Ministry Of Religion Asks Every Mosque To Have A Library

JAKARTA - The Ministry of Religion stated that mosques should become centers of Islamic religious literacy. The progress of a nation or civilization can be measured by how big the literacy index of its people is.

"The literacy index or literacy ability of a society is directly proportional to the progress of that society's civilization. People who have a high civilization are people who have a high level of literacy," said the Director of Islamic Religious Affairs and Sharia Guidance of the Ministry of Religion Adib in a written statement received in Jakarta, Thursday 17 February quoted from Antara.

It is time for mosques in Indonesia to have their own libraries in order to build a community reading index. The reason is, it is impossible for an advanced civilization not to have good quality literacy skills.

The low interest in reading, he said, would have a big impact on society. The public will be easily provoked by narratives that cannot be justified. In contrast to those with good literacy levels, who will filter the information they get first.

"So knowledge is directly proportional to the literacy level of the community," he said.

Therefore, Adib emphasized that it is important to continue to empower libraries in mosques, even though the problems faced are also not small.

According to him, the management of a mosque library will not be the same as the management of a library in general. Mosque libraries need special human resource (HR) management. So it is necessary to determine the criteria and management procedures.

"With the criteria and standards that have been determined, we hope that religious library literacy services for the people will be maximized. Muslim communities will receive services that are right for them, from room conditions to time management," he said.

On the one hand, the Ministry of Religion assesses the need to accelerate digital services in mosque libraries. According to Adib, with the digitization of mosque libraries, it will be easy for the public to access religious literature which is not only available in mosque libraries, but in libraries in general.

Adib hopes that through this easy access for the community, the mosque can return to its glory as a center of civilization.

He gave an example in the golden age of Islam, the existence of a mosque library such as Baitul Hikmah became an enlightening educational institution and could make Muslim scientists reach the peak of glory.

"Now that it is the digital era, mosque libraries must be more effective in providing access to digital libraries. Digitizing services is not only easy, but also at an affordable price, as long as they have a network, worshipers can access digital libraries in mosques," he said.