Established in 1979, the Islamic Foundation Trust, based in Chennai, is possibly the largest publishing house for Islamic books in the Tamil language. Till date, the IFT has published some 230 titles, says its Manager, Mr. Ashraf. These include translations of, and commentaries on, the holy Quran, books on the Prophet's (Pbuh) life, Islamic history, theology and jurisprudence as well as on Islamic perspectives on a host of issues of contemporary concern.
One of the major achievements of IFT is its complete translation of the Holy Quran in Tamil, titled Thiru Quran. Although prior to this there were two other translations available, this is the first with a detailed commentary. Completed in 1990, so far, some 1,50,000 copies of this translation have been published.
Interestingly, some of the IFT's publications on Islam-related issues have been authored by Tamil non-Muslim authors, such as a text about the Prophet by Prof. Tamil Amban, another book on the same theme by Prof. Ramakrishna, and a book on Islam by Saundara Kailasam. The IFT's latest publishing venture is a set of Islamic Studies textbooks in the Tamil language, from Grade 1 to Grade 9, aimed at students of maktabs as well as Muslim-managed regular schools.
With audio-visual media now strongly competing with the printed word as a means for disseminating Islamic knowledge, the IFT has produced some 300 CDs, as well as many VCDs and DVDs, on various Islam-related issues. It has secured the sole distribution rights throughout the world, barring Canada, for an innovative audio-visual Arabic learning programme prepared by the noted Tamil Muslim scholar, Dr. Abdur Rahim, former Head of the Department of Arabic at Medina University, and author of the well-known Arabic language manual, Durusat ul-Lughat al-Arabiya. This programme is contained in a set of 48 DVDs, and is a unique means for learning the basics of Arabic without the need for a teacher. The entire set is priced at an affordable Rs.1500. Last year, the IFT produced a DVD containing the Quran in the original Arabic, plus the Tamil translation of it, in both written and oral forms, priced at Rs.400 for a set of ten DVDs. Some 2000 sets of this have been sold so far.
For the last ten years or so, the IFT has been airing a regular half-hour television programme, three times a week, in the Tamil language. These programmes deal with Islamic-related issues, as well as addressing the many questions that non-Muslims have about Islam. This programme is relayed on the popular Tamil television channel.
For more details, see www.ift-chennai.org
