Haziq and Mohi bookstore is one of the oldest bookstores in Hyderabad. Located in the narrow lanes of Murgi Chowk, this bookstore is a treasured paradise for lovers of rare books. Housing texts in Urdu, Arabic and Persian, the bookstore was established more than six decades ago by Ahmed Bin Mohammed Bafanna. Today, the bookstore is home to more than 10,000 books from around the globe.
Most of these books are decades old and pertain to a variety of subjects such as history, philosophy, mysticism, religion, medicine and Islamic art and architecture. One can also find rare Persian, Arabic and Urdu dictionaries. “In this fastmoving internet era, it’s not possible to find reliable rare books online but you can certainly find them in our store,” says Khaled Bafanna. “My brother was an avid reader himself and had inherited most of his books from my grandfather, Salim Bin Ali Bafanna,” he adds.
To ensure that these books fall into the right hands, he founded this bookstore and named it after a famous pir or Sufi master. Ahmed Baffana was a graduate of Osmania University and proficient in French, German, English, Persian and Arabic. After his death, Khaled Bafanna, his younger brother took over. “Ahmed bhai knew everything but after he was gone, we found it really difficult to retrieve and reorganise all the books. We somehow managed to do so,” he said.
Another interesting fact about this bookstore is, it finds a special mention in The White Mughal, one of William Dalrymple’s masterpieces. William narrates how he accidentally discovered this bookstore while searching for some literature on Bidri. “The only problem we are facing right now is that the number of books we have is huge and piled up and there is not much space to walk around. This is one of the main reasons we are not adding a new collection for now” “Haziq and Mohi remains one of the last resources for the ones looking for books related to Urdu literature, Hyderabad’s history and other manuscripts,” says Tammima Fatima, a history buff. This store is a popular destination for tourists due to its convenient location near Charminar, which attracts a large number of people. Next time, if you’re around Charminar looking for rare and antique books, do not forget to visit Haziq and Mohi Bookstore.