Iraq, a country which is famous for its reading habits among other things, has a strange book market. Yes, we are talking about the howaish market in the holy city of Najaf. Books in this market remain in the open on the streets as the booksellers there firmly believe that “the reader does not steal and the thief does not read.”
Crossing the market, one can easily witness books lying out in open on the streets at night. After this information was shared by a twitter user, it went viral with people finding it – weird and wonderful at the same time. Here’s how Twitteratti reacted on the books being kept in open in a market of Iraq:
And the theres' an old saying. When books are sold on road and shoes in showrooms, you know the priorities of world…
— Amardeep S Reen (@amarxeon) April 27, 2017
Great talk, but this market of the usual owners of the book market brings books from the library to the street It is called (Bastia)
— Alaa Sattar (@ala_sattar) April 29, 2017
And the outsider says, It doesnt rain much in Iraq so no chance they will get wet.
— (((M Goldfarb))) (@MGEmancipation) April 27, 2017
Reminds me of the Arabic saying we have – Egypt writes, Lebanon publishes, and Iraq reads.
— ش?☕?⛸️ (@curlyfemme13) April 28, 2017
Really nice…been both of the street recently and really enjoyed the book culture.
— Ajay Uprety (@ajayuprety) April 29, 2017
All types of books, Even banned books in neighboring Iraq
— Alaa Sattar (@ala_sattar) April 29, 2017
Love this country and its ppl, spent a lot of time thr….hope to see a bttr and happy and prosperous Iraq
— Vikas Hajela (@HajelaVikas) April 29, 2017
That's good to know. I was worried that all of those books were being ruined. That would have been a crime against humanity.
— Ben The Defender (@BenDefends) April 29, 2017
But what about thief stealing and selling to a reader 😛 https://t.co/sQy0jLaHzv
— #DestroyTheAadhaar #BanDigitalElections #DefeatCIA (@Stupidosaur) April 27, 2017
