays, the library has over 80,000 books (not copies), out of which 400 rare books. One of the oldest book in this library according to Father Sarrouj is one that dates back to 1817 written by an American Colonel and is estimated at around $3,000. Speaking of Father Sarrouh who’s a highly esteemed and respected individual in Tripoli, he has shown great interest in Islamic Studies despite being a Greek Orthodox.
The loss of this library is a huge one for Tripoli and Lebanon as a whole. I wish officials would have taken the necessary precautions to preserve it and protect it from the assholes who burned it down.
Sources Used for Pictures and Information:
Dustywyndow.blogspot.com
TripoliScope.com
Mo5tar.com
eiwonder.blogspot.com
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Mish ma3oul – bringing back the age of darkness.
Ignorant barbarians have always done this. They cant read anyway !! Wish they burn too
Sadly I have never heard of this library before despite living in Tripoli. The news are sad. Horrible.
Yeaaah ,yeahhh kill just each other ,accuse each other morons ,I haven’t seen yet jews who kill and torch each other
Well you should look further Maya into the israeli news then. See what they do to African or simply dark colored jews there. Jews and all of humanity kill and torch each others, that’s just the nature of apartheid and ignorance in humans.
Assholes? they’re fucking criminals and should be locked up in a barn and torched!!
“Despite being a Greek Orthodox, he is a highly intellectual person and has shown great interest in Islamic Studies.”
This reads that it’s rare or uncommon for a Greek Orthodox individual to be either highly intellectual or interested in Islamic studies? I’m sure it’s not what you mean to say. Some word-smithing is in order.
Lol of course its not what I meant. Its just to emphasize Sarrouj s interest in Islam and Islamic studies since he was accused of disrespecting Islam.
The following phrase in your post “despite being a Greek Orthodox, he is a highly intellectual person and has shown great interest in Islamic Studies” may be misinterpreted as “Greek Orthodox are neither intellectuals nor interested in Islamic Studies”, although this is not what you meant. I suggest rephrasing it or simply removing “despite”. 🙂
What was meant was that his interests were not limited to his titled position but encompassed other great religions such as muslim and intellectual pursuits in a broad spectrum of subjects .the perceived implication that other greek orthodox were not normally endowed with inclusiveness is a result of miscommunication as the report is made in a language foreign to lebanon despite common use . Cheers all
As another who loves and values the treasure of books…my heart is broken for those in Tripoli whose treasure has been stolen from them. Praying that many volumes were miraculously protected, and many more may be restored beyond hope of expectation.
Time to admit truth and see…hatred in all form is destructive…the antidote is extreme love.
Praying that true peace will come to all through this rad1cal love.