Al-Jahiz library contains 800-year-old manuscript

Al-Jahiz library is located in the center of the capital Amman. It includes thousands of books and is considered one of the oldest libraries in Amman, where it is visited daily by tourists, scholars and researchers. The owner of the library is Hisham El Maayta, who likes to name it as " Al-Jahiz store". El Maayta classifies his clients as politicians, writers, poets, artists, seekers of knowledge and from all Arab countries.

He stressed that his library is opened  throughout the day and does not close its doors, noting that he lives in a hotel room next to the library so that he can provide service to customers. He explained that he inherited this library from his illustrious ancestors and that its roots were founded in Jerusalem and was considered one of the vaults of Jerusalem and then moved to Baghdad to settle for 20 years in Jordan.

Maayta depends on the promotion of his library through the system of insurance or borrowing. "If you want to buy a book, you can take it, and if you want to borrow a book, it is also available by replacing it with another book or giving a refundable money for the book. Maayta did not forget that the Arabic library and the Arabic novel specifically lack for translation, which drives tourists to stay away from buying novels. However, the Jordanian expatriates are happy to visit Al-Jahiz booth every summer to buy or borrow rare books and value up to 30 books or more.

He mentioned the oldest manuscript in the library, dates back 800 years, which it is one of the manuscripts of the scholars of Jerusalem, in addition to the oldest edition of the book "Criminal Medicine," which was printed in the royal presses 200 years ago. The library also includes a 350-year Ottoman - Arabic, and Arab - Ottoman dictionary. Maayta asserts that the book has a special flavor in light of the technological revolution and the internet, explaining that many books and cadres originally did not reach the web is still paper.

The benefits of the internet and social networking sites have made many friends for Al-Jahiz library, who meet weekly on the sides and docks of the library to exchange discussion in a particular novel, story or book. Al-Jahiz gets its books from friends or from Omani offices or buys books from printing presses.