As the 8th Islamic Book Fair at Bung Karno Indoor Stadium in Senayan, Central Jakarta, came to a close Sunday, Islam books turned out to be the surprise best sellers for many bookstores at the event.

Firdaus Umar, chairman of the Indonesian Bookstore Association, said the trend began three years.

“If we exclude the sales of schoolbooks, then sales [of Islamic books] contributed up to 50 percent of total sales for many bookstores in Jakarta in the last three years,” he told The Jakarta Post on Monday.

Jakarta currently has more than 300 bookstores, with Gramedia and Gunung Agung the major chains.

Suliantoro, Gramedia Bookstore public relations head, confirmed the sales trend, saying that sales of Islamic book accounted for the lion’s share of the chain’s total sales in recent years.

“Islamic novels such as Ayat-Ayat Cinta [Love Verses] have seen remarkable sales figures,” he said.

“Now, of the 11,000 books published each year, 30 percent have religious themes, mostly Islamic.”

Among the current most wanted Islamic books in Gramedia is Quraish Shihab’s Tafsir Al Misbah.

Gramedia has 92 bookstores across the country, with 34 located in Greater Jakarta.

The rising demand for Islamic books has also benefited publishers.

Afrizal Sinaro, head of the Indonesian Publishers Association (Ikapi) Jakarta branch, also confirmed the trend.

“Currently, Jakarta has 290 publishers, with more than 100 focusing on publishing Islamic books,” he said.

“That number rose significantly from less than 60 publishers only eight years ago.”

Rio Suhanda, from publisher Zikrul Hakim-Bestari, said his company previously published Islamic books for children upon its launch in 2005.

“But in 2007, we expanded to publishing books on a range of Islamic themes, like family and education,” he said.

Lambok Tonggo, from Qultum Media, said his company was established in 2001 and focused initially on putting out agricultural books.

“We then decided in 2005 to publish Islamic books. Now, the sales of these books contribute more than 30 percent to our revenue,” he said.

The nine-day book fair featured 308 stands and 134 participating publishers, and drew more than 300,000 visitors. (hwa)

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