A local non-profit company is urging the public to look beyond physical sustenance for disadvantaged communities by offering “brain food” through the power of reading.
Speaking at the launch of the second publication edition of We Love to Play Pray at Mosque Shafee in Bo-Kaap on Sunday, May 31, Anwar Jakoet, founding member of the Anwar Jakoet Foundation, emphasised that literacy is a vital tool for community self-sustainability.
The foundation had partnered with Redkufi Books and its co-authors, Nurah Tape and her husband Zaahied Sallie, from Goodwood, to distribute the book to disadvantaged communities.
The book was first published a decade ago, after they watched their three children - Yusuf, Suhaib and Maryam - mimic their observance of the five daily prayers for Muslims. The second edition's revised colour and illustration was done by their eldest son, Yusuf.
Their partnership started with the couple’s second book, We Love Ramadan, which was published last year, and forms part of a “We Love” series, in tandem with the five pillars of Islam ("Explore the joy of Ramadan through a new children's book, December 2025).
Jakoet outlined the foundation's mission to empower people, provide sustainable food, primary education, and sports excellence - coordinated by volunteers in various professions.
He said that on most occasions, the public was more willing to donate food but hesitant to support book distribution
Jakoet said they were not a religious organisation but found non-Muslim groups gravitating towards reading various books to learn tolerance, diversity and to learn sustainability.
Tape said: "Our children were the inspiration for this story. They were not just watching the adult world around them. They were mimicking. Play is the primary way children make sense of the world".
We Love to Play Pray is a colourful story following three siblings who combine their love for play with their religious duties.
Through the narrative, children learn about the qibla (direction) and how natural elements like the sun and shadows determine prayer times. The book forms part of the “We Love” series, which explores the five pillars of Islam.
"In this case, when children are mimicking the act of salaah, it opens up an opportunity for them to learn about so much that is fundamental to our deen (way of life)," she said.
Tape said it encouraged children to ask questions and seek answers through literacy.
Sallie said while according to the first of the Ten Commandments in Judeo-Christian tradition, would be "You shall have no other gods before me", the first commandment in Islam would be "read".
The first word 'Iqra' (Read/Recite) is the divine command to humankind as revealed to Prophet Muhammad, documented in the Quran.
Sallie explained that if parents want their children to emulate the prophet, who was a mercy to all of the worlds "because of a book (the Quran), then they need to read.
"It can only happen through literacy," he said.
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