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A Baghdad Bookseller, Bound to His Country
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In the will, his son asked him to keep the Legal Bookshop open. "It has been my dream since I was young," Nabil read, his voice cracking.
Five months after the bombing, Nabil returned to Baghdad. He locked Yahye's room, with the computer, the shelf of engineering books and the childhood portraits. The day he stepped into the Legal Bookshop, he collapsed.
Nabil remained on Mutanabi Street, overseeing reconstruction of the shops even as he struggled to rebuild himself. A month later, he left to undergo further surgery. "He is a believer," said Mohammed Taha, a family friend, as workmen on scaffolding repaired the wall above the thick Grecian columns outside.
'People Still Reading'
Inside the Renaissance today, photos of Mohammad, Yahye and Abdul Rahman, the patriarch, hang on a wall. Underneath them a sign reads, "The Martyrs of the Hayawi Family."
There are seven employees, overseen every day by a Hayawi, including Auws Najah al-Hayawi, Najah's 36-year-old son. A half-hour before the bombing, he had left the Renaissance to fetch books from a nearby warehouse. He came back to help rescue survivors. On a recent day, he chatted with customers in the store and by phone with a Beirut publisher, carrying the family tradition into the third generation.
Outside, Mutanabi Street was run-down, surrounded by concrete barriers and military checkpoints. Cars were banned, and nearby buildings were charred hulks.
Many writers, artists and professors have left Iraq. The Renaissance's best-selling titles now are Shiite religious books, Korans and English dictionaries, highlighting current priorities. Since the attack, business has halved.
But whenever Nabil is at the bookshop, he is thrilled to see customers, especially students, strolling down the street, undeterred by the threat of violence.
"I was happy that I discovered the people still reading," Nabil said.
Ahmed Khudair, 28, and his brother Mohammed, 24, browsed the shelves at the Renaissance on a recent Saturday morning. With the help of books they'd bought here, they had launched an in-house newspaper at the Environment Ministry, where Ahmed worked. Now they were considering creating a Web site.
"If we didn't have this kind of store in Baghdad, we wouldn't be able to advance," Ahmed said, clutching a computer book.
Under Saddam Hussein's regime, access to computers was limited, and the Internet was banned. The Renaissance has helped Imad Abdul Hamid, 41, catch up. He'd brought along an Arabic translation of Microsoft's Basic programming book. "This book has helped improve my skills. At my job, I work faster," said Hamid, who was now searching for an advanced programming guide. "Iraq needs to develop knowledge. This helps open the doors."
